My Rabbit Just Had Babies, Help!

She must have had them sometime in the night or this morning because they weren't there yesterday.

Four little black darlings. I had no idea they were coming.

Her mate's cage is usually pushed against hers, but I've never put them together because I was waiting to get an adequate next box, I have no idea how he got to her.

I didn't know what to do, so I moved them into a big box, then cleaned her cage and put a smaller box inside of it then had to move them again.

I rubbed my hands in her bedding before touching the babies, but I'm still afraid that my scent is on them.

Any advice?

This is her first litter.

Dont think your meant to move them Im not 100% sure, i may be wrong. Hope someone comes along to help you soon xXx

Try to touch them as little as possible over the next few days. A little touch here and there won't hurt, but keep it to the absolute minimum.

You'll think she's ignoring her babies, but truthfully she will only tend to them when she's feeding them, which is once a day, generally at a time when "predators" won't be around. It's a survival instinct thing.

The smaller box inside the bigger box is a good thing. They need a "nest". Did the doe pull out lots of her fur and then build a nest just prior to the birth? If she didn't make much of a nest you might need to help her along a bit by nestling whatever fur she did pull and the babies (GENTLY!) into a makeshift hay nest within the smaller box.

In several days, up to a week and a half, I think, you might see a baby or two venture out into the cage, outside the nesting box. Still handle them as infrequently as possible unless one has been knocked out of the nest or something like that.

I'd suggest you consult some rabbit websites, as these were of great help to me when I had unexpected baby bunnies (they belonged to a friend, not me, but I was the one who birthed/raised them). They'll tell you what to expect over the next few weeks.

Good luck!


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Lauren

Thank you for the advice, I was looking around at sites all day and as soon as I read that they only feed the babies once a day for only a few minutes, I felt a lot better.

I was worried she wasn't taking care of them because she wasn't by them the whole time. I understand now.

she didn't like the little box, so she tipped it over and made a nest of her own on the corner of the cage, and yes shes using her fur.

She has them separated though, which kinda scared me at first. Two in one corner, and two in the other corner. But she keeps going back and forth between the two, so I know that shes not disowning two of them or anything.

I snapped a quick picture of two of them.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v313/chestnutwoman/DSCF1509.jpg

Aww, good luck with the little ones

Hiya, my rabbit suprised me with a litter a while back too so I know how you feel. Are all the babies in mum's nest now and covered over? I'm concerned they may get cold. You may need to do a head count everyday and remove any babies that may not make it. I'm wondering wether you should put them all back together, mum rabbits have no way of moving rabbits so it's likely they have moved themselves.

Youmay want to add this post to rabbit chat as you'll poosibly get more comments there. godd luck, and they are beautiful.

Wanted to add that I have read and searched and read some more after my surprise litter. Feel free to pm me if you need to.:wave:

Would it be possible to put lots of hay in the hutch. Most rabbits use hay to make their nest with and then line it with their fur, then they cover it over with more fur. That way the babies will keep adequately warm and not loose their heat.

The mum will need lots of hay, greens to eat in addition to her pellets each day if she is to feed these babies.

How are the babies this morning?:wave:

:wave:.. .for now. congratulations on your new brood to mummy bun. try not to touch them too much and always get her scent on you if you need to touch them she wil feed around 2-3 times a day hopefully and thier little tums should be full they shouldnt be making noises so squeaks usually mean they are hungry. if you do have to hand rear them then use lactol kitten milk or goats milk from a supermarket. tho i am sure she will be a good mum,
unfortunatly accidents happen and you will have to make do ensure you have another spare hutch or indoor cage that the males can go into at 12 weeks as they can start to pregnate their sisters and mum otherwise. at 8 weeks they can leave mum not before else helath problems may occour. try and feed mum extra food so she kepes her strenght up and keep the hutch as warm as posisble xxx good luck hope this hasnt come accross as nasty its all meant as useful and freindly advice!

best thing is once babies are grown and have good homes(do home check as many people have no idea of how much space a bun needs and unles they have a minimum of a 5x2x2 or better sitill a 6x2x2 ft hutch and access to a run 3-4 hours a day the buns really wouldnt be getting the best deal. also as buns are socialble they needd to be neutered and paired in m/f pairings this is great for company for each other.then they could be put together after both being neutered(mum and dad) then they will have each other for company which is much nicer(you will need to bond them on neutral territory but thats for a later stage)


also make sure that the girls are speyed to stop uterine cancer which
unfortunatly kills 85% of does over age 3years.

i have edited this as have been informed that it was incorrect rabbits cannot mate through bars due to penatration angle. sorry for misconception of idea xx

I could only see two of the babies this morning, and I freaked.

I tried to just climb back in bed and forget it, but I kept going back and peeking in.

I finally found them in the food dish, silly little ones.

I left them and they eventually made their way back to the other two. They definitely seem to crawl a lot.

I'm not sure, but I think I saw that one of them had a little pink spot on its head, not black. I guess that little one is going to have a white spot on their head just like their mommy.

Morning, how are the littlies today? If they keep crawling everywhere it may be worth thinking about how to keep them in one place. They will get cold very quickly. Has mum made a proper nest now to help keep them warm?

I had this problem with my mice, but I'm not sure if it would be the same with rabbits.

I put a lot of bedding in before they had their babies, and afterwards, they buried the babies so deep in the bedding that they either forgot about them, or didn't go down deep enough to them and they all died.

Of course the bunnies are a lot bigger and aren't really buried, but they're all under the bedding and because of that happening to my mice, it just kind of scares me.

Also, I was wondering how old I should or can hold the babies to start getting them used to being held?

EDIT:

One of the babies died.. I took the poor dear out of the cage..

The other three seems fine. I'm glad.

It hurts, but I got used to it with my mice over the past few months. I'm just so glad the other three are fine.

Oh dear, sometimes some don't make it. I checked mine every morning to make sure they had nice rounded tummies, this means mum is feeding them. As long as mum is covering them up and they have nice full tummies try to leave it to two checks a day for now. They'll be wandering around soon enough. Their eyes open at around 10 days and then they'll be everywhere.

Don't worry about your scene. If she is used to you being around her a lot of the time she should be fine because she knows that you are not a threat to her. Just make sure that she has enough food and water and she should carry on caring for them by herself.

hope this helps