Number 7

HABITAT REQUIREMENTS
Cottontails live throughout the South
from bottomlands and marshes to
the highest mountain balds. They
thrive in openings wherever shrubs,
grasses, and forbs dominate.
Cottontails are commonly found in
old homesites, abandoned orchards,
broom sedge fields, sumac patches,
honeysuckle thickets, and brush
piles.
Food
Cottontails diet consists of a variety
of plants from many sources.

Cover
Cottontails prefer open areas with low
ground cover of shrubs and
herbaceous vegetation. Tunnel holes,
briar patches, and brush piles are
needed for escape cover. Nests are
usually in grass or herbaceous cover.
Interspersion of cover types, or small
areas in close proximity, is ideal for
rabbits.
Cottontails are a food source for many
mammalian and avian predators.
Cottontails can generally withstand
heavy predation if suitable habitat and
cover is present.

Succulent herbaceous materials,

buds, bark, fruit, seeds, and foliage
of woody plants are the mainstay of
the cottontail rabbit.

Rabbit Foods

Distributed in furtherance
of the acts of Congress of
May 8 and June 30, 1914.
Employment and program
opportunities are offered to
all people regardless of
race, color, national origin,
sex, age, or disability.
North Carolina State
University, North Carolina
A & T State University, US
Department of Agriculture,
and local governments

Red Clover
Kentucky Bluegrass
Cereal Grains
Korean Lespedeza
New Jersey Tea
Sassafras

Alfalfa
Soybean
Gallberry
Dandelion
Locust
Sumac

Cottontail Rabbit

Nests are dug in the ground and lined

with grass and loose fur. Nests are
relatively small, about 4" across and 4"
deep. The female rabbit, or doe
typically has 2 or 3 litters per season
with 3-8 rabbits per litter. After
brooding, the nest is abandoned.
North Carolina
Cooperative Extension Service
North Carolina State University
College of Agriculture & Life Sciences
College of Forest Resources

Page 2

Water
Succulent plants and dew provide the daily
requirements for water. Although open
water may be readily used, it is not a
necessary element of their habitat.
Home Range
The home range of female cottontails is
about 20 acres during breeding season
and 15 acres in fall and winter. Adult
males range up to 100 acres or more.
Juveniles cover an average of 9 acres in
late summer and up to 15 acres in fall.

9-94-4M-WWW-7
N.C. Cooperative Extension Service

TIPS FOR IMPROVING

RABBIT HABITAT
General:
Create small stands (10 to 20 acres)
close to fields, swamps, and streams

Thin pine stands frequently (3 to 5 years)

to stimulate understory growth

Use prescribed burning in pine types

during winter months

Conduct predator control where trapping

and game laws allow

Keep pets (cats and dogs) confined

especially during nesting periods

Working With Wildlife # 7 - Cottontail Rabbit

Page 3

Direct Improvements:

Maintain openings and create brush piles

along edges

Use a brush mower to clear briar thickets

every 2 to 3 years, or leave strips of
continuous cover

Create "live" brush piles by cutting the

base of saplings halfway through and
staking the tree top to the ground
(cedars, hollys, etc.)

Daylight forest roads by removing trees

along road edges to stimulate herbaceous
plants and brush regrowth
Brush Pile

Species That Benefit From Rabbit Management

Numerous game and nongame species benefit from rabbit management practices. Management
plans should emphasize the communities that are associated with rabbits, rather than rabbits alone.
The following species are common rabbit associates:
Quail
White-tailed Deer
Gray Fox
Yellow-breasted Chat
Black Rat Snake

Field Sparrow
Red-tail Hawk
Meadowlark
Indigo Bunting
Cotton Rat
Red Fox

Cost share assistance may be available through the Stewardship Incentive Program for these
practices. See your Wildlife Biologist, Forester, or Extension Agent for more information about the
Forest Stewardship Program.

Prepared by:
Mark Megalos, Extension Forestry Specialist
Michael S. Mitchell, Graduate Research Assistant
Edwin J. Jones, Department Extension Leader

9-94-4M-WWW-7

Page 4

Cottontail Rabbit illustration page 1 courtesy of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

Other Wildlife Notes Available:

No. 1 - Endangered Species
No. 14 - Snags and Downed Logs
No. 2 - Eastern Gray Squirrel
No. 15 - Managing Edges for Wildlife
No. 3 - White-tailed Deer
No. 16 - Building Songbird Boxes
No. 4 - Songbirds
No. 17 - Woodland Wildlife Nest Boxes
No. 5 - Wild Turkey
No. 18 - Low Cost Habitat Improvements
No. 6 - Wood Duck
No. 19 - Pools for Amphibians
No. 7 - Cottontail Rabbit
No. 20 - Hummingbirds and Butterflies
No. 8 - Bobwhite Quail
No. 21 - Bats
No. 9 - Ruffed Grouse
No. 22 - Owls
No. 10 - Black Bear
No. 23 - Managing Beaver Ponds
No. 11 - Raccoon
No. 24 - Herbaceous Plants for Wildlife
No. 12 - Mourning Dove
No. 25 - SIP Wildlife Opportunities
No. 13 - Wildlife Terms

FOREST STEWARDSHIP
a cooperative program for
improving and maintaining all of the
resources on private forestland
9-94-4M-WWW-7