rabbits and grieving

[lleague0117]

So my main question is, do rabbits grieve over the death of one of their own? All my rabbits have been a little weird since the death of our little 3 month old baby. We have mama, daddy bunny, and now just the one baby, little H.

here is the background story:
a week ago, our little Snow broke his foot so we got him checked out. The vets set his foot and splint it. Got him home and he was great over the weekend, eating and pooping everywhere. Then after getting home from work on Tuesday, we noticed he was breathing heavy and just really mellow. We took him to a regular vet who said he was stable, but gave us info for an emergency vet who was about 30 minutes away.
So we got Snow there, and not even five minutes after arriving, he had a seizure, they did cpr but couldn't bring the little guy back. I asked about a chance of him being contagious ( between my hysterics ) and they say no, he shouldn't be.
now all my babies are just really concerning me; mama is really irritable, little H just wants to chase mama, and daddy is fat, lazy and mellow. Am I just paranoid? I am sure they know Snow is gone and just wonder if these weird activities are just them grieving. We paid 500 for Snow to get his foot set, then another 300 for the emergency vet visit, then another 100 for cremation. I really can't afford to take them all to the vets after this.


Thanks everyone

 

[squidpop]

I think the rabbits might be slightly affected my the absence of one of the group but I doubt they are all grieving in the same sense that humans grieve. In nature their family and mates would disappear all the time and mother or father of the same sex would even be driving them off. They may be acting strange because babies being weaned and leaving the nest may be triggering the mother to want to breed again so she could be frustrated and irritable.