wild rabbit or drop off?

[redtailgal]

Looks like a Tennessee Redback, which people around here use to train hunting dogs. That's probably what got him, too.

Thats what I think, too. He looks like what round is called a "teaser bun". They are a captive bred rabbit, bred to look somewhat like a cottontail, but heavier and slower moving and used to train young dogs or dogs that need a "morale boost". The rabbits are released for the hounds to trail/chase/kill, a contentious hunter does this in a fenced area but not all are so careful. With the dogs that are worked being so young, usually a couple rabbits escape and are quickly killed by predators. This little guy got lucky.

They are usually poorly kept and poorly bred, so I'd be careful if you have other rabbits.

 

[WannaBeFarmR]

He's in the barn with the other rabbits but not near/in contact with them. I'll probably keep him as a resident rabbit since I already have a little peanut rabbit that I bottle feed and somehow it made it. But she is very small and doesn't have breeding in her future. Her name is beetle, I used to call her my little water beetle when she lived in the house because she had bug eyes and her legs were so spindly and always splayed out around her, so the name beetle just stuck. Shes 4 or 5 months old right now but no one thought she'd make it when they saw her as a kit, at one point she was 1/3 to 1/4 smaller then her litter mates. Shes still small but looks really healthy.

 

[pennylove]

He's in the barn with the other rabbits but not near/in contact with them. I'll probably keep him as a resident rabbit since I already have a little peanut rabbit that I bottle feed and somehow it made it. But she is very small and doesn't have breeding in her future. Her name is beetle, I used to call her my little water beetle when she lived in the house because she had bug eyes and her legs were so spindly and always splayed out around her, so the name beetle just stuck. Shes 4 or 5 months old right now but no one thought she'd make it when they saw her as a kit, at one point she was 1/3 to 1/4 smaller then her litter mates. Shes still small but looks really healthy.

Wow, that's the first I've ever heard of a peanut surviving! Do you have pictures of her? I would love to see.

 

[Bunnylady]

He's in the barn with the other rabbits but not near/in contact with them. I'll probably keep him as a resident rabbit since I already have a little peanut rabbit that I bottle feed and somehow it made it. But she is very small and doesn't have breeding in her future. Her name is beetle, I used to call her my little water beetle when she lived in the house because she had bug eyes and her legs were so spindly and always splayed out around her, so the name beetle just stuck. Shes 4 or 5 months old right now but no one thought she'd make it when they saw her as a kit, at one point she was 1/3 to 1/4 smaller then her litter mates. Shes still small but looks really healthy.

Wow, that's the first I've ever heard of a peanut surviving! Do you have pictures of her? I would love to see.

There are other genetic problems that can cause odd-looking kits, not just the dwarfing gene issue (one that I can think of right off the top is the Max factor). This may or may not be an incredibly rare case of a rabbit with two dwarfing genes that survived for more than a few days, but without genetic testing, it would be impossible to know for sure.

 

[WannaBeFarmR]

I can't find any pics of when she was really peanutty looking or any side by sides with her littermates, but heres a few I do have. She was all head for a while and her body didn't seem to put on any weight or muscle for the longest time she was constantly on her back and couldn't flip herself back over. I did a lot of strength training with her, and a few times I thought for sure she wasn't going to make it but today she is a healthy young rabbit.

Her hair was not wet in the pic it looked like that all the time, and it took forever for all her fur to come in.

Today she looks more like a really bad tan or something, all the others looked normal. Not sure why her ears and face turned out so long?

Heres her mom the babies are beetles brothers and sisters from a different litter, same dad a netherland dwarf.