I was out in the wilderness of my backyard just now, clearing brush away
from a little apple tree I put in this spring. When I got closer to the
tree I saw the ground around it looked funny, and when I got up to it I
saw that there was a sizeable burrow dug into the earth right next to it.

I grew up with woodchucks who lived in burrows like this eating our
vegetable garden, and this is the first year I've had anything nibble my
growing plants, but (so far) it's been just the zucchini leaves. The
lettuce is totally untouched.

I don't know that we have woodchucks in the city -- I'm within the city
limits of Boston but in an area where we have decent sized yards (mine
is 7000 sq ft) and can garden -- but we do have raccoons and possums.
Do either of those burrow? There's also a small colony of feral cats
whom my neighbors and I help care for. They live comfortably with the
other wildlife, except of course for the birds. Of course I know that
cats don't burrow! ;-)

A clue may have been given to me by one of the young girls who live on
my street and like to come in to talk to me while I'm out gardening.
Apparently a large white pet rabbit with blue eyes (name given but I
forgot it) escaped from a house down the end of my street a while ago.
She said it's a big rabbit, but this burrow is about the size of a
woodchuck burrow, and them succkers is bigger than any bunny *I* have
ever seen!

What do folks think? What time of day would be best for my catching a
glimpse of it if it's a bunny? The wilderness of my backyard is *very*
overgrown, so I may not be able to catch a glimpse. I know! I'll have
to look for scat.

What would I bait a Hav-a-Hart trap with to catch it? It's still early
summer, but if it's a former pet rabbit it'll need to be retrieved
before it gets cold in the fall. I'm sure it's not ready to
over-winter.

Do possums burrow?

Any and all ideas would be welcome. The mystery of the summer! And it
damn well stay away from my tomatoes or there may be rabbit stew on my
stove. [Kidding.]

Thanks!

Priscilla
--
"Inside every older person is a younger person -- wondering what
the hell happened." -- Cora Harvey Armstrong

"Priscilla Ballou" wrote in message
...
I was out in the wilderness of my backyard just now, clearing brush away
from a little apple tree I put in this spring. When I got closer to the
tree I saw the ground around it looked funny, and when I got up to it I
saw that there was a sizeable burrow dug into the earth right next to it.

I grew up with woodchucks who lived in burrows like this eating our
vegetable garden, and this is the first year I've had anything nibble my
growing plants, but (so far) it's been just the zucchini leaves. The
lettuce is totally untouched.

I don't know that we have woodchucks in the city -- I'm within the city
limits of Boston but in an area where we have decent sized yards (mine
is 7000 sq ft) and can garden -- but we do have raccoons and possums.
Do either of those burrow? There's also a small colony of feral cats
whom my neighbors and I help care for. They live comfortably with the
other wildlife, except of course for the birds. Of course I know that
cats don't burrow! ;-)

A clue may have been given to me by one of the young girls who live on
my street and like to come in to talk to me while I'm out gardening.
Apparently a large white pet rabbit with blue eyes (name given but I
forgot it) escaped from a house down the end of my street a while ago.
She said it's a big rabbit, but this burrow is about the size of a
woodchuck burrow, and them succkers is bigger than any bunny *I* have
ever seen!

What do folks think? What time of day would be best for my catching a
glimpse of it if it's a bunny? The wilderness of my backyard is *very*
overgrown, so I may not be able to catch a glimpse. I know! I'll have
to look for scat.

What would I bait a Hav-a-Hart trap with to catch it? It's still early
summer, but if it's a former pet rabbit it'll need to be retrieved
before it gets cold in the fall. I'm sure it's not ready to
over-winter.

Do possums burrow?

Any and all ideas would be welcome. The mystery of the summer! And it
damn well stay away from my tomatoes or there may be rabbit stew on my
stove. [Kidding.]

Thanks!

Priscilla

Hi Priscilla

Good question whether that burrow is a woodchuck or a rabbit den. There
are rabbits as pets that easily go 14 -18 lbs, and those back legs on a
rabbit can dig pretty darn well!

In heavy cover, your chances of seeing the 'rodent' really aren't great as
long as there is food in the brush. You may find greater predation in your
yard and garden as "whoever" becomes more bold and hungry, and especially if
there are young in the picture.

Pet Rabbits , even if gone feral, can be easily baited with quartered
apples, fresh carrots ( the carrot greens are favorite grazing treats).
Rabbits willl also follow the scent of their solid waste to return to their
home hutch, so if the owners were composting their rabbit waste, some of
that in or around the Hav a Hart would be a bonus. A hutch-kept rabbit
will not be spooked by a metal Hav a Hart trap, will think it is 'Home".

OTOH if it is a 'chuck, the carrots and apples will be perfectly good bait
too.

Good luck!

Sue
Western Maine

In article ,
"Sue in Western Maine" wrote:

Good question whether that burrow is a woodchuck or a rabbit den. There
are rabbits as pets that easily go 14 -18 lbs, and those back legs on a
rabbit can dig pretty darn well!

I'm starting to abandon the possibility of it being a woodchuck. I
think Bugs or Peter or Esther (Easter? Get it?) has taken up residence
in my back jungle. I just hope I haven't scared it off by deforesting
some of the area around its burrow.

Do rabbit burrows have multiple entrances like woodchucks'?

In heavy cover, your chances of seeing the 'rodent' really aren't great as
long as there is food in the brush. You may find greater predation in your
yard and garden as "whoever" becomes more bold and hungry, and especially if
there are young in the picture.

Pet Rabbits , even if gone feral, can be easily baited with quartered
apples, fresh carrots ( the carrot greens are favorite grazing treats).
Rabbits willl also follow the scent of their solid waste to return to their
home hutch, so if the owners were composting their rabbit waste, some of
that in or around the Hav a Hart would be a bonus. A hutch-kept rabbit
will not be spooked by a metal Hav a Hart trap, will think it is 'Home".

OTOH if it is a 'chuck, the carrots and apples will be perfectly good bait
too.

Good luck!

Thanks, Sue! Actually I'm considering putting out rabbitty food in a
place I can see on a regular basis, hoping to lure it out into the open.
I'm always buying more greens etc. than I can eat, so I can spare a
little for the critter. Carrot tops are a good idea.

I don't think this was a hutch-kept rabbit but rather a house pet. It
may be operating on instincts alone right now. There are wild rabbits
somewhere around these parts, so I hope this one has been neutered,
particularly if it's female. I am *not* adding rabbits to my current
menagerie, despite the fact that I'm a total sucker for baby animals.
*sigh* That's how I moved from three cats to four.

Priscilla
--
"Inside every older person is a younger person -- wondering what
the hell happened." -- Cora Harvey Armstrong

Priscilla Ballou wrote:


What would I bait a Hav-a-Hart trap with to catch it? It's still early
summer, but if it's a former pet rabbit it'll need to be retrieved
before it gets cold in the fall. I'm sure it's not ready to
over-winter.


Thanks!


I recommend Peanut butter for a bait. It gets most all critters
attention.

Kenny

Priscilla Ballou wrote:
I don't think this was a hutch-kept rabbit but rather a house pet. It
may be operating on instincts alone right now. There are wild rabbits
somewhere around these parts, so I hope this one has been neutered,
particularly if it's female.

Domesticated rabbits are a Eurasian species, Oryctolagus cuniculus. In
the eastern US, the wild rabbits are cottontails, Sylvilagus
floridanus. I doubt they can hybridize. European rabbits are usually
social, unlike the solitary cottontails, so I'm not sure how long a
single escaped rabbit would survive.

European rabbits dig burrows, but Cottontails do not. So, if you have
found a rabbit burrow, it is almost certainly made by the escaped pet.
My money would be on groundhogs, though. Is it possible you have found
an abandoned burrow?

wrote:
Priscilla Ballou wrote:

I don't think this was a hutch-kept rabbit but rather a house pet. It
may be operating on instincts alone right now. There are wild rabbits
somewhere around these parts, so I hope this one has been neutered,
particularly if it's female.


Domesticated rabbits are a Eurasian species, Oryctolagus cuniculus. In
the eastern US, the wild rabbits are cottontails, Sylvilagus
floridanus. I doubt they can hybridize. European rabbits are usually
social, unlike the solitary cottontails, so I'm not sure how long a
single escaped rabbit would survive.

When we were kids, my cousin's rabbit escaped. We saw it for several
years in the field behind their house.

A

In article . com,
wrote:

Priscilla Ballou wrote:
I don't think this was a hutch-kept rabbit but rather a house pet. It
may be operating on instincts alone right now. There are wild rabbits
somewhere around these parts, so I hope this one has been neutered,
particularly if it's female.

Domesticated rabbits are a Eurasian species, Oryctolagus cuniculus. In
the eastern US, the wild rabbits are cottontails, Sylvilagus
floridanus. I doubt they can hybridize. European rabbits are usually
social, unlike the solitary cottontails, so I'm not sure how long a
single escaped rabbit would survive.

European rabbits dig burrows, but Cottontails do not. So, if you have
found a rabbit burrow, it is almost certainly made by the escaped pet.
My money would be on groundhogs, though. Is it possible you have found
an abandoned burrow?

It wasn't there a couple of months ago when I planted the little apple
tree.

Priscilla
--
"Inside every older person is a younger person -- wondering what
the hell happened." -- Cora Harvey Armstrong

In article .com,
"Kenny" wrote:

Priscilla Ballou wrote:


What would I bait a Hav-a-Hart trap with to catch it? It's still early
summer, but if it's a former pet rabbit it'll need to be retrieved
before it gets cold in the fall. I'm sure it's not ready to
over-winter.


Thanks!


I recommend Peanut butter for a bait. It gets most all critters
attention.

Thanks. I'll try the carrot tops and apples first, since I don't think
I have any peanut butter, and I'd hate to buy a whole jar and discover
the bunny (assuming that's what it is) doesn't like it.

Priscilla
--
"Inside every older person is a younger person -- wondering what
the hell happened." -- Cora Harvey Armstrong

Priscilla Ballou wrote:
In article . com,
wrote:
European rabbits dig burrows, but Cottontails do not. So, if you have
found a rabbit burrow, it is almost certainly made by the escaped pet.
My money would be on groundhogs, though. Is it possible you have found
an abandoned burrow?

It wasn't there a couple of months ago when I planted the little apple
tree.

*sigh* When I was watering this morning I saw that whatever it is had
almost totally defoliated three zucchini plants, and one head of lettuce
was eaten down to a nub. Time to get a trap. :-(

Priscilla