The Great Rabbit Capture

[Malorey]

So, a couple weeks ago, apparently a Rabbit started appearing near a bar my mother and friend's go to. It even survived the flood we had! I wasn't informed there was one until a few days ago though, SO, I've made it my mission to catch it. So far, I've attempted twice, with no luck. He ( we believe ) is a black and white bunny, and very fast. I've been able to get a couple inches from him, but when I go to try to throw a blanket over him, or grab him, he is too fast. So, I'm getting a nice long net, and my goal is to come home with a rabbit tonight.

It's a little tricky to get him, because the neighborhood he is in, is not a good one, and while I would run in yards to catch him near my house, I don't even want to be near people there, as it is a lot of drug addicts, people who would attack you, etc. So, we've gone late at night when you can tell many people are asleep, or not around.

Another thing, he's been seen with two wild Cottontails, and could have bred with them. So, we might have a 'non-wild' colored outbreak again, like we did a long time in the past, in the neighborhood next to us when someone let their rabbit(s) loose, and it bred with a bunch of rabbits, and we ended up in the end having white, black, parti, etc. colored part wild rabbits.

Send some capture vibes!

[p_anda]

I think you may have more luck capturing him at dawn or dusk, because that's when wild rabbits get active and out of their burrows, though they do tend to come out during the day for short periods of time to graze.

If you find his burrow, you could get someone to stand at the other entrance of it while you make a lot of noise at the other - you could try getting a really bright torch and shine it into the burrow, also try digging/scraping, he will think a predator is there to get him and might make a run for it, and that's where the other person comes in - they should have a carrier cage or a sack that they hold over the entrance so the rabbit runs straight into it. However, rabbits often have several entrances to their burrow systems, so the more people you have the better your chances are.

Have you thought about setting a trap? You can buy or rent small mammal traps, of course there is a chance that you'll not get your intended target, but a different animal, but if you keep trying you should catch him.

Good luck on tonight's hunt though!:)

[hammys r best]

He's done incredibly well to have survived this far what with foxes, etc. I suspect he's not that well covered during the day, being a domestic breed I'd be surprised if he's dug much of an effective burrow. I'd be tempted to play on his appetite and leave a bowl of pellets in a corner for him while you wait with your net! good luck!

[p_anda]

hammys, rabbits revert to their 'wild' behavior very quickly once they are away from humans. This rabbit is obviously socialising with the wild population, and I'd be inclined to think that he shares burrows with them. :)

My grandparents used to have a farm [now they just have lots of unattended land] and once someone's meat rabbits got loose in the area, they started multiplying like mad and damaging the crops, despite the large number of predators. Most of them were eventually caught by baiting traps and smoking them out from their holes. The baits that worked the best were all the things they would eat in the crops - cabbage, root vegetables, that kind of stuff. I, myself caught a few in our garden by making my own traps. I dug a couple of holes that were around the size of a small barrel, inserted the barrel into the hole. Then I got a few old bits of fencing, which were to be the lids - then I just got a stick to hold one side of it up. The stick would resting on the coverage over the hole, like a few branches and leaves. Then I would place bait in the middle. When the rabbit went to get the easy meal, the lid snapped shut as the cover fell into the barrel with the rabbit. :mad: The trickiest part was to make sure that the cover was strong enough to hold up the lid as it was ancored with the stick, but not strong enough that it wouldn't collapse as the rabbit stood on it.

Obviously that's not something that the OP can do given the location of the rabbit. :)

[Lil Miss]

if hes a he then the hybrids will be fine, they will learn the behaviour needed to survive from their mothers

also by white and black you could mean either dutch (dudu) or broken (Enen)

now in an agouti (AA-BB-CC-DD-EE) x black (aa-B*-C*-D*-E* (note the stars are because we dont know the recesives)) mating the agouti gene is dominant, so you would end up with a litter A*-b*-C*-D*-E* meaning they would all be agouti in colour
now to the pattern, dependin on if its a dutch or broken varies your result

the wildie will have NO dutch genes (they only exist in dutch and dutch crosses) so all the kits should be solid in colour, however they may be carriers

broken is En en while a solid coloured rabbit is en en so in theory 25% of the kits could be broken, but atleast they will still be agouti :lol:

good look catching him