Wild rabbits are one of the surest signs of springtime: As soon as young shoots and buds start coming up on trees and flowers, rabbits will be showing up in droves to snack on them. So, while you may be used to seeing these furry friends in the spring, summer, and into the fall… Why don’t you see them in the winter?

Even with their lush and fluffy coats, rabbits aren’t designed for cold weather. Because their native lands in Southwest Europe are so much warmer, even the most well-adapted rabbits have to make serious changes to their habits during the winter.

In this article, we’ll be looking at three things that wild rabbits do differently in winter: Where they go, how they survive, and what they eat. By the end of this article, you’ll have a much better picture of the life of wild rabbits during winter.

Image: skeeze from Pixabay

For most wild rabbits, the events of their entire lives are held within a 5-acre area. For reference, that’s only about 4 and a half football field worth of space. This means that during the winter, they’ll either dig their own burrows or find a sufficiently sheltered place to weather the cold.

From this home base, they’ll make only short trips out to forage the food necessary to survive the winter. With crepuscular sleep cycles, wild rabbits are most active at dawn and dusk — the best times to avoid predators’ keen eyes.

While some animals will turn to hibernation to survive the winter time, rabbits do not need to. This means that by limiting their travels and finding as many food sources as they can, they will attempt to store as much energy as possible for staying warm and surviving the winter.

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Sadly, wild rabbits do not have a high survival rate. Many cottontail rabbits (the most common type of wild rabbit in the U.S.) will live for less than a year in the wild, with winter temperatures and food shortages being a major cause of death.

Because fresh greens and grasses die off during the winter, wild rabbits must turn to different food sources during the coldest part of the year. Instead of searching for leaves or hay, they will turn to the barks of trees for the majority of their diet. Unlike the rest of the year, wild rabbits will break their herbivorous diet during the winter — occasionally eating insects, moths, and snails.

Image by Rex Landingham from Pixabay

There’s no denying that life is tough for a wild rabbit. Between the constant threat of predators and the impending cold of winter, many are lucky to survive for more than a year. However, nature has a way of balancing all of this out: The bunnies that do survive the winter go on to procreate extremely quickly, always ensuring a healthy population of rabbits through the spring and summer.

Thank you to our friends at the Dickinson County Conservation Board, a valuable resource of information that we made use of in this article!

The post What Do Wild Rabbits Do During Winter? appeared first on Pets Bent.

A common issue with keeping minks as pets is that they have specific dietary needs that need to be replicated when they are kept as pets. It is difficult to find the right foods for them as most pet stores do not sell supplies or foods formulated for minks due to their rarity as a common pet. Choosing the right diet for your pet mink is important for their health and vitality. This article will inform you of everything you need to know regarding feeding your pet mink.

Important: If you want to own a pet mink, you must ensure it is permitted to do so in your region. Most wildlife conservation centers have restrictions on keeping minks as pets. It is illegal to own a mink as a pet in most states. A general house check will most likely be conducted by a wildlife specialist to ensure that you have all the requirements for your mink and the right enclosure layout. You may then apply for a permit which you will then receive once you have been deemed responsible enough to own one. Always ensure the mink have been captive bred and not captured from the wild.

If you plan to import a captive-bred mink from a different state, then you must ensure both parties have the correct permits for exotic mink exporting and ownership.

Image Credit: Aleksandra Saveljeva, Shutterstock

Both the European and American mink are kept as exotic pets. Although these are two different species occurring in different natural habitats, their diets are quite similar. Both the European and American mink are carnivorous and semi-aquatic which means that they require a body of water to hunt for most of their food. One of the main differences in the two species diet is that the European mink will eat a higher percentage of fibrous plant foods, whereas the American mink will consume little plants when live foods are scarce.

Minks are obligated carnivores that feast on various meat-based proteins in the form of small rodents, reptiles, insects, and amphibians. Minks require a varied diet that is rich in different types of live or freeze-dried creatures. Commercial foods rarely cover all your pet minks’ dietary requirements, and you will need to get access to their appropriate food. In the wild, minks will keep their preys’ leftovers in the den to continue eating them throughout the next few days. They will hunt for their next prey once the leftovers are no longer viable to eat.

When we analyze the specifics of a mink’s diet, we need to consider the nutrients that their wild diet includes. Meat fills up the main aspect of their diet, with other natural foods making up a small percentage. Some European minks will also eat vegetations found in their natural ecosystem during the hotter months. In winter, all minks will consume high amounts of live foods that they catch in rivers or within the preys’ burrows.

The diet should be rich in protein and low in carbohydrates to ensure optimal health.

In the wild minks will choose a territory that has many available food sources. They will then create their den in the area where they will primarily hunt. Their wild diet is simple and mostly contains the following foods:

• Frogs
• Waterfowl
• Mice
• Rabbits
• Chipmunks
• Fish
• Snakes
• Muskrats
• Crayfish
• Voles
• Salamanders

Snakes from a part of their diet; however, it has been observed that most minks will catch and kill snakes but not eat them. They may also drag the snake into their den where they will leave the snakes carcass with the rest of their leftovers.

Minks will primarily hunt in rivers or streams and are good at swiftly hunting their prey. Aquatic life becomes more prominent in their diet during winter when land animals have typically taken to hibernating in sealed burrows or caves.

Their main hunting strategy is getting behind their prey to deliver a swift bite to its neck which is a quick and painless death for their unsuspecting prey. Some animals like rats and waterfowl are too large for them to consume in one meal and they will drag the remains to their den alongside the riverbank.

Understanding how to feed your pet mink in captivity can be expensive and it is important to note that most of their natural food sources are not available on the commercial market and you will have to improvise by finding foods that contain the same nutrients that they will receive from their natural diet.

In captivity, you can feed them foods made for cats or ferrets. Most ferret foods will contain similar nutrients that both species can benefit from because they are so closely related. It is essential to only feed pet minks high-quality ferret or cat foods. If you decide to feed your mink cat food as its main commercial diet, then wet foods are best. Cat pellets are typically low quality and lack the right amount of protein that your pet mink requires.

Aside from commercial foods, you should also supplement your minks’ diet with feeder fish from the pet store, frogs, and live mice or rats. Most pet stores will stock these foods for reptiles like snakes.

Minks are not suitable pets for those who struggle to feed live foods to pets. Minks should be fed a live creature at least 3 times a week alongside their high-quality commercial food. Your mink will also enjoy catching its live prey which can be placed in their water or let loose in their enclosure to promote hunting which in return will fulfill your mink’s enrichment needs.

Here is a breakdown of the main foods your mink should be fed in captivity:

There are a variety of food options that you can feed your pet mink. If you provide them with the right types of food your mink will benefit by having a strong immune system, proper growth and development, and a shiny coat. Out of all the commercial foods, minks can eat, cat and dog foods are the most recommended option along with frogs, feeder fish, and rodents, or chunks of bird meat as a staple diet.

Once you have completed a good diet ratio of food for your mink, you will be rewarded for their overall health and beauty.

The post What Do Minks Eat in the Wild and as Pets? appeared first on Pets Bent.

Even if you live in a larger city, chances are you’ve come across wild rabbits in your day-to-day life. While the fully-grown ones are completely capable of taking care of themselves, you may be wondering what you can do if you find an adolescent or baby wild rabbit.

Different from domestic breeds, Cottontail rabbits are the ones you are most likely to find in the wild. They reproduce quickly and grow to almost full maturity in a short six weeks.

Because cottontail mothers have been known to put their nests in some particularly strange places, you may one day find a litter that has been left to fend for themselves from too young an age. In this case, you’ll need a clear guide to determine just how old these wild rabbits are — and what you can do to help.

In this guide, you’ll find everything you need to determine a wild rabbit’s age, as well as how to tell if a mother has abandoned her babies. Then, we’ll cover some basic care tips and resources for making sure the rabbits are safe.

Let’s get started!

Less than 2 inches long, newborn Cottontails will have a dark body with an almost transparent belly. They rely on their mother’s milk to survive, and will still have their eyes closed. Do not handle rabbits this small unless you’re absolutely sure their mother has abandoned them (more on this later).

After about 3 days, wild rabbits will begin to develop a more “natural” color of fur that will stick out slightly from their bodies. Though their eyes will remain closed, their ears are beginning to come away from their bodies (but don’t yet allow them to hear). At between 2 and 3 inches long, they are still completely dependent on their mother’s milk to survive.

At around 7 days, the ear canal will open, allowing the baby rabbit to begin to hear. Though their fur is mostly still pressed firmly against their bodies, they are developing enough of a coat to begin to keep themselves warm.

The baby cottontail’s eyes and ears will finally open after nearly a week and a half, allowing them to begin wandering around their nest even without their mothers present. Quickly growing to over 3 inches in length, their fur will take on more of a natural “agouti” color as their true coat comes in. They’ll still be dependent on mother’s milk until the end of two weeks but will also begin snacking on hay and dried grasses around the nest.

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Growing ever more quickly now, the wild rabbit’s fur will fill out and begin to look much fluffier. Upwards of 4 inches long, they will start developing more supportive musculature that allows them to hop around in search of hay, grass, and edible weeds. To do so, they’ll begin to leave the nest in short bursts, but still return to the nest at night.

Most noticeable at this age from their ears standing fully erect, wild rabbits will continue to fill out and develop a plush coat of warm, insulating fur. Their searching and alert eyes are becoming trained to the presence of predators, meaning that they can be released back into the wild around this age.

Once they reach a size of 5 to 7 inches long, they’ll look very much like a somewhat smaller version of an adult rabbit. Though often weighing less than a pound at this point, their instincts will begin to keep them safe in the wild as they rely solely on whatever food sources they can forage.

One and a half months into their lives, wild rabbits are considered fully adult. It may take them another 4 to 6 weeks to fill out into their usual 2-3 pound weights as they grow to be anywhere between 12 and 20 inches long. After the age of 8 weeks, they are fully sexually mature and will often begin to reproduce.

Image Credit: Fritz_the_cat, Pixabay

From their fragile birth until adolescence a mere 3 weeks later, wild rabbits need the care of their mother (or a trained professional) to survive. If you’ve found a nest of wild rabbits, and identified them as being less than 3 weeks of age, how can you know whether their mother is still caring for them?

Because rabbit mothers spend much of the day away from their nests foraging for food, you can easily make a mistake in judging that a litter of baby bunnies has been abandoned. Never take babies out of a nest without being absolutely sure that they have been abandoned!

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To test for the mother’s presence at night, you can perform a simple check: Place two pieces of very light string in an “X” over the entrance to the nest, and check back in 24 hours. If the string has been moved even a little bit, that means mama has been home to check on and feed her babies. In this case, leave them to be nourished and grow.

Image Credit: 753446, Pixabay

If the worst-case scenario turns out to be true, and the rabbits’ mother hasn’t returned to the nest in 24 hours, your intervention should be swift. Call your local veterinary office immediately — they’ll either be able to help guide you through the process or refer you to a rehabilitator who can.

Either way, do not attempt to feed the babies! Doing so can be harmful or fatal because they need a very particular set of nutrients from their mother’s milk. Do your best to keep them warm with soft bedding and dried grasses while you wait for further instructions from a professional.

Wild rabbits reproduce and grow incredibly fast, making it very likely that you’ll one day encounter a nest of babies. If you’re concerned about the health and well-being of these small creatures, follow the steps in this guide to determine whether they need your help.

Thank you to our friends at Wild Rescue Texas for their helpful guide to wild rabbits which was instrumental in researching this article.

The post How to Tell the Age of a Wild Rabbit (With Pictures) appeared first on Pets Bent.