Female rabbit rejected one newborn and bit it's ear off! HELP!

[Krank]

Hello, yesterday after noon I was doing chores at animals when i went to my doe (my first rabbit) she had a nest that was moving (we breed her 25 february, and this was her first litter, previous one was imaginary pregnancy). Suddenly i saw one that was out the nest and she started biting it, the baby was screaming. When i took him out i noticed he had an ear bitten off - whole ear. We took him to our house and put him in a box with old t-shirts and when its cold we put a warm bootle on the box. I've fed him 4 times already, in one hour i'll be feeding him again. I massage his tummy and genitals area slightly. I guess he pooped some - there is some dark "thingys" in the box and even sticked to his legs. I feed him 1ml of warm goat milk with prebiotics every 4 hours and then massage his tummy. I'd be grateful for any advices. I'd really appreciate an answear to this question: when do i change feeding times and quantities? and when do i stop giving him milk?
PS: the wound has dried, it's about to scab probably.

 

[SableSteel]

I would put it back in the nest. Rabbits can't tell their babies apart, to reject just one of them. They're pretty dumb. Likely when the kit got out she didn't even recognize it was a kit, or thought it was injured or something. He really needs rabbit milk. There are no good substitutes for rabbit milk, goat milk is not near rich enough to sustain them. Ideally he'd do best off with his sibling's warmth as well in the nest but if you don't want to risk putting him back with the mother I would hold the mother down and let him nurse until he is full (can take about 20 minutes) so that at least he is getting actual rabbit milk instead of trying to drink goat milk.

 

[Krank]

I would put it back in the nest. Rabbits can't tell their babies apart, to reject just one of them. They're pretty dumb. Likely when the kit got out she didn't even recognize it was a kit, or thought it was injured or something. He really needs rabbit milk. There are no good substitutes for rabbit milk, goat milk is not near rich enough to sustain them. Ideally he'd do best off with his sibling's warmth as well in the nest but if you don't want to risk putting him back with the mother I would hold the mother down and let him nurse until he is full (can take about 20 minutes) so that at least he is getting actual rabbit milk instead of trying to drink goat milk.

I don't want to put him there. I've just fed him, he seems strong, walks, rolls when i massage his belly. When she noticed he was out of nest she just grabbed him bit him some times and finally bit his ear off. Keepers near me told me not to bother the doe except giving her a lot of water and feeding her and that she may have too many babys or the one wanted to eat too much. It's her first litter. I need to know how and when to change feeding baby one.

 

[Krank]

He has some fur on him, but it's veeeeery short. I can post a picture of him and his wound if you want

 

[Krank]

On top: yesterday
On bottom: today

 

[Krank]

@SableSteel also when can i be sure that he'll probably survive? I mean after how many survived days can i be sure he'll survive?

 

[Preitler]

I wouldn't be sure until he's transitioned to solid food at 2-3 weeks, but I would guess there are chances if he survives the first week. But I wouldn't put hopes up too much when raising solely on replacement milk.
I too would put him back in the nest. Whatever spooked the doe about that kit, she quite likely has forgotten about it. They care about the nest, not about indiviudual kits.

Good luck

 

[Krank]

I wouldn't be sure until he's transitioned to solid food at 2-3 weeks, but I would guess there are chances if he survives the first week. But I wouldn't put hopes up too much when raising solely on replacement milk.
I too would put him back in the nest. Whatever spooked the doe about that kit, she quite likely has forgotten about it. They care about the nest, not about indiviudual kits.

Good luck

I've just fed him. He walks alot when put in hands, tries to climb my hand and shirt. When massaging he kicks a lot, he looks like he is pretty strong. I'll stay with goat milk, the doe is young and i don't trust her if it comes to this one baby. When should i feed him more (and probably less times than now)? And when to stop feeding him milk and what to give him then? I'll keep u updated

 

[Blue eyes]

Both @Preitler and @SableSteel are very experienced breeders. Such a young kit has a better chance being put back with its momma. You would do well to take their advice.

 

[zuppa]

The baby needs mother's milk and replacements can't be as good as it, as said above, put him back into nest, make sure no foreign smells on him, best time to do it when mother is not there and he can stay in the nest for a while and will smell like other kits.

It would be very unwise to keep him separately.

But if you've decided and your word is final you can feed him his mother's milk separately, holding his mother like in this video. Make sure she has milk (not after she just nursed other kits but before that)

But best put him back to the nest, it's not a toy he needs to be with his siblings and get rabbit's milk, there's no equal replacement for it

 

[Krank]

The baby needs mother's milk and replacements can't be as good as it, as said above, put him back into nest, make sure no foreign smells on him, best time to do it when mother is not there and he can stay in the nest for a while and will smell like other kits.

It would be very unwise to keep him separately.

But if you've decided and your word is final you can feed him his mother's milk separately, holding his mother like in this video. Make sure she has milk (not after she just nursed other kits but before that)

But best put him back to the nest, it's not a toy he needs to be with his siblings and get rabbit's milk, there's no equal replacement for it

How long and how often would i need to let him eat from his mother breast? Wouldn't he get sick after such a change in feeding? He eats goat milk with prebiotics and doesn't get diarrhea and seems good

 

[zuppa]

How long and how often would i need to let him eat from his mother breast? Wouldn't he get sick after such a change in feeding? He eats goat milk with prebiotics and doesn't get diarrhea and seems good

Hi. It will take a few minutes, usually mother feeds her kits 3-5 minutes and do it once or twice a day, usually in the evening or early morning when no one can see.
You will see when he is full he will stop eating and will fall asleep most likely.
He shouldn't get sick from mother's milk, it naturally has everything he needs.
Raising a newborn baby by hand is very risky, he has more chances to survive if you put him back into the nest.
It is not only about feeding him, he needs to stay with his siblings for his first 2 weeks at least, and be with them after that, until they are 8 weeks old, and his mother will not only feed them, she will clean them and she will educate them, you can't replace her with that.
Mother will clean their anuses and will stimulate them to urinate and defecate, it happens often if poos not cleaned they can stuck there and cause inflammation, when kits start eating solid food around 3-4 weeks they also have to eat their mother's poos to get proper bacteria into their stomach's, and there's many more things mother will do so I would really advise on putting him back to the nest. His wound doesn't look dangerous and he will be fine.

 

[Krank]

Hi. It will take a few minutes, usually mother feeds her kits 3-5 minutes and do it once or twice a day, usually in the evening or early morning when no one can see.
You will see when he is full he will stop eating and will fall asleep most likely.
He shouldn't get sick from mother's milk, it naturally has everything he needs.
Raising a newborn baby by hand is very risky, he has more chances to survive if you put him back into the nest.
It is not only about feeding him, he needs to stay with his siblings for his first 2 weeks at least, and be with them after that, until they are 8 weeks old, and his mother will not only feed them, she will clean them and she will educate them, you can't replace her with that.
Mother will clean their anuses and will stimulate them to urinate and defecate, it happens often if poos not cleaned they can stuck there and cause inflammation, when kits start eating solid food around 3-4 weeks they also have to eat their mother's poos to get proper bacteria into their stomach's, and there's many more things mother will do so I would really advise on putting him back to the nest. His wound doesn't look dangerous and he will be fine.

Yes, he probably shouldn't normally, but i don't know if he had even tried rabbit milk. She probably gave birth just before i checked on her, so he may only know goat milk. +most people in my area told me not to mess with nest and leave it to doe. For me, it's not normal that she just went biting him and ate his ear, probably if i didn't take him, he'd be killed. I massage his anus and genital area and tummy after feeding, clean it when it's dirty. He poops and pees. I really am scared of putting him back to the nest - this is doe's first litter and she didn't stop biting him even when he started screaming like a baby. If that's not a problem, i can get some of mothers poo when he starts eating solid food.

 

[zuppa]

Yes, he probably shouldn't normally, but i don't know if he had even tried rabbit milk. She probably gave birth just before i checked on her, so he may only know goat milk. +most people in my area told me not to mess with nest and leave it to doe. For me, it's not normal that she just went biting him and ate his ear, probably if i didn't take him, he'd be killed. I massage his anus and genital area and tummy after feeding, clean it when it's dirty. He poops and pees. I really am scared of putting him back to the nest - this is doe's first litter and she didn't stop biting him even when he started screaming like a baby. If that's not a problem, i can get some of mothers poo when he starts eating solid food.

Two first members commented on this thread are professional breeders raised many hundreds of baby rabbits, there are four people in total commented on your thread and all said same thing, please put the baby back. It is your choice to take or not to take advice, as far as I get this is your first ever litter and first ever rabbit, but it is your decision and sure you can do whatever you think is best for you. Raising baby rabbit by hand is very entertaining (sometimes it is necessary but not in your case in my opinion), but it is also very risky, but good luck in any case I hope the baby will survive please keep us updated

 

[Krank]

Two first members commented on this thread are professional breeders raised many hundreds of baby rabbits, there are four people in total commented on your thread and all said same thing, please put the baby back. It is your choice to take or not to take advice, as far as I get this is your first ever litter and first ever rabbit, but it is your decision and sure you can do whatever you think is best for you. Raising baby rabbit by hand is very entertaining (sometimes it is necessary but not in your case in my opinion), but it is also very risky, but good luck in any case I hope the baby will survive please keep us updated

I'll ask you to be sure - i feed him 6 times 1 ml each 24h. Sometimes when he looks hungry and searches for nipple in his nest i give him mayybe half ml and then a bit less than 1 ml. When should i give him more (and how much more) milk and should i feed him less times then?
I'll keep you updated. If he gets weaker (hopefully not), then i'll try feeding him his mother milk just as on the video you posted.

 

[Krank]

And i guess he isn't hungry when he sleeps rolled up like dog, but instead he's hungry when acts like crazy, makes squeeky sound and searches for nipple, am i right?

 

[Blue eyes]

He needs to be with his siblings and with momma. As already said, his best chance is to be with momma. Momma won't single him out once he's been back with the siblings, as has been explained. Experienced breeders have given their best advice. Why ask a question if that advice is only going to get ignored?

 

[Preitler]

Two first members commented on this thread are professional breeders raised many hundreds of baby rabbits, there are four people in total commented on your thread and all said same thing, please put the baby back. It is your choice to take or not to take advice, as far as I get this is your first ever litter and first ever rabbit, but it is your decision and sure you can do whatever you think is best for you. Raising baby rabbit by hand is very entertaining (sometimes it is necessary but not in your case in my opinion), but it is also very risky, but good luck in any case I hope the baby will survive please keep us updated

I'm not a professional breeder, I just happen to do that for some years now. Losing kits is part of it, fortunatly a small one - and the perspective shifts with time. I wasn't lucky in my few attempts to handfeed, on average my does do a better job, I now prefer indirect methods like taking the fatter third of the litter out for a feeding to give the weak ones a fighting chance or to foster kits to even out litters between does. Also, I can't handle getting attached to the little ones too well.

I totally understand the urge to care for the little one, I was in that spot myself. I do not tell you what to do, just what I, with my current background, would do in that situation. Either way the outcome can be bad, so I reckon it's your decision what's right for you.
Since I'm no expert on hand feeding I'll keep out of this thread, but I really wish you good luck

 

[SableSteel]

I've hand raised them before (only when the mother died), and held the dam down for them and everything in between. If you have a living doe with milk you definitely should try to get the baby real milk imo. It might survive for a bit of time on goat milk - after all, it won't immediately die of dehydration like it would without any milk - but goat milk isn't very rich so it won't gain/keep weight well on goat milk alone and will start to fade away. Usually don't last more than four-five days at most without rabbit milk. The benefits of real rabbit milk are absolutely worth the risks of switching it over from one type of food to another. I've raised plenty of litters with forced feeding. I would place a towel in a top opening carrier, place the babies in, place the dam on top of them, and hold her still, forcing her to let them nurse. Let the baby nurse for about twenty minutes - whenever it gets tired, hopefully will have a visibly full belly by then. Baby rabbits need to nurse until they are full. Also I usually have better luck with this if I put one strong baby alongside the weaker baby when I'm doing this, if I'm only doing it to supplement one baby.

 

[Krank]

I've hand raised them before (only when the mother died), and held the dam down for them and everything in between. If you have a living doe with milk you definitely should try to get the baby real milk imo. It might survive for a bit of time on goat milk - after all, it won't immediately die of dehydration like it would without any milk - but goat milk isn't very rich so it won't gain/keep weight well on goat milk alone and will start to fade away. Usually don't last more than four-five days at most without rabbit milk. The benefits of real rabbit milk are absolutely worth the risks of switching it over from one type of food to another. I've raised plenty of litters with forced feeding. I would place a towel in a top opening carrier, place the babies in, place the dam on top of them, and hold her still, forcing her to let them nurse. Let the baby nurse for about twenty minutes - whenever it gets tired, hopefully will have a visibly full belly by then. Baby rabbits need to nurse until they are full. Also I usually have better luck with this if I put one strong baby alongside the weaker baby when I'm doing this, if I'm only doing it to supplement one baby.

So how much times a day would i need to do something like this? I mean letting the baby drink mothers milk and how do i know that she has milk right now?
Wouldn't she get scared after treating her like this? I'm afraid she'd reject the litter because of stress?