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PLEASE HELP

bugaluggs

Young Bun
:(

I rehomed 4 new rabbits a week last Saturday. They were supposed to have been given the all clear by the vet however one of them gave birth on Friday night to 4 babies. We had no idea she was pregnant. I have left her to her own devices only going in the hutch bit to check all babies alive and well. Unfortunately this morning 2 babies were dead. She'd made to nests with 2 in each and it looks like one had crawled out and they both died of cold (I'm only presuming). Now the other 2 are well buried under her nest of fur and hay. Am I doing something wrong to lose two or is this just nature's cruel way? Can someone please give me advice? I'm gutted that I've lost 2 and don't want to lose the other 2.

Many many thanks.

A very sad Keeley
 
Im so sorry about your babies, and what a shock fr you. You are doing the right thing by leaving mum to it but unfortunatly there would have been nothing you could have done for the babs that died, if mum had wanted them back in the nest she would have put them there. Just keep an eye on mum and the remaining two babies and i wish you all the best XX
 
Sorry to hear your news, however congratulations on becoming a bunny mum for the first time. Unfortuntely there is nothing you could have done to prevent this happening it is just natures way. Your important role now is to care for mum so she can look after the remaining babies.

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=1634&highlight=baby+rabbits this is an old forum topic about baby rabbits which may help you. There are probably quite a few other topics on here about having babies.

Good luck and hope everything works out well.

Janice
 
Thank you

Thank you so much for your replies. It is weird that at first there were 3 outside the nest and just 1 underneath all the fur and she moved one of them in the first night. I thought she was just being a good mum and making sure the other one is not on its own. I am very sad. I've been reading some posts on here and have even dug the babies back up from the garden in case they could be revived. It is just such a hard situation. I've only had the mummy for a week. She'd been at the santuary since November and nobody wanted here as she tends to nip if you try and pick her up. She's fine once I've got hold of her it. Even putting her food in her cage she launches at me! But she's a cutie and I'm not giving up on her. I just hope she looks after her remaining babies.
 
It is very hard when you loose them, I remember when I had the first lot of babies born here. There were 8 of them all furless balls, one day we found 2 who had died overnight, for days after I couldn't stop thinking about the if I had done this or that would they have survived. At the end of the day the important thing is to concentrate on the ones who are alive and mum to ensure that they are ok.

Have you spoken to the sanctuary where you got your buns from and informed them that one of them has had babies, particualry if they have had her since November. If the rescue we are involved with had rehomed any animal who had given birth we would like to look into why this had happened and what we had done wrong to prevent this happening to anyone else.

Janice
 
HI

I rang the sanctuary immediately and to be honest I was a bit disappointed in their response. The only advice they gave was just to leave them alone but go in and check that all were there. They said it was fine to move the nesting to ensure they were all ok, then she laughed, said congratulations and said if I needed help rehoming them then to take them up there. That isn't an issue as I am willing to keep all of them. But surely if Annie had been properly checked by a vet they would have known she was 3 weeks pregnant. The sanctuary said they have no idea how she became pregnant.

I am racking my brains as to why these two have died. Is it usual to make two separate nests? What do you think my surviving babies chances are? Am I ok to touch the nests to check the others are still alive.

Thank you for taking the time to reply.
 
It isn't usuall for does to make two nests! Were there any other females in the same hutch/run? You will be fine to check the nests just make sure to rub your hands in mums poo first so you smell like her or there is a chance that mum will kill the babes, you only need do this until they are up and out of the nest. As long as mum keeps feeding the babes (she will do it about once a day at night) and they stay warm then there chances are good.
 
Surely if Annie had been 3 weeks pregnant when you got her and they had had her since November something had gone wrong with their 'mixing' rabbit arrangements. As Phil says if you have other rabbits who live together have you checked that they are all definately female.

Having lost 2 babies already this should not make any difference to the survival of your other babies.

Just make sure that your mummy bun gets lots of fresh veg and unlimited hay and dry food and water to keep up her milk production. You are doing a really good job with them.

Janice
 
Annie was on her own at the Sanctuary and has been here too. I wanted to get her settled in before I introduced her to my male bunny (who is castrated) & the other females. She is isolated in her own hutch. Thank you for all your advice. I'm just desperately hoping that it isn't something that I've done. But maybe if there were two nests she was rejecting two of them. I'll keep you all posted and if anyone else has any advice then it will be greatly received. My mum said she noticed that even though the bunnies were all kept separate at the sanctuary there appeared to be burrow holes in the soil so maybe one of the males has got through to her.
 
It is possible she seperated them because there was something wrong with them. There was a recent post here about a mum that kept igorning one of the kits and moving it out of the nest. I think hand rearing was attempted but the kit didn't make it. It was the runt and hardly grew so I think sometimes they know and seperate out the weak to ensure that the strong survive. As horrible as that is to us.

Good luck with the other two!

Caz
 
sorry to hear about your bunny.. its pretty bad that she managed to get pregnant at the rescue centre and they dont know how.. very strange. You are doing a great job caring for her and her babies.. unfortunately these things do happen sometimes for no real reason. Keep an eye on her and her other 2 babies.
 
Yeah Caz it was one of mine, Nemo.

Fawn, the mummy just wouldn't feed it. We didn't know why.
I hand reared it till it was three weeks old, but it died.
It had horribly deformed teeth. Perhaps thats why Fawn didn't feed it?

I ended up losing 3 out of 11.
It's really hard, but in no way is any of it your fault.
At least your bunny has someone loving to care for her and her babies.

You have to trust her to look after them, and if they don't make it, it just wasn't meant to be.

Goodluck
XXX
 
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