Did You Know?... Interesting Facts About Rabbits
- Rabbits are not rodents, they are lagomorphs.
- A female rabbit is a doe.
- When the doe gives birth (kindling) her babies the babies are called a litter.
- The gestation period for a rabbit averages 31 days.
- A rabbits teeth never stop growing.
- The American Rabbit Breeders Association has 45 recognized breeds of
rabbits.
- The ARBA has over 30,000 members
- Rabbits can be litter trained
- A pet rabbit can live as long as 12 years.
- Bunnies get weaned at about 6-8 weeks of age.
- Adult bunnies can weigh between 2 lbs - 20 lbs depending on breed
- Rabbits can purr similar to a cat
- Domesticated rabbits are born without fur
- Domesticated rabbits eyes and ears do not open until they are about 2
weeks old
- Rabbits need hay to assist the digestive system and prevent fur balls in their
stomach
- A group of rabbits is called a herd
- Mothers typically only feed their kits about 5 minutes a day
- Rabbit meat is lower in fat, cholesterol and calories than chicken, pork and
beef
- Rabbit meat is all white meat
- Rabbit droppings make an excellent garden fertilizer
- A 4 pound rabbit will drink as much water as a 20 pound dog
- Bunnies love to chew. Rabbits teeth continually grow
- Rabbits can jump 36″ and higher
- Rabbits can suffer heat stroke
- Rabbits can see behind them, but have blind spot in front of their face that
runs down their backs. Rabbits do not have good eyesight up close.
- When rabbits are happy, they will jump and twist and this is called a binky
- Rabbits can start breeding as early as 3-4 months of age
- Predators can literally scare a rabbit to death
- Does will pull fur when pregnant to assist in the building of their nest
- Rabbits can have false pregnancies Rabbits may scatter their kits on the
wire which causes the babies die from exposure. Rabbits may also eat their
babies, leaving body parts on the wire.
- Domestic rabbits cannot breed with wild American rabbits. Domestic rabbits
will die if released into the wild.
- The only place a rabbit sweats is through the pads on its feet
- Rabbits eat their own night droppings called cecotropes
- Rabbits are in a category called refection. This means that they eat their
droppings because there is indigestible vegetable matter that is absorbed
with certain bacteria. If you rabbit leaves some droppings in his/her bowl, this
is the reason why.
- Did you know pointed color rabbits such as blue point change color on their
points or markings by the weather? Colder weather makes the points darker
while warmer weather makes them lighter.
- Rabbits are crepuscular, which means they are active in the mornings and
evenings, but spend most of the day asleep or relaxing.
- Rabbits in the wild live in families in warrens. Each rabbit would have it's own
hole under ground to which it can retire. The holes would be connected by
tunnels with the rabbits making burrows and nests underground. Rabbit
breeders call their individual cages or sections which hold a single rabbit
"holes". So when you see the term holes used with the allotted number of
holes listed, this is where the term is taken from.
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