Baby Bunnies

Hello all. I am new to the group and desperately need some advice please. We got 2 rabbits early on this year to replace an old male that we had for many years. We were told they were both females, but turns out we have one female and one male! 4 baby rabbits were born 11 days ago, one stillborn, the other 3 apparantly healthy. Unfortunately 2 nights ago someone stole 2 of the babies and left one sitting on top of the nest. Got it warmed up and mum seems to be still feeding it.

My worry is though, the remaining rabbit is very small. The mother is a dwarf lop and very dainty. The baby hasn't grown a lot since it was born. It looks developmentally sound, but is very quiet, eyes still tightly closed (11 days old) and makes no effort to move around. What size should it be at this stage? It still fits very comfortably into the palm of my hand alone (and I dont have particularly big hands) and tends to stay curled up most of the time.

As you can tell, I have never dealt with newborn rabbits before, only had ones from 8 weeks and adulthood and can't find a great deal online about how it should look by now. ANY help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you
Alayne

Awww how awful to lose those 2 babies like that I do hope you removed the male as soon as you discoverd babies although they usually mate again within an hour of the doe giving birth, so she will maybe even have more babies in a fortnight or so This little one you have doesn't sound right, not that I'm experienced with baby rabbits. It's quite possible with the 2 adults being related (I guess?) that there are inbred abnormalities. Hopefully someone can advise you better than I can.

The two adults are not related and only the female is a dwarf lop. The male is a dutch. The babies were all a good size at birth, and were all growing at the same rate before the other 2 were stolen. I wasn't sure if it was a case that they don't move about a lot until the eyes are open? How much longer do I leave him without his eyes open? He is well fed, has a big tummy and looks perfectly normal apart from his size.

Oh and the male was removed as soon as we realised there were babies, didn't realise she was pregnant, but he may well have got to her before we realised there were babies. I hope he hasn't as I don't think she could cope with another litter so soon. She was very distraught at having her babies taken, and hardly has any fur left from constantly nest making.

The biggest problem with a single baby is keeping it warm, make sure theres plenty of fur in the nest.

Babies open their eyes at about 10 days old - give it another day or so and if its not opened by then bathe the eyes gently with cool water to open them. If left to late an infection ocould build up underneath.

As for size its difficult to comment, if its got a fat belly then tis obviously being fed and theres not much more you can do than that. Just keep an eye on it. You should prepare yourself for the worst though, just incase.

Fingers crossed for the little one.

I would also fit a padlock to the hutch today! :shock: The baby may have been dropped or roughly handled or simply got too cold, so maybe he's slowed a bit with having the shock to get over - hopefully he'll soon catch up again as it sounds like mum is feeding him well. Poor girl - how can anyone be so cruel as to do that

when baby rabbits are being fed they have little pop bellys, which are very distinctive, so if it has a pop belly then thats a good sign. The other thing is fur, by 7 days they should be quite furry, and by 11 days then should definatly have fur covering the whole body, if there isnt much fur the baby might not be developing properly. If y ou are worried about anything else just PM me and il try and help you x

Hi there,

I'm afraid I have no experience with this, and I'm sorry for the situation you find yourself in. I hope the little one starts to grow and is ok

This is from the web, 10-12days old:



The site where I found it shows rabbits at different stages of deveolpment, see the following link

http://www.rabbits-online.co.uk/Baby_Rabbits_Growing_Up.htm

Most eyes are open between 10 and 14 days, I have read and indeed found it the case that some babies have trouble opening their eyes and need them gently bathing if they are not open by 14 days.....apparently there is a high chance of damage to the eye if they stay closed longer than this.

Yeah, if the baby's eyes don't open before it's around 14 days it can turn blind. You can use a wet piece of paper and gently wash the eyes, then they should open. There's no need (and could possibly be dangerous) to bathe the whole bunny.

Thank you very much for the replies. I will try to get a picture of him so you can see just how small he is. He is completely covered in fur, and looks perfect but is really really tiny, nowhere near the size of that rabbit. I would say his total length is just over 2 inches. They have been moved into a padlocked shed, I thought they were safe in the garden (as it is totally enclosed by a 7 foot fence) but someone must have known they were there, scaled the fence during the night, and taken 2 of them (I won't repeat how I feel about this, as the language would be choice). He is very warm and cosy and the mother is very good with him. Should he be attempting to move about the place by now, even with his eyes shut, as he never moves from where he is. Thanks again for all your help.

It does sound like he might have 'special needs' but if mum is happy with him then I guess just wait and see how he gets on - although do the eye bathing thing at 14 days like others have said. Please keep us posted about him/her!