Please help, advice needed, possible rejected babies

Hi there I was wondering if anyone could help. I've been hobby breeding rabbits for a year now and never had any problems. However my latest Mum is really starting to worry me.
She had her babies nearly 48 hours ago now. I didn't realise at first that she had had them as she had completely burried her nest in shavings, however once I had a quick last night all the babies were there huddled together nice and warm and jumping about like they do looking for Mums milk. I checked on them again this afternoon as it was a bit dark last night and I wanted to make sure there were no dead babies etc, which is what I do with every litter, again they seemed fine although I haven't noticed whether their bellies were full (on hindsight I should have checked).

However I've gone out this evening to feed the rabbits and Mum seems to be going crazy. She's jumping round the hutch, digging at the wire mesh and other places, but worst of all she's completely dug her nest out. Some of the babies were still together but some were scattered although they had managed to wriggle under bits of nest that were everywhere.

I put them all back together and fed her and left her to it, but 2 minutes later she had dug them up again and they were scattered everywhere. Once again I put them back but she just did it again. Their bellies looked empty and they weren't very lively like before.

All of them felt warm still so I just cut up a cardboard box and put all the nesting material in that and put them in that, in the hope that mum wont dig them out of it. There is 7 of them.

Is there anything else I can do? Has she rejected them? I'm really worried about them and don't know what to do for the best.

Thanks in advance.

I've just been out to check on them again and she had knocked the nest box over, so I've brought it inside, not sure if thats the right thing to do or not, but they definitely haven't been fed tonight at least.

This forum is primarily for the rescuing of rabbits of which there are around 30,000 waiting for a forever home. Very few of our members have experience with litters for this reason but hopefully one of the ones who do have experience will be here soon to help you. In the meantime there is this thread which may help.

Maybe you can keep her separate from the babies and just put her with them for feeding once a day, or follow the technique for putting them in a towel between your knees and sitting her on top so they can feed. Does her hutch meet the 6 foot minimum? Your other options would be to see if you have another female with babies already that would foster them or if you know of another breeder who could foster a couple of the kits to an already feeding doe.
As mentioned above this is a pro rescue forum and whilst everyone is welcome in general they is a dim view of hobbiest breeders given the 35,000 or so rabbits that are handed in to rescues every year due to over breeding.

I note she is outside and am wondering of something is alarming her? As you will know in the wild rabbits do not stay near their litter and only come to them once a day to feed - as they realise that if an adult rabbit is with the litter all day they will give away their location. If you are making her stay with her litter all the time in a hutch then IF she senses predators she will be desperate to get away from them.

I realise that many breeders do breed the mothers by keeping them in what is actually a very unnatural way - but just explaining in case this is what is happening.

Has she got a separate bedroom area or separate level or run she can get to??

The other thing might be if one or more are for some reason ones she feels have a health problem - then she will try and destroy them.

Did she make a good nest in the first place? (I note the use of shavings which are now usually frowned on as causing respiratory problems - but if you have had a lot of litters using these in the past then unlikely to be a factorin this specific problem now).

PS although it is true that most people on here are rescue oriented we are VERY HAPPY to offer help and advice to anyone if it can be helpful to rabbits of all kinds!

I have never bred, nor had any experience of true babies, but the first thing that sprang to mind was whether the enclosure is too small. She could stressed out because she can't get away from the babies, which as parsnipbun has said, is a fairly unnatural situation. She needs to feel safe and feel like her babies are safe, otherwise she will panic and try to destroy them. Lots of animals do this - better them than a predator, they figure. She may also be spooked by something lurking around.

You don't say how old she is or if this is her first litter - very young and inexperienced mothers often reject their litters because they just don't know how to care for them. It's my understanding that hand-rearing baby rabbits is almost impossible, so I hope for your sake this isn't the case. Also, you say she buried her nest - is that the nest she built, or a nestbox you made up for her? If she has made a nest and had fed, I would assume this is just the above behaviour, but as you haven't specified, it is entirely possible she's rejected them. Have you got a single female who could foster them?

parsnipbun said:

PS although it is true that most people on here are rescue oriented we are VERY HAPPY to offer help and advice to anyone if it can be helpful to rabbits of all kinds!

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Very well said. I for one am always happy to offer a sincere ear and advise to the best of my knowledge, as I'm sure everyone else would.

Just re-read - they will NOT survive 24 hours without food - if you have now separated them from her entirely then you will have a real struggle in front of you. Raising kits by hand is difficult - and has limited success for several reasons to do with the rabbit gut.

Personally I would give them another chance with her as she may go back to them and feed them when she normally would (probably at some time during the midnight to 7am period).

OR (and perhaps preferably) as she will have milk available you could try the 'lap' method as outlined above by someone else - make a sort of hammock on your lap with a blanket or something, then put her on your lap over that and have a friend slip in the babies one by one underneath her - they will latch on. You must have help doing this in case she kicks out, or the babies are knocked or do not latch on.

By trying this you may also find out what the problem is - perhaps she does not have any milk???

Try topping up her alfalfa hay - aways excellent for buns with litters.

Thanks very much everyone for getting back to me.

Yes this is her first litter, she is 8 months old, so this is what is worrying me more. She is in a 6' x 3' x 3' hutch, I believe in giving my bunnies as much space as possible. She did make a proper nest but then seemed to bury it, which I found odd but put down to the colder weather. She is fed plenty of hay and a feed specially designed for mothers.

I've just tried the 'lap' method and although the babies went to suckle, I don't think there was any milk, which I'm guessing could be the problem. I was so worried that they just wont last the night as it's been nearly 48 hours now, that I've given them a tiny bit of cows milk dripped in tiny drip at a time. I'm not sure if I should have done or not but I doubt they could survive anyway. I've brought them inside as if she kicks them around the hutch again they will die from the cold anyway.

I've read that the vets can give the mothers an injection to help the milk, fingers crossed its not too late and maybe just maybe I might be able to put them all back together.

bethepoet said:

Very well said. I for one am always happy to offer a sincere ear and advise to the best of my knowledge, as I'm sure everyone else would.

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Thank you very much for your time

Oh dear, I'm really sorry, it's not looking good, is it? If she hasn't got any milk, she's probably rejected them.

Rabbits can't actually process dairy, so giving cows milk was not the best choice but I can understand you panicked and acted in desperation. As far as I'm aware, Kitten Replacer Milk is what you would feed an orphaned kit. You MAY be able to get this at a supermarket. If not, goats milk. Can you get to a 24/hr place? Also is there an emergency vets open anywhere? They may have the KRM or just be able to advise you better.

They feed once or twice a day at most, usually during the night, so they are probably already very weak. I hope you can do something for them, wishing you all the best.

I suspect these little ones have now passed away . .

if not then the milk you need is puppy powder milk made up double strength and administered via a special teat called a Mikki teat (available on Amazon and some pet stores - its VERY TINY). attached to a 1ml syringe - you will need to gfeed very small amounts every 2 hours - however unless experienced at hand rearing it is probably better in the long run to let them pass away now as hand rearing is rarely successful from that young age.

Or you could try contacting a local rabbit rescue or wildlife rehabilitator to see if they will take them on or have a lactating doe.

8 months is far too young to want her to breed. and tbh 6ft hutch but without an attached run she can go in is not ideal either - but for a breeder it is larger than many so well done for at least not going with the typical breeder cage.

Perhaps after these very very sad deaths and seeing her so upset you might consider stopping breeding?