Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center for The Handbook: Prevention and Control of Wildlife Damage University of Nebraska - Lincoln Year 1994 COTTONTAIL RABBITS Scott R. Craven Extension Wildlife Specialist, Department of Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 This paper is posted at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/icwdmhandbook/53 Scott R. Craven Extension Wildlife Specialist Department of Wildlife Ecology COTTONTAIL RABBITS University of Wisconsin, Madison Madison, Wisconsin 53706 Fig. 1. Eastern cottontail rabbit, Sylvilagus floridanus Damage Prevention and Toxicants Introduction Control Methods* None are registered. Rabbits mean different things to differ- Exclusion Trapping ent people. For hunters, the cottontail rabbit is an abundant, sporting, and Low fences are very effective around Commercial live traps or homemade tasty game animal. However, veg- gardens or shrubs. box traps are effective, particularly etable and flower gardeners, farmers, during winter in northern states. Hardware cloth cylinders will protect and homeowners who are suffering fruit trees and ornamental plants. Shooting damage may have very little to say in favor of cottontails. They can do con- Sport hunting and/or routine shooting Habitat Modification siderable damage to flowers, veg- of problem individuals are very etables, trees, and shrubs any time of Removal of brush piles, debris, effective methods. dumps, and other cover makes an the year and in places ranging from area less suitable for rabbits. Other Methods suburban yards to rural fields and tree plantations. Control is often necessary Many “gimmick” solutions are avail- Frightening to reduce damage, but complete exter- able but unreliable. For example, mination is not necessary, desirable, or Several methods are available but none sections of garden hose to simulate even possible. are reliable. snakes, water-filled jugs to create Repellents frightening, distorted reflections. Rabbits usually can be accepted as interesting additions to the backyard A wide variety of commercial formula- or rural landscape if control techniques tions is available; most are taste are applied correctly. Under some repellents based on the fungicide unusual circumstances, control of thiram. Home-remedy types may *Most methods apply to all rabbit and hare damage may be difficult. provide some relief. species. PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF WILDLIFE DAMAGE — 1994 Cooperative Extension Division Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources University of Nebraska - Lincoln United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Animal Damage Control D-75 Great Plains Agricultural Council Wildlife Committee Damage control methods include color. They have large ears, though removal by live trapping or hunting, smaller than those of jackrabbits, and exclusion, and chemical repellents. In the hind feet are much larger than the general, no toxicants or fumigants are forefeet. The tail is short and white on registered for rabbit control; however, the undersurface, and its similarity to a state regulations may vary. Frighten- cotton ball resulted in the rabbit’s com- ing devices may provide a sense of mon name. security for the property owner, but they rarely diminish rabbit damage. Range Identification The eastern cottontail’s range includes the entire United States east of the There are 13 species of cottontail rab- Rocky Mountains and introductions bits (genus Sylvilagus), nine of which further west. It extends from southern are found in various sections of North New England along the Canadian bor- Fig. 2. Range of the eastern cottontail in North America north of Mexico. All nine are der west to eastern Montana and south America. similar in general appearance and into Mexico and South America (Fig. behavior, but differ in size, range, and 2). The most common species of the habitat. Such differences result in a western United States include the wide variation of damage problems, or desert cottontail (S. auduboni, Fig. 3), lack of problems. The pygmy rabbit (S. and mountain cottontail (S. muttalli, idahoensis), found in the Pacific North- Fig. 4). Refer to a field guide or sug- west, weighs only 1 pound (0.4 kg), gested readings if other species of the while the swamp rabbit (S. aquaticus), genus Sylvilagus are of interest. found in the southeastern states as far north as southern Illinois, may weigh Habitat up to 5 pounds (2.3 kg). Most species prefer open, brushy, or cultivated Cottontails do not distribute them- areas but some frequent marshes, selves evenly across the landscape. swamps, or deserts. The swamp rabbit They tend to concentrate in favorable and the marsh rabbit (S. palustris) are habitat such as brushy fence rows or strong swimmers. The eastern cotton- field edges, gullies filled with debris, Fig. 3. Range of the desert cottontail in North tail (S. floridanus) is the most abundant brush piles, or landscaped backyards America. and widespread species. For the pur- where food and cover are suitable. poses of the discussion here about They are rarely found in dense forests damage control and biology, the east- or open grasslands, but fallow crop ern cottontail (Fig. 1) will be consid- fields, such as those in the Conserva- ered representative of the genus. tion Reserve Program, may provide Cottontail rabbits must be distin- suitable habitat. guished from jackrabbits and other Cottontails generally spend their entire hares, which are generally larger in lives in an area of 10 acres or less. size and have longer ears. Jackrabbits Occasionally they may move a mile or are discussed in another chapter of this so from summer range to winter cover book. or to a new food supply. Lack of food The eastern cottontail rabbit is approx- or cover is usually the motivation for a imately 15 to 19 inches (37 to 48 cm) in rabbit to relocate. In suburban areas, length and weighs 2 to 4 pounds (0.9 rabbits are numerous and mobile to 1.8 kg). Males and females are basi- enough to fill any “empty” habitat cally the same size and color. Cotton- created when other rabbits are Fig. 4. Range of the mountain cottontail in North tails appear gray or brownish gray in removed. Population density varies America. the field. Closer examination reveals a with habitat quality, but one rabbit per grizzled blend of white, gray, brown, acre is a reasonable average. and black guard hairs over a soft gray- Contrary to popular belief, cottontails Underground dens are used primarily ish or brownish underfur, with a char- do not dig their own burrows, as the in extremely cold or wet weather and acteristic rusty brown spot on the nape European rabbit does. Cottontails use to escape pursuit. Brush piles and of the neck. Rabbits molt twice each natural cavities or burrows excavated other areas of cover are often adequate year, but remain the same general by woodchucks or other animals. alternatives to burrows. D-76 In spring and fall, rabbits use a grass Food Habits, Damage, members of the pea family are among or weed shelter called a “form.” The and Damage the shrubs damaged. form is a nestlike cavity on the surface Evergreens seem to be more suscep- of the ground, usually made in dense Identification tible to rabbit damage in some areas cover. It gives the rabbit some protec- The appetite of a rabbit can cause than in others. Young trees may be tion from weather, but is largely used problems every season of the year. clipped off, and older trees may be for concealment. In summer, lush Rabbits eat flowers and vegetables in deformed or killed. green growth provides both food and spring and summer. In fall and winter, shelter, so there is little need for a they damage and kill valuable woody The character of the bark on woody form. plants. plants also influences rabbit browsing. Most young trees have smooth, thin General Biology and Rabbits will devour a wide variety of bark with green food material just flowers. The one most commonly Reproduction beneath it. Such bark provides an easy- damaged is the tulip; they especially to-get food source for rabbits. The like the first shoots that appear in early thick, rough bark of older trees often Rabbits live only 12 to 15 months, and spring. discourages gnawing. Even on the probably only one rabbit in 100 lives to same plant, rabbits avoid the rough see its third fall, yet they make the The proverbial carrot certainly is not the only vegetable that cottontails eat. bark but girdle the young sprouts that most of the time available to them. have smooth bark. Cottontails can raise as many as 6 lit- Anyone who has had a row of peas, ters in a year. Typically, there are 2 to 3 beans, or beets pruned to ground level Rabbit damage can be identified by the litters per year in northern parts of the knows how rabbits like these plants. characteristic appearance of gnawing cottontail range and up to 5 to 6 in Only a few crops—corn, squash, on older woody growth and the clean- southern areas. In the north (Wiscon- cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, and cut, angled clipping of young stems. sin), first litters are born as early as late some peppers—seem to be immune Distinctive round droppings in the im- March or April. In the south (Texas), from rabbit problems. mediate area are a good sign of their litters may be born year-round. Litter Equally annoying, and much more presence too. size also varies with latitude; rabbits serious, is the damage rabbits do to Rabbit damage rarely reaches econo- produce 5 to 6 young per litter in the woody plants by gnawing bark or clip- mic significance in commercial fields north, 2 to 3 in the south. The rabbit’s ping off branches, stems, and buds. In or plantations, but there are excep- gestation period is only 28 or 29 days, winter in northern states, when the tions.