Rabbits love to dig – let’s find out why!

Rabbits dig a system of complex underground burrows called a warren.  The underground tunnels are just big enough for a rabbit to escape through in an emergency, but too small for large predators to follow.

Rabbits spend a lot of time in their underground homes.  Here they are protected from the cold and from their enemies.  The burrow is a safe, warm place for rabbits to sleep and rest, to digest their food and to give birth and rear their young.

Warrens become bigger as rabbits breed and continue to enlarge their system to underground tunnels.  Smaller warrens cover only a few acres of ground, but larger ones can be enormous and may spread over several fields and down as deep as 10 feet underground. Some warrens are over thirty years old.  If the warren gets overcrowded or damaged, the female rabbits make more tunnels.  They can build a new tunnel in just one night!