A first from watching a cottontail rabbit

Just before dark we watched a rabbit eating or licking from under a campfire ring. We assume it was after ashes?
Anyone seen this behavior before?

I have not but that makes me worry about that hemorrhagic disease. I’ve seen many animals lick patio stones and cinder blocks when they’re craving iron from loss of red blood cells. Not trying to panic you but that’s the first thing that came to mind

Salt?

I know domestic rabbit require salt supplements.

Bees prefer dirty water for its mineral content. So I'm sure other critters somehow know what trace elements they need and how to recognize it when they find it.

Hmm, iron hadn't thought of that. Fascinating how animals know this stuff.

Salt might be what they're after.
Back in the day , burning meat would give a salty taste.

I do burn most fleshing waste in the firepit also. I hope that is it

Fat possibly, even though rabbit is lean meat all critters need some form of carbs in their diet.

The rabbit looked very healthy. Maybe pregnant. Hopefully it's just wanting extra nutrients. Will watch for it acting sickly

I've seen squirrels do it too.

Keith

It is baby season soon!!!! Hopefully there will be fluffy bundles of joy bouncing around for you to worry about when you cut the grass!

I have seen snowshoes licking dirt on the roads several times .




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No worries. My semi domesticated rabbits like my ashes from my woodstove. Like chooks, and even the wild turkeys, who dust bathe in the ashes, mine have done the same thing. Ash is used as nutrient for plants and trees too, so I would say they like it for that. My rabbits are healthy and survive well roaming free on the estate. I feed them pellets and treats and can even pet them. But they’re still wild enough . I take care of any predators….

Sometimes I see song birds dusting in the ash too.

Wood ashes from the woodstove are used in winter in a pen to snare rabbits.
Very common way to catch lots of rabbits in one place.
Thought everybody knew that.

Had a hemp doormat that rabbits would chew on. Mostly young rabbits.

Back when I lived in the Rust Belt, I'd see groundhogs on the shoulder of the road in the spring with their nose in the dirt. My guess they were licking remnants of road salt.

That's exactly what they're doing.
Salt seems to be everywhere , why not in the ashes.
Have witnessed animals come from a ways off just to get some salt.
Ever seen a well head , with deer tracks everywhere around it in the mud caused by releasing pressure on the pump?
Weather induced salt water, or just salt from deep in the earth, it's released at the pump.
Modern day salt licks.
Sodium , isn't destroyed , it just goes with the flow.

Road salt

In my Beagle club, the guy's with running pens mix Flea and Tick powder in with the wood ash's for the Rabbits to dust bathe in. Really works too!

Big Bob, that's a brilliant idea. Sort of like the pill in the hamburger.

Kill two stones with one bird. ...

this reminds me of when a frog hopped out of our fire pit still alive but then died from shock or something.

No salt on these dirt roads .5 ft of snow all winter and not maintained ,along a ridge at 6000 ft . Lots of salt in the alkali sags in the valleys and prairies way below and far from these snowshoes .

What Boco said same here always know that rabbits (snowshoe hares) are attracted camp fire ashes. People sometimes used to set foot traps in camp fire ashes back in the day.

Seen them eating sand or gravel before

The rabbits must like the potassium hydroxide (potash) in the wood ash.
It probably helps them digest the coarse food they eat in winter.

Lots of mammals eat wood ash. I think it may help settle their stomach's or provide needed minerals. I have had rabbits chew bbq briquette charcoal (burned and unburned) and when I lived in the country I would often see large numbers of butterflies congregated in a cold fire pit... particularly just after a rain.