Wild Rabbits water

[Kerry Nelson]

Wild rabbits don't drink from a stream, puddle, bowl of water (unless you teach them to, but then, they are not wild rabbits anymore). Wild rabbits get their 'moisture' or 'drinks' (or how do you call it) from the food they eat (it contains enough moisture they need).
I suggest you just leave them like that. Nature doesn't need an extra bowl of water.
Source(s):
I read a lot of books about all sorts of rabbits and their "life style" and I have had rabbits for almost 10 years.
1 week ago
Report Abuse
Asker's Rating: Asker's Comment: Thanx for the info. I tho't they had to get it from somewhere "in nature" but I wasn't sure. I haven't seen any babies for a few days now. They must be out in the world now. HAGD

[Kerry Nelson]

I found this article I posted but who knows if they are right, I still may put a little water in the pen! Ha! Kerry

[ironjawdawgs]

A year or two ago I belonged to a Beagle Club and was asked to raise wild rabbits in a breeding pen fenced in with a net over the top of it. It was big enough for one buck and maybe 5 or 6 doe's. Anyways, some club members didn't like how I was running it because of this and that. Mind you I got close to 100 rabbits out of it in one summer. One problem they had with me was me not keeping the water pans/bowls full of fresh water. See just two years before this I had earned a degree in wildlife Biology and this was one thing I learned. Rabbits acquire the moisture they need from what vegetation they consume. This was (and still may be) a really difficult concept for them to understand. I tried to tell these dummies this but NO, NO ONE wanted to listen to me and they all knew it all. I was just a young dumb kid. Dip sticks! If you read this post hope you are keeping all kinds of fresh water in there for them. It does a whole lot of "NO" good.
Regards,
Elliott Peters

Wild rabbits don't drink from a stream, puddle, bowl of water (unless you teach them to, but then, they are not wild rabbits anymore). Wild rabbits get their 'moisture' or 'drinks' (or how do you call it) from the food they eat (it contains enough moisture they need).
I suggest you just leave them like that. Nature doesn't need an extra bowl of water.
Source(s):
I read a lot of books about all sorts of rabbits and their "life style" and I have had rabbits for almost 10 years.
1 week ago
Report Abuse
Asker's Rating: Asker's Comment: Thanx for the info. I tho't they had to get it from somewhere "in nature" but I wasn't sure. I haven't seen any babies for a few days now. They must be out in the world now. HAGD

[BIG ORDEAL]

There is the big question.Do you have wild rabbits or raised rabbit?I have both and certainly the raised redbacks and miis.cottontails need water.Raised rabbits drink water in the hutch and yea certainly they may get what they need in the vegitation but being run in extreme heat with a dry pen may cause them to have a drink!I was told by a fellow that his rabbits in his pen didnt last long in the summer until he put watering holes for them but he could have had raised rabbits.Who knows but what could it hurt?Ask rabbitman,he will know for sure.

[ironjawdawgs]

These particular rabbits were wild rabbits that had been trapped and placed in the breeding pen in March with no pressure on them at all. This information I hope gives a better understanding.

There is the big question.Do you have wild rabbits or raised rabbit?I have both and certainly the raised redbacks and miis.cottontails need water.Raised rabbits drink water in the hutch and yea certainly they may get what they need in the vegitation but being run in extreme heat with a dry pen may cause them to have a drink!I was told by a fellow that his rabbits in his pen didnt last long in the summer until he put watering holes for them but he could have had raised rabbits.Who knows but what could it hurt?Ask rabbitman,he will know for sure.

[Kerry Nelson]

That is exactly what others have told me. I too raise rabbits and they drink water all the time gallons! But wild rabbits I have been told are like night and day. Smart people have told me that rabbits get killed at water holes! Hawks, Foxes.. etc, makes since to me but what do I know. I have not watered my "wild" rabbits but my pen is full of them. This is why I am asking all you hunting guys, do you water or not? Ha! Kerry in Maryland

[bill huttozac]

Wild rabbits do not need watering facilities. The wild rabbits survive and thrive in arid desert like areas as well as the mountainous areas. In the heat of summer, they may be miles from the nearest source of moisture, beyond the plants they normally eat. I am not sure that a domesticated rabbit released in a pen is smart enough to travel 200 feet for water. The will usually die from dehydration and coccidiosis. Of course, stress and high temps only hasten a rabbit's death, wild or domesticated.

[rabbitsmoker]

Here where i live i have seen rabbits drinking at all the places that run from creeks ponds ect.. specially in spring and summer i run a rabbit last fall early and me and my buddy witness the same rabbit in a swampy area on a hard loose gettin a drink from what i have seen i cant imagine that theory

[Newt]

If you have rabbits in a cage and are feeding the rabbit pellets they require drinking water. If they are in a pen with vegetation then no water is required.
I have read that other animals whose waste in in little balls like rabbits, deer and goats, can subsist on vegetaion moisture as well. Don't know about goats and deer but I read it somewhere. Sure they will drink water if it is available, but it's a long way between water holes on top of mountains where Big Horn Sheep and Moutain Goats live.

[BuschBound]

Kerry,
I have about 1 acre raising pen. I put 3 does and 1 buck in there is late Feb. I also dug a pond inside the pen to water rabbits and we see the wild hare there all the time drinking out of it. Now I do have a ton of cover for them in there probally 50% tall grasses and some bigger trees but not to many. I have been pulling out several young hare as they get to be about a month old. this is really working for me. I now have trapped the buck out of the pen as well. With all the young hare running around some of the local cats have been seen in the pen but havent had much luck getting them out.. Caught everything else but the cats. We also have another pen that is a bit smaller with poultry waters and we need to keep them filled on a regular basis. Wild Hare will drink from containers and streams and ponds... Don't know if a Cottontail will. Hope this helps.