Well my 2 boy rabbits are now proud parents! CRAP! (I'm calling the vet that told me they were boys Tomorrow and biching!)
I'm not sure how old the bunnies are........ I'm thinking about 1 week, 2 at the very oldest.
I dont know what to do to take care of them!! I already removed the male. Do I need to be feeding mom anything special?
And she had them in the "potty" and its REALLY nasty in there! Should I try and change the bedding? And it smells REALLY bad like rotten dead animal.....I know there are alive babies I saw a squirming ball of fuzz. Mostly her hair, but I saw atleast 1 baby.
HELP!!! I dont know what to do!!
The mom should get extra food if you keep them on rations. If the mom lets you, you should be able to take the babies out of the nest and look at them. Remove any dead ones (there probably is one or two, this is normal) I would suggest trying to keep her nest that she built in tact, all the fur and clean hay that she gathered there do not throw away. Clean the litter box, put some new litter in it and replace the nest with the babies. If you have a pretty easying going rabbit personallity she should be fine, if she is high strung you might want to wait until the babies are a bit older to clean the nest.
Other than that mom should do everything else that she needs to to take care of those little ones. All you have to do is watch them grow!
Best of luck!
Yea...shes pretty high strung. Not really friendly. doesnt like to be picked up and isnt very tame.
My question is this. Will she EAT her babies if I touch them? My grandparents owned a pet store a long time ago and said if I touched them she'd eat them!
Quoting Inle_Rabbit:
The mom should get extra food if you keep them on rations. If the mom lets you, you should be able to take the babies out of the nest and look at them. Remove any dead ones (there probably is one or two, this is normal) I would suggest trying to keep her nest that she built in tact, all the fur and clean hay that she gathered there do not throw away. Clean the litter box, put some new litter in it and replace the nest with the babies. If you have a pretty easying going rabbit personallity she should be fine, if she is high strung you might want to wait until the babies are a bit older to clean the nest.
Other than that mom should do everything else that she needs to to take care of those little ones. All you have to do is watch them grow!
Best of luck!
OH! and my other question is how long does it take the babies to get fur? Because I'm pretty sure the baby I saw was black and white...........whill that help me detemine their age?
Quoting MelaniesMama:
Yea...shes pretty high strung. Not really friendly. doesnt like to be picked up and isnt very tame.
My question is this. Will she EAT her babies if I touch them? My grandparents owned a pet store a long time ago and said if I touched them she'd eat them!
Quoting Inle_Rabbit:
The mom should get extra food if you keep them on rations. If the mom lets you, you should be able to take the babies out of the nest and look at them. Remove any dead ones (there probably is one or two, this is normal) I would suggest trying to keep her nest that she built in tact, all the fur and clean hay that she gathered there do not throw away. Clean the litter box, put some new litter in it and replace the nest with the babies. If you have a pretty easying going rabbit personallity she should be fine, if she is high strung you might want to wait until the babies are a bit older to clean the nest.
Other than that mom should do everything else that she needs to to take care of those little ones. All you have to do is watch them grow!
Best of luck!
No, she shouldn't eat them (I've raised countless litters and never had a doe eat them after I touched them) but if you are worried about that take a sent (a light perfume, body spray, etc) spray some on your finger and rub it under her nose then rub some on the babies. I have done this with some does that I thought were fickle and never had a problem.
Rabbit skin can be different colors so seeing one that is white and black may just be the skin tone of that rabbit. I honestly can't remember the development of rabbit babies at the moment (I suffer from pregnancy brain...) I think they open their eyes around day 8 and get a full covering of fur with in a few days of being born. They shouldn't start to leave the nest box on their own until 2 weeks or so.
I did a quick good search and surprisingly came up with no good sources for pictures or information. My trusty buddy Mr. Vanecek at bunnyrabbit.com had this to say about new born bunnies and the care him and his wife give theirs:
"When baby bunnies are born they do not have any fur and their eyes are closed. The Doe (Mama rabbit) will usually make a nest in the box that you have provided for her. She will dig a hole in the pine shavings and grass hay. Then she will line the hole with her fur. This helps keep the bunnies warm.
The day the bunnies are born, I take the nestbox out and check to see how many bunnies are in there. If there are any dead ones, I take them out. I put all they babies back under the fur and put it back in with the Mom.
The next day I will check it again. Rabbits nurse generally once a day (usually early morning between 2-6am). When I check the nestbox the next day, I make sure that their tummies are full. If not, then I'll hold the Doe in the nestbox for 5 minutes and see if she will nurse then. If not, I'll wait another 24 hours--check the nestbox again. If they haven't been fed, then I will remove them and foster them to another Doe. I have listed a substitute milk recipe below.
Bunnies need to nurse until they are 4-6 weeks old. Some will wean themselves. It is good policy to move the Doe into a new cage and leave the babies in the cage they were raised in. This creates less stress for the bunnies. They can usually be sold between 6-8 weeks old."
I would suggest getting this book, Your Rabbit: A Kid's Guide to Raising and Showing.You can get it used for only a penny on Amazon! It is going to have the most information, in the easiest to understand format for raising baby bunnies and the care you need to give them and the parents. Plus it is filled with lots of other handy bunny information.
Best of luck!
Okay they deffinitly have fur. but not much. There eyes aren open yet. They're about 3 inches long. There was one dead one, and my fiance removed it. He thinks the poor thing was smothered :( It already had fur and was nderneath all the other babies.
She didnt mind me touching them, just watched me. lol There are 2 solid black ones 1 black one with white feet/legs, and 2 white ones with brown/ grey markings.
I am deffinitly going to get that book! thanks!
Quoting Inle_Rabbit:
No, she shouldn't eat them (I've raised countless litters and never had a doe eat them after I touched them) but if you are worried about that take a sent (a light perfume, body spray, etc) spray some on your finger and rub it under her nose then rub some on the babies. I have done this with some does that I thought were fickle and never had a problem.
Rabbit skin can be different colors so seeing one that is white and black may just be the skin tone of that rabbit. I honestly can't remember the development of rabbit babies at the moment (I suffer from pregnancy brain...) I think they open their eyes around day 8 and get a full covering of fur with in a few days of being born. They shouldn't start to leave the nest box on their own until 2 weeks or so.
I did a quick good search and surprisingly came up with no good sources for pictures or information. My trusty buddy Mr. Vanecek at bunnyrabbit.com had this to say about new born bunnies and the care him and his wife give theirs:
"When baby bunnies are born they do not have any fur and their eyes are closed. The Doe (Mama rabbit) will usually make a nest in the box that you have provided for her. She will dig a hole in the pine shavings and grass hay. Then she will line the hole with her fur. This helps keep the bunnies warm.
The day the bunnies are born, I take the nestbox out and check to see how many bunnies are in there. If there are any dead ones, I take them out. I put all they babies back under the fur and put it back in with the Mom.
The next day I will check it again. Rabbits nurse generally once a day (usually early morning between 2-6am). When I check the nestbox the next day, I make sure that their tummies are full. If not, then I'll hold the Doe in the nestbox for 5 minutes and see if she will nurse then. If not, I'll wait another 24 hours--check the nestbox again. If they haven't been fed, then I will remove them and foster them to another Doe. I have listed a substitute milk recipe below.
Bunnies need to nurse until they are 4-6 weeks old. Some will wean themselves. It is good policy to move the Doe into a new cage and leave the babies in the cage they were raised in. This creates less stress for the bunnies. They can usually be sold between 6-8 weeks old."I would suggest getting this book, Your Rabbit: A Kid's Guide to Raising and Showing.You can get it used for only a penny on Amazon! It is going to have the most information, in the easiest to understand format for raising baby bunnies and the care you need to give them and the parents. Plus it is filled with lots of other handy bunny information.
Best of luck!
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- MelaniesMama
on Jan. 18, 2009 at 7:57 PM