Rescued Rabbit Need Some Advice.

Yesterday i rescued a female rabbit ( decided to call her flora ) with 3 babies ( from a very unconcerned couldn't be bothered to look after them neighbor as they were for the kids.They still have the male as i couldn't take them both )They were left in a shed day and night, not really fed or watered and the female is skinny. I have set her up a big dog cage ( that's all i have at the moment) with straw,hay, food ( selective rabbit) water, cardboard hiding place, mineral licks, and her babies are in a corner litter tray in their nest which i took as well. She seems to be responsive to the babies and when i checked them this morning they are warm,wriggling and pink, so i think she is taking care of them. I don't think she has been to stressed by the move as she is eating, drinking and moving round.And when i talk to her she seems to listen and she comes up to me when i feed her. If anybody could give me some advice on what to in this situation it would be greatly appreciated. I really need advice on what you would feed her, the amount to feed her, as the babies grow up,weaning the babies, things i should know etc. I also have a suspicion that she could be pregnant again as when i went to get her the male was humping her again

Flora said:

Yesterday i rescued a female rabbit ( decided to call her flora ) with 3 babies ( from a very unconcerned couldn't be bothered to look after them neighbor as they were for the kids.They still have the male as i couldn't take them both )They were left in a shed day and night, not really fed or watered and the female is skinny. I have set her up a big dog cage ( that's all i have at the moment) with straw,hay, food ( selective rabbit) water, cardboard hiding place, mineral licks, and her babies are in a corner litter tray in their nest which i took as well. She seems to be responsive to the babies and when i checked them this morning they are warm,wriggling and pink, so i think she is taking care of them. I don't think she has been to stressed by the move as she is eating, drinking and moving round.And when i talk to her she seems to listen and she comes up to me when i feed her. If anybody could give me some advice on what to in this situation it would be greatly appreciated. I really need advice on what you would feed her, the amount to feed her, as the babies grow up,weaning the babies, things i should know etc. I also have a suspicion that she could be pregnant again as when i went to get her the male was humping her again

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No advice as not experienced with babies or pregnant does - but post this in Rabbit Chat and you'll get much more help! :wave:
And well done you

well done for rescuing her! It is more than likely that she is pregnant again as they can fall preganant straight away after giving birth. How old are the babies? They should be able to leave Mum at 8 weeks of age, do you know how many there are? The buns should feed off thier Mum, when they are a few weeks old, they will start eating her dry food etc... I wouldn't give the babies and veg unless the mum has been used to having them but I doubt it. I hope someone on here who is more experienced with rabbtits and babies can help you more. Good luck!!

Well done for rescuing her. How old are the babies approx? Theres a 99% chance she is pregnant again, she can get pregnant straight after giving birth Bless her Pregnancy is around 31 days, and you will more than likely have to remove the older litter to a different cage.

Feed mum what she was eating previously, too much change will give her a bad tummy. She will need a fair amount of food as shes having to look after the babies. Plenty of hay constantly aswell.

Babies will need to be sexed by the vet at 8 weeks, and split into male and female groups. I dont know anything about weaning. *spider* on here is fostering a litter of babies, maybe you could PM her for advice.

At least bunny is safe now with you xXx

Thank you all for your replies. About the feeding thing, thats what i thought as feeding her the same, but as she wasn't really fed i am giving her the selective pellets and spring cabbage greens and plenty of hay ( i will introduce more when i think she will be able to cope with it). Her poo does seem okay as it is solid, but a little bit dark. She has 3 babies.
I am not really sure of how old the babies are, but i do know they are less then 10 days as there eyes are not open. I am going to wait until their eyes are open and count that as the tenth day.

Well done for helping this poor rabbit.

Is there a reputable rabbit rescue near to you?

Alice

sounds like your feeding her right Id just feed her as much as she will eat while she is feeding the kits She has certainly landed on all 4 paws with you. Do keep us updated xXx

Well done for rescueing the rabbits. I'm sure their future will be better now.
I am worried about the male though. What will happen to him? Would you be able to get him to a rescue for rehoming?

About the male rabbit, i am thinking about seeing if i can take him for the time being as i know they are not interested in him what so ever. I am not sure about rescue rabbit centres in my area ( live in birmingham), but i am going down to my vet on friday to have a chat ( see when she will be able to have injections thing like that) and see if they know about any fostering or rehoming centres. She will be having the whole run of the spare bedroom ( along with trees and bushes murall as it was intended for sugar gliders, but now have flora and her babies that will have to wait). Just waiting for it to dry as disinfected it all, and she will be moving to bigger dog cage ( can fit geman shepherd and a rotti in together), So hopefully she will be happy with that.
Just wondering about something else, when i went to feed her this morning ( around 6) the babies where out of the nest in a line, Flora didnt seem stressed or any thing ( she was waiting by her food bowls), so i put the babies back in the nest and she seems fine as she has put newspaper back over the nest and her box in front of the nest ( she did that yesterday). When i put them back the babies where still quite warm and pink.
Is this a normal thing to happen?

just wanted to say well done and not sure if you know but straw is not a good idea for small animals as its very hard and can cause probelms such as damage to eyes by poking them etc so I would try and change it to cheap hay which is softer and wont hurt them just for lying on.
Keep your exspensive hay for eating although it wont harm her to eat the cheap stuff!
xx

winnies angel said:

just wanted to say well done and not sure if you know but straw is not a good idea for small animals as its very hard and can cause probelms such as damage to eyes by poking them etc so I would try and change it to cheap hay which is softer and wont hurt them just for lying on.
Keep your exspensive hay for eating although it wont harm her to eat the cheap stuff!
xx

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Thanks for the tip, will be taking the straw out. Come to think of it we didnt use straw in our guniea pigs, for that reason.

Fat Fluffs are in Birmingham www.fatfluffs.com I volunteer for Walsall RSPCA, which isnt too far away www.rspca-walsall.org.uk If you are wanting to rehome the bunnies via a rescue once theyre a bit older i would get them put on the waiting list now As you can probably imagine, all the rescues have huge waiting lists

Your done such a fab thing taking in mum and babies though. Glad to hear theyre all ok today. What breed is mum? Any pics of her? xXx

Becky86 said:

Fat Fluffs are in Birmingham www.fatfluffs.com I volunteer for Walsall RSPCA, which isnt too far away www.rspca-walsall.org.uk If you are wanting to rehome the bunnies via a rescue once theyre a bit older i would get them put on the waiting list now As you can probably imagine, all the rescues have huge waiting lists

Your done such a fab thing taking in mum and babies though. Glad to hear theyre all ok today. What breed is mum? Any pics of her? xXx

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Thanks very much for your help. Helping to get them rehomed would be fantastic
Things have taken a turn for the worse in only a couple of hours . I moved them to the spare bedroom as this was much better suited. On moving them to the bedroom i picked up flora properly( for the first time since having her) and i am really shocked at how skinny she is. So skinny that you can feel all her ribs, her spine, and her hip bones also. On closer inspection you can see them vivdly through her fur. At being shocked at this i also cheaked her teats ( as if she is this skinny would she have enough milk). Her teats are really small and so we tried gently to she if she is lactating. Unfortunately on trying on all of them i realised she is not producing any milk at all. I next thought it was essential to throughly check the babies over. Theywere cold and really wrinkly( judging on this i think they are around 48 hours old as yesterday they seemed okay. got her tuesday). I managed to get some goats milk down them in a syringe and get them warm again in the airing cupboard with lots of newspaper and towel.
So i think i will be trying to feed them from now on.
Just wondering if you could help me with some further advice on this, and also would they need stimulating to go to the toilet.

Ahh dear Doesnt sound great does it.... i would put a post in 'Rabbit' Chat, infact i will post a link to this thread now for you Maybe send a PM to Jacks-Jane, shes very bunny savvy

I have never had a pregnant doe or any babies so young. Mum sounds in quite bad condition, i would definately feed her unlimited pellets for the time being. Hope the male bunny is ok Poor wee man

Will go and try and find you some info for feeding the babies xXx

ETA: is this link any good?
http://www.cottontails-rescue.org.uk/handrear.asp

Becky86 said:

Ahh dear Doesnt sound great does it.... i would put a post in 'Rabbit' Chat, infact i will post a link to this thread now for you Maybe send a PM to Jacks-Jane, shes very bunny savvy

I have never had a pregnant doe or any babies so young. Mum sounds in quite bad condition, i would definately feed her unlimited pellets for the time being. Hope the male bunny is ok Poor wee man

Will go and try and find you some info for feeding the babies xXx

ETA: is this link any good?
http://www.cottontails-rescue.org.uk/handrear.asp

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Thank you so much. Have posted another thread to see if i can get more advice. Am going to see if i can get the male of them asap

Your best bet would be to find another doe with babies, so that she can act as surrogate 'mum'. Try ringing around all the rescues in your area.

It's unbelievably hard to hand rear baby rabbits, and usually unsuccessful, so this option is to be avoided if at all possible.

The babies will need toileting at this age, but should go by themselves after about 5 days old.

This thread contains some good info: http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=184411

In fact the member who started that thread isn't too far from you (Stoke on Trent) and might be able to help if you PM her.

Good luck

Flora said:

Thank you so much. Have posted another thread to see if i can get more advice. Am going to see if i can get the male of them asap

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Yes thats a good idea! I would too try and get the male I dread to think how hes living If you need a dog crate or indoor cage or anything to put him in i have spares here you could have

Becky86 said:

Yes thats a good idea! I would too try and get the male I dread to think how hes living If you need a dog crate or indoor cage or anything to put him in i have spares here you could have

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Thanks for that, but i have got a couple of sized dog cages ( used to work with dogs). Will need to get him re homed though, so i have saved all the links that you put up i think he is about 5-6 months old. Not sure what breed he or flora are, or whether they are crosses.
Will try and get some pictures up of flora and the babies.

Hi, he is Flora and the babies doing? Did you manage to get the male? Very well done for your efforts.

How are Flora and the babies?? xXx