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URGENT do i remove and handrear the babies/babies feeding and still with us

bunnyrun

Mama Doe
The doe that had babies yesterday has eaten 3 of her babies, should i take the other 2 away and try to handrear them, or leave them with her:cry::cry:

i dont know what to do for the best
 
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Tough decision. I really have no experience of this but didn't want to read and run. Hopefully someone else will be alone soon.
 
Has she eaten them, or overgroomed them?

I would say remove them, but don't handrear yet, try and get mum to feed them while you supervise, and only have them in there for feeding.
 
If she ate the other babies she did so because she was lacking in nutrients, so I got told by our old vet over 15 years ago. Her first litter she killed/ate them, then she had a second litter which she reared fine.

Thats all I know, but from what the vet told us he said to leave them to the mum and remove any eaten/dead babies. This was by an un-savvy rabbit vet (they mainly dealt with farm animals) well over 15 years ago though.

Really hope someone else comes along with better advice

Are the babies cold? Does the mum go in to see them?
 
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Has she eaten them, or overgroomed them?

I would say remove them, but don't handrear yet, try and get mum to feed them while you supervise, and only have them in there for feeding.

agreed i would remove immediatly but try and get mum feeding them at least if not then go for hand rear you can also do like one mum feed and suppliment with goats milk too?
 
I would remove then feed them from mum... much higher success rate than substitute milk. As they get older you can probably mingle them back in.

If you know anywhere else with a doe with kits of a similar age you could try fostering them.

All sorts can trigger it from disturbance to just in experience.
 
i put mum on her back and put the babies on, both babies have had a really good feed, and mum tolerated it realy well so fingers x:D
my vet said not to even try to handrear as the success rate was really low:cry::cry: but i feel i need to give these babies a chance

both babies are sound asleep with full bellies:love::love:
 
Awwww poor little mites :(
im not experienced in this but id be inclined to agree with tamsin.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
 
I have lost kits i wished i'd removed and hand-reared- if i had any doubts i probably wouldn't hesistate now as i don't like cleaning kits off the bottom of the hutch floor :( This is just due to my decisions turning out wrong in the past though- go with whatever you feel is best. I think i'd go with tamsins advice, supervise feeding. They only feed once a day anyway as far as i'm aware. I would have some substitute milk on hand just incase though.

I did have a bunny that killed one of hers then reared the rest perfectly fine. It all depends on the bunny really i suppose, your connection to them, you will know what is right for them.
 
Don't forget at that age they'll need encouragement to poop. Just 'lick' their bums with a damp piece of cotton/tissue.
 
the 2 babies have had a few good feeds and are still really lively and mum has started falling asleep in my arms at feed times:love::love::love:
 
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