Peter rabbit makes himself a home

Hi All;  
Got a new neighbor last year.   Built himself a house 1/2 mile up the mountain...
I went up one day last summer to check on my spring and what do I see ?   My new neighbor , with his grandchildren, releasing two bunny rabbits too "go live free little bunny's" at least that is what he told his grandkids...  cougars, owls, hawks, coyotes, skunks, racoons, even "they say" a few wolves. How free is it to be tossed in the roman coliseum with the lions...
Over the next month I went up to the spring a few times. Each time two bunny's were sticking close to his house, little piles of greens and carrot's put out for them to munch on.

Fast forward to the middle of winter.  Long way down the mountain to my place... As I walk to the woodshed one day I see a brown flash... sure enough, just one of those bunny's made it out of the coliseum and all the way to our house. He has made himself a home under our 1938 Hudson car.  After seeing him a few times I brought up a bale of hay from the barn so he had food and bedding.
Its been about a month now and "Peter Rabbit" has made himself quite the warren of tunnels and cubby's out by the shop. I can't help myself I'm a sucker for animals. Carrots , greens, He expects a treat from me now, every morning on my way to the shop... Peter makes it a point to be sitting in the trail begging for food :)
Its OK the golden retriever is old and although she likes to chase Peter there is NO CHANCE she will ever catch him...
Now as long as Jessica Rabbit stays away or leaves in disgust after realizing that Peter. .. well he's nice to look at … BUT... not really bunny daddy material.


Truth be told This could be Jessica Rabbit not Peter.  I haven't looked and see no need.  If it is a girl bunny than she is a bunny named Peter!  Possible new song for a country singer ???

That's pretty funny almost the same things happened at my place a couple of years ago, a neighbors pet rabbit got loose from her cage and later that summer there were eight little bunnies running around. The population basically goes up and down with the seasons, during the summer there can be up to 20 or so running around and during the winter they get reduced to just a handful. Last winter they were down to three and right now there is one. I have done the same thing I work at a restaurant so everyday I bring them home a pile of fruit and veggie scraps. For better or worse I couldn't help helping them they are pretty cute. Last year a fox was hanging around and nabbed a few and actually just this afternoon I saw a giant fox snooping around, it saw me a took off. I have heard about rabbit populations getting out of control in some scenarios but I've never personally witnessed it, their natural predators as well as the harsh winters here have pretty much kept them in check, I don't know what lies in store for this last little guy but I do know that nature will take it's course. As for your situation I would imagine the same thing. I would however count on those bunnies reproducing if there is a male and a female, I can vouch for the sayings about rabbits reproductive habits being true. Cute pics nonetheless!

here he is

Alas poor Peter I knew him well...  been about ten days now. Peter is not here... I left carrots in one of his runs a week ago. This morning I walked by and they were gone ! Looked closer and spotted a larger piece down low, little tiny mouse size nibbles...

Liz wanted to buy Peter rabbit chow, I said no way, he would not make it very long...   She is convinced he has moved on looking for better friends to hang out with...  you know friends who support Purina rabbit chow... and supply it to their new friend Peter

I have a slim hope that it is spring , the snow is mostly gone and Peter is off looking for Jessica or her sister , mom ,aunt ... ( I did find out from the neigbor that Peter was a boy and not fixed)
My heart tells me there is a fatter owl living nearby, could be a coyote but I haven't heard them much since breeding season.

Peter was becoming my shop bunny...  Iv'e had shop dogs many times , a shop cat or two as well, but never a shop bunny!  Some of my screw drivers have carrot colored handles... Peter was fasinated and frustrated by them ! Dammit they should be edible!
He would sit under a car in the shop , me running a rattle gun 18" away and he never even flinched! What a shop bunny!  Any wild greens and or orange colored vegtables that might attempt to move into the shop would have been  rabbit poop in no time!  Mice / flickers / tweety birds they were all OK with Peter ,well OK maybe the big flicker crashing about might have scared him a little.

I hope my shop bunny returns , lounging about, smoking a cigarette, daydreaming of cute girl bunnys...   Can you tell I miss Bunny Boy??

Aww hang in there there's a chance he's just searching for a little company. I feel the same way about mine though, it turns out that a different set of bunnies have been living over at the neighbors and two of them appeared at my place out of nowhere after not seeing them all winter. The neighbor is about 100 yards away and spring comes very late where I'm at but I always have bunny snacks so they seem to remember that. I'll miss my lil buddies too if they happen to get snatched but at least they've been given a fair shot.

Quite the surprise this afternoon.   Still no sign of Peter but a new bunny seems to be here!  Maybe its Jessica rabbit??  More likely it's the other male from up on the mountain.
Be Question … will Peter return as well ?
Or is this just a stop on the bunny underground railroad ??? We will see.

EDIT)  Hey I just realized that bunny looks an awful lot like Aarons bunny !!! Maybe his bunny up came to visit Peter! How nice!

Hi All;   Good news!   Peter Rabbit lives!    Buggys rabbit has not been very friendly and only sometimes is he in the yard looking for snacks.  He spends his time down in our field living around the old trucks and parts cars.

Yesterday I went out and who is sitting in the driveway...  hoping for carrots???   My shop bunny Peter!   Not owl chow yet!   Being as its spring now and feed is everywhere I suspect I won't see as much of Peter as I did when we had 3' of snow, but I hope he hangs around anyway !

if one bunny seems to hate another bunny does that mean they are both males? that is the case with my three now, one grey and two black and the grey has it out for one of the black ones. This whole time I've been unsure of the sexes of any of them. Glad to hear your shop bunny is back.

 Could be girls ... Blonde's dislike brunette's :)

My female bunny hates everyone and everything (and even makes this nasty grunty growling noise). From what I gather the nasty bunnies always seem to be the girls!

Hi All;  
Update on Peter rabbit.   He has only come by to visit that one time since he left.
Turns out he moved about 2 miles away (who knew bunny's traveled that far) Our neighbor stopped by and noticed B.bunny hopping about down in our field. Wanted to know if that brown bunny at their house was ours???  Well after checking, it sure was Peter.. she wanted us to take him home, said they were worried a coyote (Wile E) would get him!  After explaining she should talk to the NEW neighbor about releasing domestic rabbits where their are none she decided Peter could live where he wanted...  Funny thing is a noticed a bag of Purina Rabbit chow in their barn... seems Peter found better friends after all!

Funny story with no video, of B. Bunny down in our field.    Our field is part pasture and the rest is timber. From the house we can see down into the field very well. Bugsy was out munching in the open... when a doe wandered out of the timber.  She obviously had never seen a bunny before and thought trotting right over was a good way to introduce herself...  It was hilarious!  Bugsy's ears  swiveled instantly, and the dash was on.  Bunnys can run fast... So can deer... B. would dash under a truck … the doe would race over and peer underneath... bug's would then dash to the next vehicle in line … followed by the doe.  He finally made a heroic run across open field across the county road and up the hill to our barn...  The doe trotted after him until he escaped up the hill...

I'm sure that the doe was wondering just what that funny looking animal was....sure wasn't any of the barn cats that hang out in the field...

B. Bunny on the other hand is probably sure he just barely escaped with his life...  Sure wish I had a camera when that was happening!

Deer: That's the smallest, wierdest-looking deer I've ever seen in my life! Let's make friends!

Rabbit: I don't know what the fuck that thing is, but I'm not going to let it get close enough for a sniff. Goodbye, weird long-legged not-rabbit!

Oh, and as to differentiating between genders, I look for a big, fluffy dewlap on the females, right under their chins, where they shelter their kittens, when applicable. My Flemish Giant is fixed, and she still has hers, so it's not entirely dependent on breeding activity. But that might not be so cut-and-dried for smaller and wilder bunnies.

-CK