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Wee Wabbits

Wee Wabbits

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Mar 2, 2007
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Location
Midcoast, Maine, USA
Hey, can some one help me. I just hada new rabbit that has never had babies, give birth to 8 healthy bigbabies. Unfortunately I wasn't home, and since she is a newmom she killed half of them. Didn't pull fur, or put them inthe nest, just had them all over her cage floor. I havebottle raise kits before. Just wondering, should I put themin the nest and try giving them back to her and watching her, or shouldI bottle feed them. I have a another doe that was suppossedto be due today, but I think she may have had a false pregnancy so shehasn't had any as of yet. Won't give up hope on that tillSaturday. So what should I do. Thanks.
 
Are the kits warm? Are they still in the mom's cage? Did the mom make a nice nest?

The first thing I would do is make sure the kits feel warm to thetouch. Take the nest box out of the mom's cage, and put the warmed kitsin it. If the mom didn't pull fur or make a nest, you will have to makea makeshift one. Line shavings, shredded paper, straw on the bottom andput hay on top. Nestle the babies in the middle of it and surround themwith the mom's fur.

If the babies did get cold- you may have to keep a heating lamp on themor a heating pad under them for the first few hours, as they caninitally have a hard time regulating their temperature.

In the morning, take the nest with the babies in it out to the mom andput them in her cage. Mostly likely she'll jump right in and nursethem. If she doesn't I'd give her another chance later in the day untilyou worry about hand-feeding them. The newborn kits will be fine for awhile without being fed (no more than 18-24 hours).
 
Also, before resorting to hand feeding newborns(which is unfortunately very difficult)- I'd flip the mom over and letthe babies feed from her if at all possible. If they can get any ofthose important antibodies, etc.. from her milk they'll be that muchbetter off.
 
Yeah, I was figuring on doing what yousuggested. The weird thing is she made a nest a few days ago,but then she evedently tore it to peices today. She didn'tpull any fur out or make a nest at all today when she had them, justhad them on the bare wire. When I found them, they werefreezing cold, so I pulled them out of the cage, took them downstairsand put them on a heating pad. They have finally warmed up and settleddown. I'm thinking bout putting them back in the nest, andputting the heating pad under it over night. Thanks for theinfo. Any other suggestions?
 
Also, she is really jumpy in nature.She can kinda flip out over nothing. There are no dogs in thehouse, etc. She's in a quiet room with other rabbits only, so I don'tkonw why she flips out, but it's not cause of predators unless she hasa very active imagination.
 
In a case like this, I'm a big fan of taking thenestbox away from mama for the first few days and taking the kits toher (or her to the kits) and having her nurse them.

I have a big pink plastic basket I use for this - I put a towel in itand the babies in there along with some of her favorite treats....I usethe treats to encourage her to stay in the basket and relax and let themilk come down so the babies can nurse.

Also, I try to have her nurse the babies twice a day for a few days - just in case there are some that aren't getting as much...

Peg
 
I would do everything possible to get mom tofeed them. Their chances of survival will be much higher withmom feeding them than with hand feeding.

Build a nest in a nest box for her, and put the babies in it.You can see if some of her tummy fur is loose enough to come outeasily, other wise you can use some clean cotton balls for extra warmth.

If mom will let you, put her in the nest box over top of the babies andgive her some treats/pets or whatever will keep her calm. Letthe babies nurse for at least 5 minutes. Do this twice a dayuntil you see she's started nursing on her own.

She just needs a little bit of help learning how to be a good mommy, but I'm sure she'll get the hang of it.

You can keep the babies in the house and just bring them out twice aday to feed. Or after a few days if they look like they arekeeping their body heat well, you can leave them with mom all day.

And good job warming the babies up! A lot of people have troubles doing it.

--Dawn
 
K thanks guys, I'm just worried bout her tryingto kill them too. They have been able to keep themselves warm withoutthe heating pad now, so if I put them in with her, if she will feedthem on her own, what is the likelyhood she will kill them?Anyways I'm going to try putting the box in this morning and see howthat goes. Will keep you all posted.
 
I would attempt to get the doe to nursethem. Her milk is more likely to let down if she is placed onyour lap on a towel in a natural position (not flipped over).Place the babies under her to nurse as they normally would.You can also give the doe a little treat to help her relax.

Pam
 
No luck this morning in getting her to feedthem, will try again in the afternoon. She showed interest inthem, jumped in the box for a couple seconds, but that was it, in bouthalf an hour. Only one of the babies tried to feed, I'mguessing either they aren't too hungry, or they just don't know thatit's momma?, I don't know. Hope this afternoon goes better.
 
Yay, the hard part is over!!! She fedthem. I had to hold her in the nest box at first and then pether head a lot, but she did it. So I'm going to dothat a couple times a day, and hopefully I can put them with her fulltime tomorrow or something. I just don't want her to freakout and kill them, so going to just put them together at feeding timetill then. I have to do a lot of vaccuuming and stuff todayso thought I'd try to feed them before I did that cause didn't want tomake her panicky and then try to feed them, and it worked! Thanks guysfor the suggestions.
 
Glad to hear she fed them!

I had a foster mom I had to help feed her babies. She couldfeed them, she just needed me to put her on the nest twice aday. All her babies ended up doing really well.

I think she'll be fine from now on.

--Dawn
 
Hah thought they were chestnuts but i"mbeginning to think they are all steels. We'll see. If I haveany more problems I'll let you guys know. :)
 
They're doing great! Momma didn't want to feedthem again last night, but finally agreed to stay on the box and didn'twant to get off. She's such a funny bunny. They arestarting to get fuzz. :) Definately steels. Can'twait to see how their conformation is in a few months. I'mvery excited bout this litter. If it turns out like expectedcould get lots of ribbons and fun times with them. They are so cute!!!!Anyways I'm not sure who is more proud of them, me or momma. lol
 
Cute babies....you can't get charlies unless the parents are both broken though...

They are so cute...I love brokens!

Peg
 
That's what I thought, but look ather/him. Just barely passes the 10% rule if itdoes. :). I'll be sure to inform the register thatthe dad is solid. Haha
 
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