Rabbit had babies

[aylinox]

Yesterday my 5 month old holland lop rabbit had babies. She had made a nest for them in her cage, which was dirty and I had asked someone I know who bred rabbits what I should do. She told me I could move them as long as the mom’s scent was on my hands when I touched them, so I did that and moved them into a cleaner cage and put the mom with them.

I noticed yesterday she would jump on them a few times and they would squeak, and today she just sits on them or is laying down away from
them and relaxing. I’m not sure how to tell if she’s feeding them. I thought maybe me moving them into a new cage made her want to start ignoring them since she isn’t really paying attention to them, but when I put my hand in the cage, she will nudge it away.

Also, my female rabbit also cleaned up the blood off of her yesterday after she gave birth and I had put new bedding in the cage for her, and this morning I noticed drops of blood in the area where she is laying down. Could she still be bleeding after the fact, and should I get her checked out?

The babies are also squeaking or making a little noise and just wiggling around in the nest. I never had baby bunnies before so I just want to make sure I know what to look out for in regards to the babies.

 

[Preitler]

Well, sounds like the doe was a little confused, rabbits don't care about smell or so, what is really important for them is location. They can't tell if the kits in the nest are their own, they simply deduce that kits that are where they build the nest must be theirs.

Anyway, in the situation now I would leave the nest in the current spot but put it in a cardboard box, big enough that the doe could lie in there, about 10-15cm high, that should reduce the risk that she steps on it accidentially, and reduces the chance that a kit gets dragged out of the nest on a teat.
I relocated a nest once, from an earth hole in the garden to the hutch, I stuffed the does nose 2 or 3 times in the nest, just to make her realize where it is now, but it sounds like your doe has figured it out already.

It can take up to 48h until the milk drops (most feed within 24h), and quite likely she will not feed when she feels watched, is disturbed or meddled with. What she needs now is food, rest and privacy. Usually they feed around dusk and dawn, the rest of the day they stay away from the nest - so, what she does sounds quite normal so far.

You can check the if the kits are fed by looking at their bellies, should be round like they swallowed a grape whole, but there isn't much you can do now anyway, so I wouldn't disturb them too much.

 

[aylinox]

I’ve been watching the babies and some have bigger bellies, maybe about two, but the other five are really small and wrinkled. They feel warm/cold, like a lukewarm, and I feel like it’s because they are bunched up together and under her fur. So I’m not really sure if she has been feeding them and it’s going onto day three now.