Rabbit question

[matt c]

For those of you that raise rabbits. What is the the rabbit that runs closest to a cottontail? Any certain cross or breed. I am looking into raising some for pups and as a hobby. Any input will be greatly appreciated.

[Eva's Beagles]

Around here the San Juans don't want to run, and they dig holes everywhere. The ones called Missouri cottontails seem to run real well, but the pups seem to have a hard time smelling them all the time. The Belgiums, or Belgians, whichever they are, seem to have a better smell but don't want to run well. I had real good luck with crossing a Belgian buck with Missouri does. They ran great and pups could smell them better. Last year all my experienced does let their litters die for whatever reason, so there is that issue as well. Lately we have been catching cottontails and putting them in the pen. This always works best.

Never tried the Knotheads or Smokies.

Hope this helps some.

Brian

[old thumper]

Hav'nt tried many of the others, but i have good luck with crossing san juann with tenn. redback. Just gotta leave them on the ground for about a week for them to get they're legs under them and then they run pretty simalar to a cottontail. Most of my dogs have alot of branko in them and are fairly fast and i have one pup that will catch one every now and then so she has moved on to the wild ones. lol

[Rcoff]

Swampers. Flat out. Run like a cottontail, pups switch over to wild cottontail without skipping a beat. They are a little bigger, is all.
Thanks,
Bob

[matt c]

Swampers. Flat out. Run like a cottontail, pups switch over to wild cottontail without skipping a beat. They are a little bigger, is all.
Thanks,
Bob

What kind of swamper? Can you raise them?

[HatterasBob]

A biology lesson is in order.
1st - Swampers are the largest cottontail (local breeding population), and as such are very difficult to breed captively
2nd - All non cottontail or snowshoe hare are domesticated rabbits originating from the European Hare, this includes the San Juans, Knothead, etc.
3rd - San Juan's will run pretty good if left outdoors in a pen for some time, i've had them last 6 months in a pen and a broke dog wouldn't catch them, at least for a while. The big issue I see with San Juans is that they lay down when tired, not a big deal with puppies but will get them eaten with a broke dog
Knotheads and Missouri are San Juans breed with something else like a Belgium. Some say Belgiums run pretty well. I think it is all about getting young rabbits into the pen early and keep them from getting eaten. I have fox, owls and redtail hawks giving me fits. I put 15 San Juans into my pen went on vacation fot 2 weeks and couldn't find 1 on my return. I high fence with electric will help for fox.

[NorWester1]

Perhaps you could provide your source for such information???
To the best of my knowledge snowshoe hares are not descended from domesticated rabbits or Eurpoean Hares. Domesticated rabbits I believe are descended from the european cottontail.

[Rcoff]

Hatterasbob is partly right, as domestic rabbits all come from England, but they are not hares. A hare and a rabbit are 2 different animals, and will not inter breed. A Belgin Hare is a rabbit, not a true hare. Look it up. My Swampers are domestic rabbits bread to RUN and are hardy, although they will not interbreed secesfully with eastern cottentail. I have turned 5 week old swampers out and ran 5 month old pups on them the next day and they couldn't catch them. Now I only ran the pups on them for 15 minutes the first day as the young rabbits were fresh out of a 30inch x 36 inch pen. And to answer the next question, yes you can breed them in captivity if you are careful with them. They are not like tame rabbits, as they came from wild rabbits in England. Call me to get on my waiting list if you want some. I've got guys coming back that have tried my rabbits and love them.
Thanks,
Bob

Hatterasbob,
Try hanging blank cd's around your pen or area for hawks and owls. Let the wind blow them back and forth so the sun and moon will reflect off of them. I did that and they hate them. Hope it helps.

[HatterasBob]

You got me, I miss spoke. All domestic rabbits (San Juans, Knotheads, belgiun, etc) are decendents of the European rabbit (not the European Hare) sorry. All rabbits belong to the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha. There are eight different genuses of rabbit. The Cottontail, domestic rabbit and the Snowshoe hare all belong to different genuses. In order for rabbits to interbreed they MUST belong to the same species, that is the definition. Genus is above species so these 3 types of rabbits can NOT interbreed. Period!!!! All domestic rabbits will interbreed. The Swamp rabbit is a large Cottontal and as such will only interbreed with Cottontails and bluetails, marsh rabbits. Anyone that says they have a San Juan / Cottontail mix is stoned. The Showshoe hare is the same genus as the European Hare and will NOT breed with anything else. OK yes they will breed, but by definition of species no offspring will be produced. So, where did the Swamper come from? It was a geographicly isolated breeding population that developed unique chararistics (like size or blue tails) but when reintroduced with others from this species will product offspring. Again, San Juans and Cottontails crosses will not produce offspring, only cottontails and cottontails. I has a long talk about this with Mel Faust several years ago. He said occassionaly he would see a tweener cottontails were both Swamper and Cpttontail exist. They were smaller than a Swamper but bigger than a Cottontail and then they would disappear in a few years. If the tweener breeds with a Cottontail then the result is a little bigger Cottontail and likewise if it breeds with a Swamper then the result is a little bit smaller Swamper and the tweener disappears. Believe it or not it just science. Read below for yourself.

[urlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swamp_Rabbit][/url]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_rabbit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowshoe_hare

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit

[urlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reproductive_isolation][/url]

[Rcoff]

Yep, your right.
Thanks,
Bob