What Kind of Food Do Wild Rabbits Eat?

These days, wild rabbits are being seen a lot in small towns and cities, and there are many people who take up these wild rabbits as pets. If you have also adopted a pet wild rabbit then it is important for you to be aware of two important points. First, these rabbits feed on every possible thing that they find around, so keep your garden out of their reach. Second, they need to eat most of them time when they are awake, so have enough stock of their food.

There are 16 species of wild rabbits and all of these are herbivorous. Another important thing for you to realize is that rabbits cannot alone survive on carrots and spinach. In fact, excess of these things can even cause death in some wild rabbits. If you want a healthy life for your wild rabbits then provide them with different types of food items. Some of these food items that wild rabbits relish are mentioned here.

Rabbits love grass and also hay. Grass forms a major portion of their diet and also keeps their digestive tract. Again when you feed the wild rabbit with grass keep in mind that the grass is not obtained from a pesticides sprayed area, as this can make your wild rabbit sick. Hay and twigs are also a good way in which you can keep the rabbits busy and also healthy. The digestive tract of the rabbits needs to function all the time when they are awake so leave them with enough food even if you are not around.

Pellets are also a great food for wild rabbits. Most of the times wild rabbits love this food and can keep munching on them all the day round. When you buy pellets for your wild rabbit make sure that you buy the ones with seeds. For wild rabbits these pellets are their five star food recipes, so make sure that you provide them with enough of these. Straight pellets are considered to be better for wild rabbits, but when feeding your wild rabbits with these pellets don’t go overboard. These are concentrated food sources, and hence should not be fed excessively.

Another great addition to the diet of the wild rabbits can be fresh vegetables. This has always been the traditional source of food for the normal rabbits. However, with wild rabbits you should be a bit careful and don’t just give them vegetables all of a sudden. Include a piece of carrot or a slice of apple and this should be done only when they cross the age of six months. The vegetables that you can feed the wild rabbit include: beets, sprouts, carrots, watercress and parsley.

It is advisable that you should keep the wild rabbit away from foods that can cause gas or bloating. This is because rabbits cannot pass gas and this result in severe stomach pain and even death is some worse cases. So, for the better health of the wild rabbit avoid vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli. Provide the wild rabbit with enough supplies and keep a check on their health so make sure that they are eating the right food.

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  1. lol omg thanks for this ting I've been giving them carrots and lettuce thinking they will eat it but they never btw the rabbits are like so cute I just want to kiss it, ahha too cute

  2. I really want cottontails to come I laid out carrots radishes and cabbage. I have a outdoor dog but I want to attract rabbits plz help.

  3. Thank you for the advice! Finally someone told me what to feed her! I got one question though. Can you get a wild rabbit to bond with you?

  4. Wonderful article. Answered my question. I got all the info I need to feed an injured baby bunny. Hopefully he will recover so I can let him go soon.

  5. You don't list what rabbits eat in the wild or the percentiles of consumed forages, protein, fat, and vitamin/mineral content.

  6. Thank you so much this really helped! I am so glad to see the certain foods that can cause gas or bloating. I think that your article was very helpful, and understandable! Great job. Thanks! 🙂

  7. I have been feeling a couple of rabbits that have been here for a couple of years and now I know what veggies I can give them.

  8. Thank you for a great article. I hope more humans give wildlife a helping hand. We have destroyed so much of their habitat. I enjoy watching wildlife and it feels nice to help and look out for wildlife. I can't imagine a world without wildlife!

  9. This is a very mis-informative article! You should NEVER give rabbits carrots, or sweet veggies/fruit like apples etc, it is INCREDIBLY bad for them! They have to have access to hay and fresh water all the time, and should also have access to grass. Never give them the muesli-type rabbit food because they selectively feed and then get deficiencies and other problems. Lastly, please never take a rabbit from the wild just to keep as a pet. It will not be happy in captivity after it has known a wild life, and even though it may not look like it, it will be stressed! If you are caring for a young rabbit, make sure you know exactly what you are doing, and seek advice from a vet or someone else who has had plenty of success in the past!

  10. This Article is somewhat accurate. Fresh veggies are definitely a no go. And whoever posted comment #11, you don't need to know exactly what you’re doing. Nor do you need a vet. Wild rabbits practically take care of themselves. You just need to make sure they have water and give them their space.

  11. I like the article about Wild Rabbits because where I live, we have some of these little Sweeties, in the backyard around Dusk. I Love to watch them "scamper" about and play, and I wanted to be able to give them some Food so they would stay around. Any comments and references are welcome. Thank you.

  12. It is winter and I have recently found a rabbit hole next to one of our trees, I am worried about them and this article helped so much! I will not be giving them vegetables just in case if there are babies, but I will be giving them fresh hay and Pellets so they have a surprise outside their doorstep!

  13. They like variety… centipede, dandelions, rye grass (especially the maturing seed stalks), clover, crabgrass seed heads, young millet sprouts, sunflower leaves, clover, peas. I plant regular bird seed mix in a patch, it comes up quick and attracts rabbits and birds. They really enjoyed the rye and clover I planted in the garden over winter. I have a female in my yard who has got me trained to give her a scoop of the birdseed mix when she shows up in the yard. My yard is predominately Centipede and St. Augustine grass but I notice she prefers mostly miscellaneous weeds as mentioned. I noticed one baby this year but I think I saw a hawk dragging off with it. Either that or the field mouse who gathers up the sunflower seeds from that scoop at night, but I haven't seen the baby rabbit again. About every thirty days I see two males show up and there's lots of chasing in the yard. I need to get a video camera, because it's been real interesting looking out the back window this year. I have some pet crows too that enjoy scraps of bread and meat. It's really cool to see all the squirrels and the rabbit and other birds all mingling at the seed pile. I would say if you want to help them let some areas of the yard get wild, plant some bird seed and rye, get some bird baths. I think all the birds and squirrels provide some comfort to the rabbit. They all help look out for danger together.

  14. In the wild, rabbits enjoy eating apple tree leaves, and rabbits love apples: both are found under the same trees. Rabbits know what’s best to eat, just look at how prolific they are.

  15. I just found five baby bunnies in my garden. Eyes open and have fur size of a chipmunk. What can I feed them?

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