HELP ORPHAN RABBIT BABIES AND RETARDED MOTHER.

That is just TOO sweet! While I've never bred rabbits myself, I've had a litter of kittens and we breed our diamond doves and society finches at times. From what I've seen, things that we consider empathy (like bringing a human over to ask for help) are very distinctly tied to how bonded the mom/parents are to the humans of the household. If they don't trust their humans, they'll just do the best they can on their own and if they don't know what to do about a problem, they're more likely to give up. When a good human-parent bond exists, the mothers/parents seem far more doting. I, too, have had an animal ask for help and direct me to a situation. I really did put my foot in my mouth with the whole empathy comment, lol. Still, you can't blame a scared, first time mom who is scared and may not trust her human that much for appearing more concerned about herself than her kits.

Imbrium said:

That is just TOO sweet! While I've never bred rabbits myself, I've had a litter of kittens and we breed our diamond doves and society finches at times. From what I've seen, things that we consider empathy (like bringing a human over to ask for help) are very distinctly tied to how bonded the mom/parents are to the humans of the household. If they don't trust their humans, they'll just do the best they can on their own and if they don't know what to do about a problem, they're more likely to give up. When a good human-parent bond exists, the mothers/parents seem far more doting. I, too, have had an animal ask for help and direct me to a situation. I really did put my foot in my mouth with the whole empathy comment, lol. Still, you can't blame a scared, first time mom who is scared and may not trust her human that much for appearing more concerned about herself than her kits.

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Agreed
First time mommies need all the help they can get. Creating that bond and providing them with a nest, nutritious food and plenty of water is the best we can do.

To put another notion in humans heads; we've witnessed a mother cottontail defending her baby from a Cooper's hawk dive.

Instinct, or ability to feel sensitivity emotion (empathy) toward her litter of babies. Mom Cottontail informed her kits to "leave the nest" in the open area at ~ approx. 13-14 days young -- and scamper / hop like the dickens to the protected brush pile several yards away. The Mother Cottontail had to communicate to the vulnerable open-area babies that staying where a vagrant boxer dog had previously sniffed was Not advised. I was able to scare the boxer dog who didn't belong in our yard away!!! I estimate if she had no feelings for her kits she would not have communicated to them where the safer habitat was.

Amazing to witness her coming to nurse, then instructing her babies to go to the cove, and turning about to face the raptor's dive! We watched from the front door...

A real estate lady told us about the mother cottontail who chased after a crow, after the predator lifted her youngster from the nest or ground and carried away. Mom Cottontail chased as best she could --

I hope children at school do not refer to your child as retarded or stupid. Descriptions like this have no place in a caring society of (or for) humans/pets/or animals.

"Scared the two in the nest will die because Morphe is stupid." - kalaya r. from rochester quote

Update Q? How are the mom/s (unaltered females) and babies doing?

Wow this post is a bit of a rollercoaster. Honestly, do not hand rear your babies. I get that they are adorable and cute but you don't need to unless it is absolutely necessary. They will most likely die being handreared. I think you might have a male and female on your hands and the running around is your male trying to mate again. Otherwise it might be that the two females are not getting along. Not the best idea to keep them together. It is obviously causing them stress. Also, their babies should be in nesting boxes and not just littered around the cage. I posted a picture a little bit ago of one I made of cardboard. I would just move each litter, along with their current "nest" into a box with some hay and then place them with the mom in separated cages. If they are first time mom's it's okay for them to not know just yet what they are doing. Hope all is well

TreasuredFriend said:

I estimate if she had no feelings for her kits she would not have communicated to them where the safer habitat was.

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In all fairness, I feel like you may be anthropomorphizing a bit (attributing human characteristics or behavior to animals and such) - instinct is to protect offspring at all costs because of a biological drive to see your genes passed along to further generations. It's the same reason animals mate to begin with. I have no way of knowing whether or not there is also emotion involved the way there is with humans, but it doesn't prove or disprove emotion for a mom to protect her young from predators or teach them caution; it's a matter of wanting them and yourself to stay alive. The same animal parents who lovingly tend to their offspring may (in our minds, callously) at times leave certain offspring to die - if there isn't enough food/water available to rear them all to be as strong as possible, some animals will sacrifice the weakest offspring in order to provide better care for the strongest.

All-in-all, the scientific community seems to suggest a belief that most animals don't really have emotions and just act on instincts and desires... but I think most or all of us here have seen examples to the contrary. Perhaps emotion has more of a place in animals' brains when they're domesticated and don't spend every moment of the day worrying about predators, getting enough to eat/drink and/or reproducing and caring for offspring?