Need Help with New baby bunny

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babymommy

babymommy

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Location
, Georgia, USA
My daughter just brought home a baby bunny. We already have one that is three years old and is a mini lop earred bunny. No she is not keeping this new one in the same room with our current bunny Baby at the moment.

The problem is that the bunny was given to her, and we do not know much about it and need help to make sure to give it the proper care. We need to know what kind of bunny it is. Don't even knowhow old it is. We need to know what to feed it at this point. We have put some timothy hay and some pellets and water in her box.

Where can she attach a photo for help. My daughter will be up online monitoring responces.

Thank you!

Babymommy


http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f274/poisened_kiss_pixie/bunny.jpg



There is the picture :]
 
well i have a baby too and what i did was feed him hay and a few pellets for nutrition n alot of water. i also give 5-6 hrs of running time where he can do what he wants if he is not destroying the house.after an hour of sniffing the area n running around is a good time to bond and play time. thats what i did and my dwarf rabbit is nice n playful most of the time
 
Firstly she will need a cage or someplace she cannot chew her way out of.a box will not last long. Where is she from? She looks really young. probably too young to be away from mom. I may be wrong about that. She should have alfalfa pellets and hay. She is growing and alfalfa is best for growing buns. Dont know about breed. Some more pics that are close up will help with age and breed.

Good Luck with her.
 
Thank you very much :]

I got her from a friend.

she said she didnt know how to take care of it.

&& seeing as we already have one rabbit.

I figured I should take care of it the best I can.
 
Oh wow - a REALLY young bunny.....I wish it was still with mama (not blaming you at all)...

I would definitely be pushing more hay and maybe some oatmeal along with the pellets. Be prepared to offer some unflavored pedialyte if the baby isn't drinking much and you need to give it electrolytes or something...

But at that age - while its best to be with mom - giving it hay will really be a big help....and my little ones at that age just LOVE oatmeal - I just have to be careful to not give them too much.

Definitely keep it away from greens (since we don't know if mama had greens or not) since it is adjusting to a new place, etc. and you don't want to stress it out....at least that is my opinion.

Peg
 
Oh I wish it was with its mama too.

But i just couldnt let someone who couldnt take care of it keep it :[
 
Hi, I've been trying to do a little research for you....yes, the bunny definitely looks quite young but I know that aging a bun is difficult unless one is very familiar with buns or is a vet. But, I remembered reading something and I found the link:

http://www.hsus.org/animals_in_research/species_used_in_research/rabbit.html

It says that up to 14 weeks, a rabbits age can be determined by measuring the hind feet and ears. Unfortunately it doesn't go into it much more than that, so I will check a few more places to see if I can find more info.

Great that you are offering hay and pellets. Maybe offer some Alfalfa "hay" as well seeing as he is so young. I would offer water from a bottle and a crock. Maybe he would prefer the bottle for the "suckling" but that is just a guess.

Another interesting read is:

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/orphan.html

but then, since you don't know the bun's actual age, this article may not be of much help.

I'll keep checking and let you know if I find more info.

-Beth
 
TinysMom wrote:
Oh wow - a REALLY young bunny.....I wish it was still with mama (not blaming you at all)...

I would definitely be pushing more hay and maybe some oatmeal along with the pellets. Be prepared to offer some unflavored pedialyte if the baby isn't drinking much and you need to give it electrolytes or something...

But at that age - while its best to be with mom - giving it hay will really be a big help....and my little ones at that age just LOVE oatmeal - I just have to be careful to not give them too much.

Definitely keep it away from greens (since we don't know if mama had greens or not) since it is adjusting to a new place, etc. and you don't want to stress it out....at least that is my opinion.

Peg
Click to expand...
Thanks, Peg for the great reply! It's scary when you don't know what to say and don't want to say the wrong thing and make a member wait for an emergency reply;).
 
Wow, that baby looks really young to me. Could you take some more pictures, some close up? It's hard to tell if the baby looks too young to weaned or not from that picture.

You need to feed a high protien (16% or higher) pellet and some alfafa hay. Stay away from veggies for a little bit, as you don't know if mom and babies ate them.

If the bun is not drinking much water you can try syringing a bit of water down juice. Pedialyte (electrolyte drink for children) would be something to help bun get hydrated.

--Dawn
 
Aw, poor bunny, and well done to you for looking after it.

That, to me, looks too young to be weaned.

If something happens to it, please don't blame yourself. It is very young and many problems occur between about 4-10 weeks of age. Comparing that bunny to mine, it looks younger than four weeks, but obviously I could be wrong.

You've got some excellent advice already, and I know there are a few more people about that can also give you excellent help.

Good luck with it :)
 
Is the baby eating the pellets?

If it's too young to be weaned, shouldn't it be on kitten milk replacer, or would that cause problems at this point? (maybe a breeder or someone with experience can answer?)


 
Age is difficult to assess, especially cause you're not sure of the breed. He looks so young in your photo. Have you seen the baby eat solid food yet? Or drink water? If the baby hasn't learned to drink from a bottle, you may be better off with a shallow (low sided) dish. I'd start with rolled oats (oatmeal, not instant or flavored). and see if he eats that. You can add pellets ina day or two if he seems to have an appetite.

If you don't see him try to eat solid food, you may need to use a replacement formula. (I can't say I've excellent results, but it's better than letting him starve to death. My best results were with "Just Born with Colostrum" available at Petco/Petsmart/Petland, etc.)

Avoid any fresh vege's or fruit. That could really upset his digestion.
 
Here's Dana Krempels' article on caring for orphaned domestic babies, which is probably part of the HRS link (above), Bunny 101 (here), or both... but I thought it might be worthwhile to post a direct link:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/orphan.html
 
Good morning, I thought I would give you all an update. My daughter took right to your advise and went out and bought all the necessities. I'm making this her responsibility since she brought it home. But she is doing great. I help take care of the baby bunny when she is at work.

She is feeding it the replacer kitten formula and pedialite and water. The bunny (which she has named "Turbo") is doing good. Turbo is loving the attention and just now, just about takes the dropper out of our hands if we don't feed it fast enough. Turbo is now starting to eat the alpha hay very well, but not quite the pellets yet. We put a small dish of water in the cage, but so far, still prefers the dropper. It's developing quite the little spunky personality now. It hopped over a foot last night from my arm to the floor and then hopped right back on my leg.

So far looking good, thanks for your help so quickly.

It seems to be more interested now in the water or pedialite and less interested in the milk now. Do you know how long we should offer the milk?
 
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