Did you know?

• Colorado is home to three different species of cottontail rabbits; the mountain cottontail, the desert cottontail and the eastern cottontail.
• Cottontails are opportunistic herbivores. Cottontails love tasty, easy-to-eat plants such as garden vegetables and leafy landscaping.
• Cottontails are a prey species and rely on having lots of cover to escape would be predators.
• Cottontails do not excavate their own burrow, but they will take advantage of existing suitable cover such as brush piles, fence rows, foundation gaps and dense landscaping such as shrubby junipers.
• Under favorable conditions cottontails can raise as many as six litters in a year producing four to seven young per litter.

Tips for coexisting with rabbits:

• Reduce available habitat and food resources. Remove brush piles, stone piles, weedy patches and other debris where cottontails hide or live.
• Seal known access points under decks and foundations using buried hardware cloth or chicken wire.
• Planting rabbit resistant plants - generally plants with harsh flavors or physical barriers such as spines - can make your garden less attractive to cottontails.
• Protect landscaping from cottontail damage by installing selective fencing around individual plants, shrubs, trees or garden areas.