Baby rabbit nest - advice needed!

My rabbit just gave birth. We're not exactly sure when (but could have been last night or even before) as my wife just discovered the nest this morning when she moved the baby slide in the garden.

It seems that all the babies are alive (moving) and they are surrounded by fur and hay.

We have two rabbits who usually live in a cage (60cm x 120cm - yes I know it's too small!) during the night and they have pretty much free roam of our enclosed garden during the day. We have put the male rabbit in the cage now to keep him away from the mother and the babies.

The question is what we should do about moving the nest? I'm worried about the cold (it's about 15 degrees Celsius here during the day - colder at night) and predators.

Should we move the nest? If so, should be move it inside (where the mother rabbit doesn't like being - she prefers outdoors)?
Also I have two very young boys who will not understand that they can't play with the bunnies?
Is it better to leave it outside? If so should I move the nest to an area nearer the house (where i guess risk of predators will be less)? What should we put the nest in?
How do I keep the nest warm outside (is the fur/hay enough?)?

Sorry for the many questions but we really don't know what to do and we'd like to give the babies the best chance for survival!

Thanks!

Are you in the UK?

The babies definitely need to be safe and if the mother doesn't like the cage are you able to contruct something to keep her and the babies enclosed and safe? I'm guessing the babies will have hardly any chance of survival above ground without being in a more protected environment.

Could you get a large hutch from somewhere so she'll have space but the babies will be safe?

Not in the UK. In the Middle East.

I agree with you regarding safety. I'll see what I can get but I've looked around before - there was literally nothing (I needed to build my first cage myself).
What's the minimum size cage? Also if I keep her caged up, what will she do for exercise? Or can I still let her out during the day?

Keep the mother with the babies.she maybe expecting another litter by now if you didnt remove the male in time.xx

Try to leave the babies alone....if they smell like youve touched them, they are at risk.

Plenty of water and food for mum, hay included.xxx

I dont understand, if you were breeding and the mother was close to giving birth why was the mother not kept somewhere safe?

Where exactly is the nest now, you make it sound like it is just on the ground out in the open? Very odd that a mother rabbit would choose somewhere so unprotected for her nest- it sounds like this is her first litter?

Do you not have another cage for the male rabbit? So the mother and babies dont have any cage or shelter right now?

I take it you mean you were keeping them together up until now, not just for the time that they mated? In which case it is likely she is already pregnant again, I hope not because she will have the next litter before this one is properly weaned and before she has recovered properly, it is a terrible strain on her body and you must expect some difficulty, she may even kill her second litter, it will probably be best for her if she does. Do not under any circumstances let the male rabbit out with the female rabbit or near the babies. How old is your mother rabbit?

You need to keep your children away from the rabbits. Just dont let them go in the garden. If they stress out the mother or if she feels threatened she may kill her babies. Your children should be taught to be quiet and gentle around all the rabbits, and taught that they are not toys.

Make sure mum has lots of rabbit pellets, hay and water, and of course predator-proof, weather-proof shelter.

It sounds like the nest is outdoors?
What is the night temperature?

It's a hard decision if you should move the nest to a cage with mother or not. They are too exposed where they are but by moving them you risk upsetting things.

I think that if it's outside, as Stator speculated (because I too was confused), then yes, move it. Line a shoe box, or similar (essentially something big enough for mum to stand in and turn around in, with an open top, but high enoguh sides so the kits can't wriggle or be pulled out) with some newspaper at the bottom and then lots of hay on top and make a 'dip' in the middle.. Stroke mum well first and make sure that you don't smell of anything else strong like predators, dad, soap, etc, and then put the nest and babies into the dip. Save as much of the nest as you can- ensure it's dry.

Mum will already be pregnant and her and dad defintiely need to be separated. He can't live with the babies, and she will need a bigger space to be with the babies because of how her instincts will make her feel.

I would suggest having a read of this too. http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?327923-Accidental-Litters-and-Taking-on-Babies

Thank you for all your comments.

Just an update regarding what we've done.

My wife cleverly positioned the cage over the nest + we moved all the cage things (food, water, litter tray etc.) into the cage.
We also moved mum into the cage of course. (Dad is running around the garden for now).

We also put a nice big upturned plant pot with the side cut out directly on the nest so it's nice and covered and secure.
The pot has enough space for the whole nest (which is quite big) and mum to move around in. We gave her lots of hay + food + water.

I checked on the little ones this morning. They look cosy and warm deep in the fur of the nest. They are also quite nice and big and are moving around lots from what I can see. I counted around 7 and they all seemed to be moving to me but who knows how many there actually are?
I guess we need to actually pick them up and remove them for a bit so we can check the nest for dead ones? What should we do about this? (I'm loathe to move them if it's not essential as don't want to upset anything). Is there any chance that we actually don't have any dead ones?

Some info regarding your questions in the posts above: It doesn't usually get colder outside than 6 degrees - usually around 15. We have put a large duvet over the whole cage to protect it from the elements. It seems quite warm in the nest.
Also regarding how this happened. We weren't trying to breed. We got two 'male' rabbits from a farm that was looking to find homes from them.

Some pics! It looks like all 7 are still moving a lot. (I still need to check for more/dead ones that may be under somewhere but still not sure when's the right time to do this).

Looks like a good little nest they have their

Are you seeing mummy feed them twice a day?

Stator said:

Looks like a good little nest they have their

Are you seeing mummy feed them twice a day?

Click to expand...

They seem to be happy with their accommodation!

I'm not seeing her feed them at all. But we're not watching all day long. She could be feeding them at any time.
Also as I understand it sometimes they feed in the late/early hours?

This morning when I checked on them I didn't see movement so I was worried, but I blew on the nest softly and suddenly they all started jumping around like crazy so I think they were just sleeping.

Great pix.

I didn't ever see Muppette feed hers... but she obviously did because four healthy kits were the result. Can your doe definitely get in under the plant pot to let them latch on?

I worried about fishing out any dead kits but concluded that if they died very early on, they'd be tiny, dessicate quite quickly and gradually get buried by "stuff" and I was better not to interfere with the nest itself. So I didn't and found one sad little dried up body when I cleaned out the nest when they were about 4 weeks old. This lot were in a polytunnel that just about stayed above freezing - in that dreadful weather we had in December 2010 when it was in the minuses for about a month - so they can obviously survive in low temperatures providing there's enough warmth around them - and the doe looks to have plucked them a nice duvet.

Hope all continues to go well.

Great. Thanks for the advice. I guess I'll just leave them alone - yes they certainly do look cosy!

Yes mummy can easily get under the pot and stand up in it. She should be able to move around inside it too (I guess there's no real danger of her crushing her kits anyway is there?).
Both mummy and daddy used to use the pot for hiding in together - it's quite big.

Yes she would normally feed them and then leave them alone. You should be able to tell by looking at their bellies whether they have been fed or not. Wish I could be more help but I don't know much about baby rabbits.

it looks ok to me as long as the mother and babies are safe from predators

the plant pot was a good idea, but be aware that when the greedy babies feed, they hang onto the mother and when she leaves, the babies may fall off outside the nest of warm fur and maybe won't be able to get back in...probably a good idea to somehow extend the plant pot idea a little more


you are almost certainly not going to see the mother feed the babies, she will visit them once or twice a day when it is quiet, she won't stay for long, just long enough for each baby to get their fill

I never saw my rabbit feeding her babies, all I knew was they just kept on getting bigger and I just left her to it

its difficult not to worry about them, but the mothers usually know how to deal with things, just give her all the food and water she needs

FYI week 3 is when things start to get interesting, their eyes open, they start running around and are very cute and curious

Just an update.

It seems I miscounted before. I counted 8 the other day (am almost sure there aren't any others).

They all look to be growing quite nicely and they're getting some beautiful velvety fur...!

Here's mummy:


And cute kits:

Glad they are all doing well

Oh my goodness, they are amazing

It looks like she is taking good care of them.

Thanks for sharing the pictures and updating on progress.

They look stunning! and very healthy.

Just a warning - in my limited experience (just one accidental litter!) the kits start to 'boing' quite a lot at 1-2 weeks and may accidentally 'boing' out of the nest. Also at about 4 weeks for some reason al the kits made their way to a different corner of the run/hutch they were in - and I know other people that have had this happen when the buns have space enough to do so. It makes sense in terms of hygeine etc but again its a period when you need to make sure that all of them have found the new home and that there is enough fluff etc covering them.

Ours fed from mum until 9 weeks old (greedy little things) but at 3 weeks were already eating a lot of hay and the things she ate (grass, pellets etc).

We had no trouble at 'weening' because they were already used to all these things from copying jer and having small tasters etc.

Will you keep them all? (we did could not bear to split them up!)

PS how are you dealing with the predator problem?