mom died and left 3 babies please help me

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I just showed the photos to my husband and he agrees that the babies are not from a 30 day old litter that mama would've had already. We are guessing the older rabbits to be between10 and 15 days old by their position (they're just not up and running about and exploring yet...so they're not used to hopping..its hard to explain).

I'm guessing that the younger one is 3 days old. Why 3 days? It has a decent amount of fur - the color is pretty obvious. To me, its looking like a lionhead with a bald head and flanks and I see this a lot in my 3 day olds.

I would be checking your brown rabbits to see if one is a mama. Odds are good that the mama of the older litter is pregnant again as they will mate immediately after giving birth. This means...in about 17-21days....expect another litter.

I'd flip the rabbits over and check for fur being pulled out as does will do this to expose their nipples.

As far as the older litter, for the next 2-3 days I'd take 1/2 jar of baby rice cereal (if you can find it in a jar - I think you can) and mix it with their food to soften it up a bit. I'd also add a small handful of oatmeal on the side (just reach into the oatmeal container and grab a handful of the oatmeal - don't cook it up). If they start to give diaherrea, take away the food and just give them the oatmeal for aday or so.

Other experienced breeders will probably have better advice for you.

For the young one....if you can keep it warm (I'd try to get all 3 to sleep together in a shoe box w/ a small towel or something)...you have a good chance of having it survive. I'd try to give it the formula every 2-4 hours - just a small amount at a time. You'll also need to take a warm damp cloth and wipe its private areas to get it topee and poop.

Peg
 
ARG! I forgot to say this.

You really need to check all of your rabbits tonight to see what sex they are. You could have one male and three females ... in which case -you are probably in for 3 more litters!

Also - I didn't mention checking the black and white dutch but the more I look at the older tan baby - the more I think it is either the mama or the father based on the white marking on the nose.

Oh - and cute rabbits!

Peg
 
well the mama was white with some spots here n there on her fur. she had longer fur and floppy ears. what are flanks? lol this baby is greyish with pink on the inside of his ears and on the top of his head. i will definately keep this baby warm, ill go get a shoe box and put the other 2 in there with the baby. do bunnies eat the young? im wondering where the rest of the bigger babies went. the dead babies looked like something kinda nibbled on them. do they suck on their own feet like a baby sucks it's thumb?
 
Sometimes a new mama will "overclean" the baby and eat part of its foot or an ear. I just had a litter of three this week - the mama chewed off a leg from each of them. She was a new mama and was nervous and had them on the wire. Needless to say, they all died.

It is possible that the mama of the first litter only had two babies.They look healthy and like they were well cared for by mama. They're at the age where they become fun now....they're going to start to get curious and come to see you when you feed them (ok - that might take a bit). But they're definitely at a great age to start socializing them by holding them and loving on them and petting them.

Peg
 
3 more litters lol can u imagine? gosh i better just seperate every rabbit and keep them in their own area lol. ill go put the 3 in the shoe box and feed the baby and then go try to sex those big ones i'll be right back. where is everyone from anyways? im in north carolina. and is it normal for the baby to shake its head sometimes? like how rabbits scratch? he does that but w.o using hisleg. he's constantly moving around in my hand also. im keeping him toasty
 
I just caught a baby exploring out of the nestbox and trying to get out of the cage. Its 11 days old and it opened its eyes late Wednesday night. I think it came out looking for mama and decided to start looking around.

This is why I think your older litter is about 10 days old - maybe 11 days old. They really start to explore more after their eyes have been opened for a bit.

Peg
 
If there's another mother in the mix, shouldn'tthe first step be to find her and get her to feed all three babies? I'm confused. Forumla feeding rarely works out, if you have asurrogate mother there, that's far preferable.

Am I missing something?



sas :?
 
Pipp,

Surrogate/fostering is best. However, the mama that is left has milk that will be a different nutritional balance by a fairly significant difference. Also, if mama is pregnant (which there is a good chance) -her milk is drying up.

However - you do make a good point. I think I'd try to get the surrogate mother to nurse but be prepared to back up with formula if needed. I'm just not sure how soon mama's milk will be gone if she got pregnant immediately after giving birth...

Peg

Pipp wrote:
If there's another mother in the mix, shouldn'tthe first step be to find her and get her to feed all three babies? I'm confused.Forumla feeding rarely works out, if you have asurrogate mother there, that's far preferable.

Am I missing something?



sas :?
Click to expand...
 
I wanted to add something that is probably why I sound so confused here.

We actually have some different scenarios.

a. The mama of the "newborns" died.

b. The mama of the older kits died and the mama of the newborns is still there. (Perhaps the newborns got separated and got cold).

c. The rabbit that died wasn't one of the mamas at all and we still have two mamas.

Ideally, the rabbit that died wasn't one of the two mamas and we happen to have both mamas still alive.

I suspect though that one of the mamas died and I'm wondering if it was the mama of the older litter since the poster mentioned that she was brown and had white spots. If you look at the older tan baby - you see tan and white.

I wish Pam Nock was one - or a more experienced breeder. Why? I don't know how healthy/unhealthy it is to give a 2 or 3 day old kit to a mom who has 10-12 day old kits. I know the fats in the milk are at different levels. I also don't know when a doe will stop nursing if she's pregnant as I don't breed my does for a minimum of 8 weeks after giving birth.

Of course, ideally all the kits would have their mums still alive. Possibly if you put the kits with the older rabbits, they would smell their mom and go to her.

Anyway, if we can figure out who the mamas are...we could still let the kits nurse - that would be great.

Its just good to have a backup plan and I guess I was so busy assuming the worse (mama not nursing due to pregnancy, etc) that I wasn't thinking "oh..let's just foster.."

Peg
 
the mama that died had a lot of her hair out, but none of the rest have any hair out. i keep feeling around for 'ninnies' on the adult ones and cant feel any! i turned the lighter one over and looked and didn't see anything like the 'sexing rabbits' link. im going to go in there and try again though. i gave all the babies some more formula, is it okay to give the older babies some too? they drank a little, and the little baby licked his lips a bit when i put it on his mouth, is that how they drink when they're that young? i'm so worried that i'll squeeze a lot at one time that i take it away from his face and squeeze til a little comes out and then i touch his mouth with it
 
You're doing that right and it is fine to give the older ones some of the formula. You could mix up their pellets with some formula if you want....to make sort of a "slurry".

When I have to give a tiny one formula...I put it on their mouth and sort of let them lick it off...because if I try to go too fast - they die by inhaling it.

The more I think about it - the more I think Pipp is right - finding the other mama would probably be best.

Peg
 
so far the other floppy ear one, or brown one,is a girl from what i saw and compared to the 'sexing rabbits' pictures. im going to do the rest now...they can sure scratch the heck out of ya can't they? it's cute how turning them upside down and cradeling them makes them relaxed. what if i don't find any "ninnies"on any of the other ones? I'm thinking I will since yall are convinced there are 2 mamas. Back I go, I'll let you know what I see.
 
Well first of all, you sort of HAVE to get the mall sexed so that you can get the daddy or daddies out of there or you will keep having litters every 31 days.

With bucks you can generally feel the two testicles hanging down - but they can also pull them up into the body.

But unless you want to keep having litters over and over again - you will definitely need to get the buck(s) out away from the does...and keep them apart.

Peg
 
i did it! there's one boy and 3 girls and theblack and white one has the "ninnies" and so i put her in the box withthe 3 babies. the boy was the greyish one and he has those thingshanging down. yall have been SO helpful i just have to say... so whatdo you think i should do now? i have 3 boxes...one with 2 girls, onewith the boy and one with the 3 babies and black and white mama....should i put some food and water in there with the babies and mama? orshould i take her out from time to time to feed her and then put herback in afterwards....also, i rubbed the warm cloth on the baby's tummyand 'vent' area and he never went....altough earlier i saw littlepoopoo balls....what if she doesnt go pee ?



i'm gonna head to bed but i think i'll keep the momma and babies nearmy bed. ill check on them from time to time.... ill let you know how itgoes!:pray:
 
Hi,

I'm so sorry for running out on you with out giving a very detailedanswer. You posted just as I was running out the door for theevening!

I would the babies in a shoe box filled with hay or a box of similarsize. And then put that box in the with the mamma withmilk. Provide them with lots of fresh hay and pellets,they'll start nibbling on them soon, and fresh water.

I would also keep all the bunnies seperate for now, just in case youend up with more babies. It'll be easier to keep track of thebabies and track how the mama's are doing.

I would only feed the little baby some KMR once a day. And let him nurse off of mom the rest of the time.

In the rescue I belong to, we had a girl succesfully hand raise a babyfrom a few days old. I've never had any success with handfeeding, but all the babies I have to hand feed are normally very sick.

Please keep asking questions! We'll do our best to help you along!

--Dawn
 
well, i had the babies and mama beside my bedlast night and kept waking up to check on them. they're doing good sofar! my concern now is that they aren't getting any milk from the mom.she just stands there and doesn't kind of lean over for them. she doeshave the "ninnies" so shouldn't she have milk? I remember where I readto give the baby some formula every couple of hours or so very littleat a time. i did that with the others and they tore it up, so does thatmean they aren't getting enough milk?

Also, how will i tell if any more of them are pregnant. i was wonderingwhy they didn't have babies sooner, but i got the grey one and thelighter pinkish one at the same time and they were both tiny. i guessnow he's old enough to reproduce? are they sure to mate after they'vegiven birth? would i be able to feel their sides for babies if theywere pregnant?
 
Those links should give you some good tips.

I think you may have to hold the mom so the babies can reachher. They should have some access to her, and to hay andwater.

Is the little one's belly fat?

And is the formula KRM? Hopefully someone experienced will jump in here.



sas
 
ya it's krm. i tried to show the babies where togo and saw the black one upside down but if they're getting milk theyshouldn't be so eager to drink the formula right? the baby kind oflooks the same to me, but i'll go check again to see if his littletummy is any bigger
 
well i think his tummy looks bigger lol soshould i not feed him a little at a time til tonight? also i dont wantto put a bowl in there in case they drown in the water, so i put aplate with a thin amount in there...is that enough for the mom andbabies?
 
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