What Do Wild Rabbits Eat

What Do Wild Rabbits Eat?

ByNato Lagidze

Have you ever seen rabbits peacefully grazing on grass in a field? They look so pretty, munching the vegetation. Or maybe you love rabbits and want to learn more about them? Anyway, since you came across this article, you must be wondering what do wild rabbits eat. 

It might be challenging to identify what do wild rabbits eat because they feed primarily around dawn and twilight. In this article, we will discuss eating habits as well as what do wild rabbits eat. 

What Do Wild Rabbits Eat?

Wild rabbits will start with the plant area with the most nitrogen. They choose items that are quick and simple to eat. The typical wild rabbit may seek another food source if a leaf is extremely hard and takes some time to shred.

Weeds and Grass

So, what do wild rabbits eat? Since they are grazing animals, rabbits may forage wherever there is grass. Grass and weeds make up around 80% of a rabbit’s diet. When eating from the ground, rabbits will also consume weeds and clover growing alongside the grass.

Because they mostly consume grass, rabbits have access to a food source all year. As a result of this, they do not need hibernation in the winter. 

Favorite types of grass for rabbits include:

  • Timothy grass
  • Orchardgrass
  • Bromegrass
  • Meadow grass
  • Bermuda grass

Those little creatures eat a pretty high amount of grass each day. This is due to the nutrients it contains, which are essential for maintaining healthy digestion. Rabbits may naturally maintain a clean mouth by chewing continuously. 

Barks and Twigs

When winter comes, the rabbits must modify their diet to survive. When this happens, they start to incorporate twigs, tree bark, and pine needles. Since rabbits don’t hibernate throughout the winter, they have to locate a food source. Grass and other green plants are significantly harder to discover than woody plants. Eating a lot of grass might be difficult, especially when there is snow on the ground or if it is frozen.

Twigs and bark give rabbits nutrition and fiber that maintain a healthy digestive system. The rabbit’s teeth are automatically trimmed by these meals’ hardness. These foods require more chewing, which can provide rabbits with the same chewing sensation as consuming a lot of grass.

Flowers

Rabbits will use flowers as a dietary supplement. A rabbit typically consumes wildflowers that it comes upon while grazing on the grass. Flowers may provide rabbits with delicious or fragrant pleasure. Thus, they greatly like eating them. 

Some flowers are not healthy for rabbits, and others might irritate their stomachs. If a rabbit experiences this, it will often stop eating a specific type. The consumption of some marigold species by rabbits is a prime illustration of this.

Wild rabbits are likely to nibble on blooms if they are in your yard. Young bunnies are very interested and will munch on the majority of flowers. However, the petals may be affected just as severely as the stems and buds.

So, what do wild rabbits eat? As for the flower species, those little creatures enjoy eating: 

Vegetables and Fruit

Contrary to common perception, rabbits do not only eat carrots for food. In actuality, rabbits in the wild don’t consume any root vegetables. In terms of veggies, rabbits prefer to eat legumes and leafy greens.  

Even though carrots, celery, cherries, and vegetables are delicious treats for rabbits, they are also heavy in sugar and lack the nutrients that rabbits require. Fiber is also crucial, which is also lacking in those vegetables. 

A rabbit is highly likely to eat certain fruits in the wild, although it will typically couple them with other adjacent plants. To make sure it can digest the meal properly, it could consume additional roots or other roughages. 

So, among the vegetables and fruit, what do wild rabbits eat? 

Rather than eating the actual veggies, rabbits prefer to consume the leaves. The crops on farms and vegetable gardens in backyards are particularly at risk from rabbits that graze at night. 

A small to medium-sized vegetable crop can be quickly destroyed by a group of those little animals.  Rabbits will also consume a number of nutrients and vitamin-rich plants. Some plants’ powerful odors or aromas do not seem to put them off.

As for the herbs, those little fluffies enjoy eating:

What Do Wild Rabbits Eat as Babies? 

Mothers will feed their newborn kits rabbit breast milk for the first four weeks after birth. Around this time, young bunnies will start eating solid food themselves. A nursing rabbit only eats once a day for around five minutes. Typically, mothers feed their babies in the early morning. 

The purpose of the brief feeding intervals is to prevent predators from following you to the nest. When feeding young bunnies, female rabbits are frequently pregnant with their following litter.

What Do Wild Rabbits Eat In Fall And Winter? 

The food starts to become limited when the cold weather hits in the winter. So, it is interesting what do wild rabbits eat during the fall and winter. But there should still be enough plants available for rabbits to consume. Those little animals will eat grass in addition to everything about to come into the season.

Once more, you might be shocked at how much grass a rabbit can consume in a single day. Due to the low nutritional value of grass, they need to eat lots of it. A wild rabbit frequently needs to consume approximately 300 calories in just one day. Only in this case will they get enough nutrition.

A rabbit may need to consume approximately 2 pounds of grass every day because 0.2 pounds of grass only contain about 33 calories. Although it is doubtful that it will consume more than 2 pounds of food, this will indicate how many calories wild rabbits need for proper development. 

In winter, rabbits do not eat as much food as other months. Well, one of the reasons is that it is not available. Even though the ground may be covered with snow, rabbits still consume a lot of grass throughout the winter. To reach new vegetation, some rabbits may jump into low shrubs and parts of the foliage.

Although they like the fresh leaves the most and look for them even in bad weather, they will consume dry plants if available. If you have ever seen a rabbit burrowing in white snow, it is likely looking for vegetation to eat.

They will consume the roots of different plants and even tree bark if there is no foliage around them. They can remove an unexpectedly large quantity of bark, which is frequently harmful if it occurs in a garden. One rabbit won’t often cause much harm, but several rabbits could.

When do Wild Rabbits eat?

We discussed what do wild rabbits eat, yet it is also interesting when they eat. For the most part, rabbits feed during dawn and dusk. The best periods for them to emerge from their burrow or dense undergrowth and feed are during these hours. This is mainly because during dawn and dusk. The predators are not very active. Additionally, predators have trouble spotting those little creatures because of the poor light. 

Wild rabbits munch ferociously when the sun is about to come out or after it goes down. They frequently go back to the same spot every day, so they are already familiar with the location of their preferred plants. Until the place is no longer safe, they will move more slowly and selectively after they feel full. 

Rabbits graze for a total of two thirty-minute sessions per day. Of course, the location and season will affect this schedule. Due to the scarcity of food and the requirement to locate water, those little creatures may spend more or less time grazing. 

During heavy eating, the rabbits emit firm fecal pellets. They do, however, expel “cecotropes” while they are sleeping. These excrements are actually very high in nutrition. They play a significant role in rabbits’ ability to endure the hard winter months with minimal food.

Water Requirements for Wild Rabbits

The only important question here is not what do wild rabbits eat. Water is also an important part of this creature’s diet. Therefore, it is also needed to know what kind of water needs those animals have. 

Water is crucial for wild rabbits’ nutrition. Maintaining weight in a rabbit depended more on water than food consumption. Scientific research was held over this meter. The results showed that, relative to the ordinary bunny, rabbits were given plenty of food but little water lost a lot of weight.

This is caused by the unique digestive system of the rabbit. And, as it turns out, a large amount of water is needed for the diet to digest the food properly.

Bottom Line – What Do Wild Rabbits Eat? 

In this article, we discussed what do wild rabbits eat. Wild rabbits are herbivore eaters. Therefore, they typically graze on plants, weeds, and grass to get their food. They can sneak into the gardens and eat the vegetables and flowers if available. When food supplies are limited in the winter, those fluffy animals consume twigs, tree bark, and even pine needles.