Baby Bunny problems!..Please Help!

Hello all :wave:, I have a litter of baby bunnies born May 30th, there are three of them and two of them opened their eyes a couple of days ago.
The third one is about half the size of the others and seems to be developing, growing fur etc, a lot slower than the others. I put this down to the breed of the rabbit as they are Lion-Dwarf Lops cross, my Lionhead being very fluffy and small, and my Lop not so fluffy and bigger.
This afternoon I noticed that one of the bunnies eyes are wide open and the other is still fully closed. There is a slight slit in the fur where the break in the eye lids would close but as the bunny is so small I cannot tell if there is a seperate eye lid or not. :?
I breed rabbits as a child so I know not to force them open, I thought maybe dabbing it with some luke warm water and a cotton bud might help but not too sure if this will do more harm than good.
When I was younger I had a couple of rabbits that were born 'out of the norm' but nothing like this. I also kept these rabbits so I knew they would always have a good life but unfortunatly I am not in a position to do this this time around.
If anyone has any advice or thinks they may even be able to offer a good home as a house rabbit only (Bridgend, South Wales), then please please get in touch. All advice will be greatfully accepted as I am lost with this one. :roll:

No idea, not many people on here are breeders or have had litters so you might be better off trying to find either a breeding forum or contacting a local breeder. Sorry not much help.

I can't offer any advice on the eye sorry other than to say that my guess would be that he/she is the runt and has developed an abnormality, I would leave him/her and monitor development - if any signs of pain then call your vet for advice.

Ref rehoming them, your best option is to keep them until you can get them neutered and vaccinated (at least myxo) and then mail one of the moderators on here and they can post them in rabbits in need for you. You can also become a member of the rehome section and put them on there. If you can do this yourself it would really help save space in rescues for cases that need to be taken in urgently.

Will you consider getting your doe & buck neutered now? As you are not in a position to kep these babies I'm sure you won't want to be in this situation again.

Best wishes J

It's a bit saddening to see you have planned a litter with no backup to keep any back that may not sell or that may be ill, or even need to be returned if the buyer has problems. I would hope a responsible breeder would not put themselves in that postion really.

I would suggest you consult a vet for the health of the baby rabbit.

How old are they? because if they are under 12 days they won't fully open them until around them some are early some are late no worrys as for the small babie could you possibly put a pic on here because thats the only way to identify a peanut they never make it past 2 or 3 days but it may just be a runt try to get a pick but don't do anything about the eye unless they are over 14 days of age if they are use a cotton swab get luke warm water and gently rub it over his

Hello again,
Just thought I reply to say thanks for those of you who offered advice and with a bit of an update.
The baby will be 14 days tomorrow so I have decided to leave it a few more days and then take a trip to the local vet if nothing improves. :roll:
I had a good look at the babies when they were a few days old to check for peanuts and they were all fine.... I suspect you are right in that it is probably the runt. I have also managed to make arrangments to keep the baby myself so I know it will be looked after properly and have a good life.
.... There is a point I would like to clear up.... Although I breed rabbits when I was younger and was fully prepared for any such eventuality, I am in no way a rabbit 'breeder' now. It has been a long time since I last owned a rabbit and saved long and hard so I could be properly equiped before I owned a rabbit again. I ended up in this situation because I decided to get two rabbits for company as I am not at home all day to keep them company myself. When I bought the rabbits I stressed that they must both be female to avoid this situation and as I was not confident in 'sexing' the bunnies myself, I had the breeder who I purchesed them from do it for me.... unfortunatly but the time I realise that this was not the case, the damage had been done!
...Anyway, once again, thankyou all.... I will keep you updated on the situation.

Rabbits should open their eyes between 10-12 days. If it's day 14 and they are not open then you need to gently bath them open (cool boiled water and cottonwool). If you leave it then the eyes could become infected/damaged. It's already a few days over due so I wouldn't recommend leaving it any more.

The vet would just do the same thing so if you're not comfortable bathing them open you can take them to to the vet to do it instead.

Tamsin

yes definatley take them to the vets to get their eyes open or do it your selfs I should have my websites breeding page up soon so you can read that and it should help with it

www.freewebs.com/mybackyardbuns

Just another update... I checked on the bunny last night after work and it now has two eyes fully open... Yey!
I think it has picked up a bit of a cold and had a 'sticky' eye. I cleaned both it's eye with boiled warm water and a cotton bud to remove the sticky stuff around them and kept it warm in the house for a few hours until its fur on it's face was completely dry. I gave it a good check over it to make sure there was nothing else wrong and kep my eye on it to make sure it wasnt in any pain... which it doesnt see to be as it has started running about with the rest of the litter!... Very funny to watch! :lol:
I had a look in this morning to see how it was getting on and it seems fine.
Thanks for the advice. :wave:

ya they are very funny to watch mine get in with one of my bucks and sleeps with him the first time I saw them in there I was scared he would hurt one but then he laid down and all them laid beside him and fell asleep:lol::lol:

Rabbits can't catch colds, that's a human only virus If he's cleared up fine it was probably just a build up of gunk from the delayed opening. If he still has discharge you should probably talk to the vet about it as he may have a bit of infection in his eyes and need cream.

well they can catch snuffles but that is pretty serious