How Long do Rabbits Live

As one of the bestselling children's books starts "THERE was once a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid. He was fat and bunchy, as a rabbit should be; his coat was spotted brown and white, he had real thread whiskers, and his ears were lined with pink sateen. On Christmas morning, when he sat wedged in the top of the Boy's stocking, with a sprig of holly between his paws, the effect was charming." I am sure you have guessed the book by now, yes, it is "The Velveteen Rabbit". This book is perfect to teach children the importance of love. Anyway, let's come to the point of the article.

Lifespan of Rabbits

Ordinarily, rabbits live for around 8-12 years. However, the age differs for outdoor rabbits, as compared to the domesticated ones. The house rabbits are known to live a slightly longer life, as compared to the outdoor rabbits.

I know you came to this site to know more about rabbits' lifespan, but I can't let you leave without volunteering additional rabbit information, just for you!

Baby Rabbit Care

• A baby rabbit has very few needs, as such. However, failure to meet these needs may lead to death of the baby rabbit.
• The baby rabbit needs to be with the doe (mother rabbit) for at least the first four months of its life. They can seldom survive the first four months without the doe.
• You need to check on the baby rabbits after their feed. This will, mostly, be around midnight, as that is when the doe feeds.
• You need to ensure that all the baby rabbits are in the nest in the night. If a single baby is out of the nest or is isolated from the rest of them, it could die of the cold.
• The baby rabbits will be shut-eyed till the 10th day after their birth. So, you need to make sure that 10 days after their birth, the babies open their eyes. If any of the babies hasn't opened its eyes, contact a vet.
• Baby rabbits gain mobility when they are 20 days old. This is when they start venturing out of the nest. At this time, if the babies eat greens, they could get diarrhea. So, in case you had provided some greens to the doe in the nest, now is when you take it all out of the nest.
• Once the babies are eight weeks old, they will be able to fend for themselves. This is the right time to start separating the babies from the mother. However, let this be a gradual process, to avoid any discomfort.
• In case you are the one providing the nutrition to the babies, avoid handling them unless it is absolutely essential.
• The babies need to be fed once or twice a day. You can give them 1 tablespoon of colostrum in half a cup of milk, each.
• Uptil the age of one week, the baby only needs about 5 cc of milk a day. This amount can be increased to 10 cc after one week, and towards the end of the third week, the baby can consume around 25 cc milk but not more than 30cc a day.
• Baby rabbits need stimulation in order to urinate and defecate. As such, after the feeding you can take a damp cotton ball and run it from the front legs and move up to the anus. Keep repeating this till the baby starts urinating or defecating and continue till it is finished.

Hope you now know, how to take care of a baby rabbit. It is a job that requires a lot of patience and care. One mistake could be detrimental for the little baby! So, in case you are planning on mating rabbits, make sure you know rabbit baby care.

Rabbit Facts

• The first one of the facts about rabbits is, they have around 150 varieties of coat colors and 5 varieties of eye colors. The permutations and combinations are too many for me to calculate. This animal can have so many different looks!!
• Rabbits and hares are different animals, belonging to the same family. Neither of them can be counted as rodents.
• Rabbits can see behind without turning their heads. Whoa!! that's spooky!
• The oldest rabbit in the world was 19 years old when he died.
• A Rabbit can mate at as early as 3 months of age. Boy! That's early!
• The rabbit gestation period is quite short, only 31 days.
• Rabbits are capable of learning their own names and simple words like "no", "yes" etc.
• Rabbits are near sighted (myopic) and have a blind spot right in front of them.
• Domesticated rabbits cannot survive in the wild, if they are abandoned.
• Rabbits growl when they are about to attack out of fear.
• If a rabbit growls softly while jumping around you, it means that it loves you. That is their "love dance".
• Rabbits are born blind and fur-less. They can look a little scary, but this is when they need most care.

Interesting, right?

So, this is where I sign off! Hope you enjoyed reading about how long do rabbits live. Don't hesitate to leave a note if you have any questions!