I’m sure I’ll be corrected if I’m wrong but I believe the life expectancy of outdoor rabbits is significantly shorter than house rabbits, and many don’t make it to maturity.

– Annette

If you mean why can’t a house rabbit live outdoors in a hutch, well they can but don’t expect them to live beyond 4-5 years. It is basically torment for the buns out there as they prefer warmth, free room to run and socializing with us peoples.

Now, if you’re asking why a house rabbit can’t survive outside in the wild, it is because it was never taught the survial skills needed. They will usually die rather soon and rather unpleasantly.

The above reasons are a big part of it. On top of that, the rabbits you’re thinking of are probably cottontails or hares, which are not technically the same animal as what we keep as pets– pet rabbits are descended from European rabbits, and they were specifically bred for tempermant and other things like size, color, hair type– all things that make them good pets, but make them too friendly and not well camoflauged enough to live outside. House rabbits, like house cats or domestic dogs, are not the same animals as their wild cousins, and therefore cannot live in the wild.

Think of it like dogs and wolves…Do you have a dog ih369?

Dogs can live outside, kept in runs or chained up…But they are much healthier and happier as a member of the family living inside and being looked after, and having proper veterinary care.

Dogs, if ‘set free’ in the country will not survive more then a few weeks as they are domestic animals and they don’t have the instincts wolves have right? So they can’t possibly cope with predators, find food and fend for themselves as they are domesticated and have been bred to be pets.

Wolves on the other hand are wild animals, who can and do survive outside in the wild. However, if you were to take a wolf out of the wild, spay/neuter him and look after him properly (ie. looking after his social needs, his excercise needs, his food needs, veterinary needs) then you would most expect him to live a lot longer then he would in the wild. This is because you are looking after him AND he no longer has the threat of disease of predation.

Does that analogy help you out? Think of Wolves as wild bunnies, and dogs as house bunnies.

Great!