Mama Bunny Question

[Ecresi]

My mother rabbit made her nest inside of an old cat carrier, and the carrier is currently inside her cage. The babies were born about 5 days ago on the 4th. Now Kota, the mommy keeps removing the top of the carrier exposing the nest. No matter how many times we fix it she keeps taking it off. Would it be safe to just remove the top in general? We unscrewed the top because we thought it would be easier to check on the babies. Would it just be okay to take the top off since she keeps doing that herself? :?

 

[tonyshuman]

That's fine. She probably just wants to get in and out easier. As long as she doesn't jump on them, that's fine. I'll move this to the Rabbitry so more people who've taken care of baby bunnies see it.

 

[aurora369]

An open top nest box is fine. I have used a shoe box in a pinch.

As long as the babies have lots of fur to cover them, they should be warm and toasty.

-Dawn

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

Some people use open top nestboxes. Not a big deal, just as long as they're deep enough that the babies can't crawl out for the first 2 weeks or so.

 

[Ecresi]

Ah okays ^^ I wasn't sure if it was safe or not. She was a surprise pregnancy. I adopted her and woke up to babies. So I'm a first time baby bun owner.

 

[aurora369]

I would be more worried about the low opening on the front of the carrier that could let little babies wander out than the top. Perhaps you could put a piece of carboard in front of the door so that none of the babies wander out and get cold.

Could you take some pictures of the nest set up? Then you can get some feed back.

Have you checked over all the babies? You should be checking the babies every day to make sure they are all getting fed and the nest is clean. If you haven't checked them already, then you should check them as soon as possible (make sure there's no left over placentas).

-Dawn

 

[Ecresi]

Yes I check them daily. All baby buns are plump and lively. The nest is fairy clean too. The only thing i'm unsure of is her cage. it's gotten pretty dirty and someone told me to wait a bit to clean her cage. I don't have a picture at the moment. My camera needs batteries. Hopefully I can get some tomorrow. We got snowed in today so going someplace was out of the question. The babies haven't started wandering yet and the only thing about the cardboard is her chewing it and destroying it. Although she may leave it. I can try putting one up and finding out.

 

[aurora369]

You can clean her cage. Just don't clean the nest box unless it gets peed in or really dirty.

When fostering, I would continue to clean the cages as normal, I would just clean around the nest box or remove the nest box and replace after cleaning.

Can we get pictures of the babies when you take some pics? There is nothing cuter than little baby bunnies...

-Dawn

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

Yep, no reason you can't clean the cage.

 

[GorbyJobRabbits]

Yup you can clean the cage. Just set the box aside and clean the cage and put it all back in.