Baby bunny eating pooh?

[kukupecpec]

I've got a little bunny girl - Darla - who has had some trouble. Fell out of the nest box at only a few days old and was lost for at least 3 feedings. The other little bunny that was lost with her didn't make it, Darla is half that size of her siblings and so I brought her in the house to live with us where we could keep a close eye on her.
She still nurses from mom twice a day, but it still very very small and bony. She acts happy and healthy and has an adorable little personality! She is now 4 weeks old.

Anyway, she's out roaming around my room and she keeps stopping to "clean her bottom" and then sits and chews. Is she pulling her pooh and eating it? If so, is this normal? Could these be cecals? I've only seen a cecal poop once when I was a very small child so am not really sure what I'm looking for.

Darla has unlimited access to water, pellets, and alfalfa hay. She gets a small amount of greens once or twice a day - usually a 5 or 6 stems of cilantro as thats what she seems to like best, although sometimes she gets a couple strawberry tops if I'm snacking on strawberries (she can smell them a mile away and will run up to my face and lick my lips, we just adore her!)

Here's a youtube video of her JUST now doing the weird pooh eating thing
http://youtu.be/r677PfKKIRo

 

[whiskylollipop]

Licking her bottom then chewing for a while is normal cecal-eating behaviour. But it is usually done maybe 3-5 times a day. It sounds like she is doing it very often? That would strike me as unusual. How often is she doing it?

 

[JBun]

Haha, cute! You have a little mountain climbing bun

Typically you will never see a rabbits cecotropes, as they are eaten directly from their bottom as they come out. So yes, when a rabbit reaches down to it's bottom and comes back up munching, that is their cecotropes that they are reingesting. So your little bun is doing a good job . Sometimes you will see an occasional cecotrope left behind. And sometimes with young, old, or ill rabbits, many cecotropes may be left uneaten. With young rabbits it is usually just due to their short attention spans.
http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/rabbit-digestive-system.asp

 

[squidpop]

Also, its actually good if she eats the moms cecotropes and poos- it is a way for her to get the right bacteria in her gut. I always notice that when my rabbits have babies the mom always leaves a few cecotropes for the babies in the morning- I'm convinced the mother rabbit does it on purpose for them to eat- because usually I never see them leave cecotropes- I only see them when there are babies.

 

[pani]

Sometimes I'll spot Clementine and Felix eating their cecals often, like 3-4 times in the space of several minutes; I assume it's one cecal and they just take several 'mouthfuls' to make sure they get it all. She's doing a good job!

 

[kukupecpec]

Oh good I'm glad this is normal and a good thing!!!
She doesn't sit still for very long, she is VERY active lol. This is the first time I've really just sat and watched her do that. When she sits in her cage she is usually in her hidey house or sleeping sprawled andstretched out. As soon as I look at her she knows and jumps up and starts running around!
I'm sure I've seen it before at a glance and just didn't really think about it, but I was sitting and just watching her climb and so I noticed the funny behavior. I'm glad this is good! I've NEVER seen that with my grown rabbits, how funny!

 

[glittermomma]

My little baby buns literally love jumping into the poop box to nosh on some of moms brownies lol they go crazy over them. At least now they can make it into the box where before they kind of were running dead smack into it haha. Never a dull day with baby bunnies eh

 

[ChocoClover]

They're just cecotrophs, bunnies naturally eat them from their bottoms.

 

[Deapea]

You're baby bunny sounds adorable.