Welcome to RO! Sorry that your first post is about something troublesome, but I'm glad you found us
.
I wouldn't try to open the eyes, given the kit's age... but there's no harm in trying the warm, soft, damp cloth first. Given that it's probably some sort of eye infection, you could try applying an antibacterial ointment like neosporin (NOT the kind with pain reliever in it) to the eye to see if that helps. Also, make sure you're keeping the nestbox clean. I found a
website that might be helpful.
We took in a street cat once who got knocked up before we could get her spayed. One of the kittens (my little Donatello, now HUGE) got a really goopy eye when he was a baby - just a day or two after all their eyes opened. His eye was gooped shut and when I tried to gently clean/open it, there was so much pus that I was scared for a minute that he didn't even have an eyeball any more! I rushed the kittens to the vet and she gave me an antibacterial ointment to put on his eye... though it spread to his other eye and he and his brothers and sister ended up passing it back and forth for a couple weeks so I was playing whack-a-mole with the ointment before they were all finally normal again, heh.
If the crust continues to come back and you don't get a helpful response in this thread, I strongly recommend making a new post in the "rabbitry and show room" portion of the forums, given that the rabbit in question is a nearly newborn kit. We have a number of extremely knowledgeable breeders here at RO and I'm sure someone has been in your position before... however, said breeders don't always have time to keep up with the forums as a whole - I suspect some of them often only check the breeder-specific area to catch questions that might otherwise go unanswered.
Pet owners (like myself) generally operate under a "when in doubt, go to the vet" philosophy... but those who have been breeding for a long time know extra tips and tricks to avoid vet bills for common ailments while still ensuring the health of all their rabbits. Many times, if you know what to buy and how to dose it properly, you can get the necessary medication for something from a feed store/livestock supply store. In some cases, I'm familiar enough with their advice to parrot it back... but in this situation, I don't actually know if feed stores carry a suitable antibiotic ointment.
