9707 Craun Road, Dewitt, Michigan 48820, United States
Rabbits
One bad bunny free to terrorize a field of grass.
Soybeans snipped off by feeding rabbits. Trap and relocate!
Found throughout the state, eastern cottontail rabbits are most common in southern Michigan landscapes. Cottontails pretty low on the food chain and they require a large mix of habitats including sparsely forested areas, brushy thickets, dry and grassy wetland edges, hayfields, grassy cornfields, brushy fencerows, and to the concern of fruit and vegetable growers, densely planted orchards and gardens for food and shelter.
Rabbits need a good supply of food and cover throughout the year. Without an adequate source of food they will turn to landscape plants, and may cause considerable damage. They also need adequate winter and escape cover. This cover includes protected woodlots, rock or brush piles, hollow logs, shrub thickets, low-growing evergreens, woodchuck holes, and other abandoned dens. Here, they hide from predators and seek shelter from bad weather. Distinct "runways" sometimes lead to and from these hiding places. Corridors of cover, such as brushy fencerows or grassy strips that link larger habitats, will also help to increase cottontail numbers. The corridors need only be five to fifteen yards wide.
Although the cottontail’s home range may vary from one to sixty acres, it is typically small, averaging six to eight acres for males and two to three acres for females. Young rabbits may move two or three miles in an effort to find suitable habitat, and once they find it they lead a fairly solitary life.