Baby bunnies eating momma's poop

[Ljslibby]

I've got a litter of 5, its my first time with a litter and first time with rabbits too so I'm in unfamiliar territory.

I caught my 2 week 2 day old kit eating her momma's poop (regular round poop) and when i googled it it said that they should be eating their momma's caecotrophs but no mention of the regular poop. Whats going on is this normal, should i have stopped it, or is it good for them??

On another note with that, they've already all started leaving the nest and running around and I read they should stay in the nest until 3 weeks so what can i do about that? they can hop in and out of the nest on their own so its not a worry that theyll get stuck out there im just more concerned as the doe keeps thumping since they harrass her for feedings and she doesn't want to feed them. She nearly thumped on a baby once and it gave me a heart attack. (baby was okay but it was a scary experience)

I've started bringing babies in for a bit to give her alone time but i worry i'll bring them in when she wants to feed them and theyll miss a feeding, she already isn't feeding them super well and never has (they dont have super round bellies but theyre surviving) so i dont want to risk them getting even less milk by interrupting feeding schedules. I've tried supplement feeding but they just wont take to it and it ends up all over them rather than in their stomachs.

just looking for general advice on these things thank you!

 

[tambayo]

Usually the does only feed twice per 24 hours and some even only once. That is around sunrise and sunset, so not seeing her feed but having growing kits is no worry.
Once the kits get mobile enough to venture out they will try to snatch more food i.e. milk untill they get well into the food the doe eats.
Cecotropes would be in the nestbox, but so would some normal poops for the same reason.
So far it sounds more like the kits are learning a bit of no and eating other stuff than milk, can they reach moms food and water?

 

[Sagebrush]

Babies will nibble at the normal poops as well as the Caecotrophs. The caecotrophs are primarily produced at night. As far as babies getting out of the nest prior to 3 weeks, as long as their eyes are open and they have a way to get back into the nest, I don't worry about it. Instead of taking babies out, put in a shelf for mom to hop up on to get some rest from the babies. With the thumping, I am not sure if that is happening when you are not there or only when you are there. If it is only when you are there, she is warning you away from the babies. If she doesn't want to feed her babies she will just move away from them each time they try to nurse.

 

[Ljslibby]

Usually the does only feed twice per 24 hours and some even only once. That is around sunrise and sunset, so not seeing her feed but having growing kits is no worry.
Once the kits get mobile enough to venture out they will try to snatch more food i.e. milk untill they get well into the food the doe eats.
Cecotropes would be in the nestbox, but so would some normal poops for the same reason.
So far it sounds more like the kits are learning a bit of no and eating other stuff than milk, can they reach moms food and water?

They can’t reach moms food or water but they’re definitely eating her hay I’ve caught them munching it quite a bit. All the info I read online said they shouldn’t have her pellets until they’re older though so I’ve kept that in an area only she can get to. Would you advise moving them so they can reach them too? Same with the water, i feared they'd drown in the water as its a bowl.

 

[Ljslibby]

Babies will nibble at the normal poops as well as the Caecotrophs. The caecotrophs are primarily produced at night. As far as babies getting out of the nest prior to 3 weeks, as long as their eyes are open and they have a way to get back into the nest, I don't worry about it. Instead of taking babies out, put in a shelf for mom to hop up on to get some rest from the babies. With the thumping, I am not sure if that is happening when you are not there or only when you are there. If it is only when you are there, she is warning you away from the babies. If she doesn't want to feed her babies she will just move away from them each time they try to nurse.

She only thumped a couple times, shes outside my back door so i can hear her thumping occasionally but most of the time she does just move away from them. I think she thumped as one of the babies were latched on so hard that when she jumped away they were still stuck on her and she got irritated. Thankfully she hasn't thumped that bad since. I've set up a little area for her away from the babies now too, with hay and food and water so she can have her self some alone time but still be able to access the babies when necessary.

 

[Alaska Satin]

They can’t reach moms food or water but they’re definitely eating her hay I’ve caught them munching it quite a bit. All the info I read online said they shouldn’t have her pellets until they’re older though so I’ve kept that in an area only she can get to. Would you advise moving them so they can reach them too? Same with the water, i feared they'd drown in the water as its a bowl.

I don't restrict water or pellets from the babies. They eat and drink when they're ready, and having little tastes of various foods will help their guts get primed to eat solid food when they really need to. Anything the mother is eating should be fine for them, in theory anyway. Do be cautious about the water bowl, though. They probably won't drown at this age, but they could get wet and hypothermic.

 

[Preitler]

They can’t reach moms food or water but they’re definitely eating her hay I’ve caught them munching it quite a bit. All the info I read online said they shouldn’t have her pellets until they’re older though so I’ve kept that in an area only she can get to. Would you advise moving them so they can reach them too? Same with the water, i feared they'd drown in the water as its a bowl.

Kits can eat whatever mom eats - they got her gut bacteria to digest exactly that by nibbling poo.
The "don't"s are mostly about changing their diet abruptly, or before they are properly weaned for some weeks, but when they start on solid food that can be any reasonable diet.

Never had issues with the water bowls, even when they get wet that'not such a big issue in summer. If you have a very large bowl and worry, you can put some stones or a fitting plate in for 2 weeks or so.

 

[Phrick]

It's astoundingly hard to sort the good practical advice from idealized, impractical advice on the internet - one reason I'm so glad for this forum! I can easily work myself into knots trying to follow all the "you should" advice that's out there, and then I come here and ask about it and the based, experienced folks unwind me pretty quickly. As a result: I largely let the bunnies do things themselves. They have way better instincts than I sometimes give them credit for and they actually don't need much intervention from me - I mean, of course they depend on me to provide pellets/hay and make sure the water is clean and flowing and whatnot but I was finally able to get over my "she's gonna stomp them/she doesn't feed them/they're not thriving" fears, because Nature's Gonna Nature and Bunnies Gonna Bunny, and as long as I've got their NEEDS covered (food, water, cooling or heat as needed) it's really up to them, not me, to thrive or be weeded out of the gene pool. Which sounds harsh on one hand... but furthering weak ones is less kind than it seems on the surface.

 

[Ljslibby]

It's astoundingly hard to sort the good practical advice from idealized, impractical advice on the internet - one reason I'm so glad for this forum! I can easily work myself into knots trying to follow all the "you should" advice that's out there, and then I come here and ask about it and the based, experienced folks unwind me pretty quickly. As a result: I largely let the bunnies do things themselves. They have way better instincts than I sometimes give them credit for and they actually don't need much intervention from me - I mean, of course they depend on me to provide pellets/hay and make sure the water is clean and flowing and whatnot but I was finally able to get over my "she's gonna stomp them/she doesn't feed them/they're not thriving" fears, because Nature's Gonna Nature and Bunnies Gonna Bunny, and as long as I've got their NEEDS covered (food, water, cooling or heat as needed) it's really up to them, not me, to thrive or be weeded out of the gene pool. Which sounds harsh on one hand... but furthering weak ones is less kind than it seems on the surface.

That was super reassuring and helpful advice, thank you. I've noticed that I get highly strung up about stuff too, then when I get advice they basically boil down to the same stuff, rabbits will do what they need to do and what will happen will happen as it should. This is a great forum for advice and helping anxious minds relax a bit

 

[MsTemeraire]

As a result: I largely let the bunnies do things themselves. They have way better instincts than I sometimes give them credit for

They absolutely do, and I find the internet to be absolutely scary at times with the amount of misinformation out there, which some people take as gospel (and even sometimes try to argue with you about).

On the subject of babies starting to eat, I have seen them in the nest chewing strands of hay even before the eyes open. The European wild rabbit, ancestor of our domestics, takes fresh grass into the nesting burrow to make her nest, and these strands dry out in the atmosphere down there, providing them with their first food. When I hand-reared 5 babies last year (their mother died when they were a week old) their first food - aside from the hay in their nest box - was actual dried grass 'forage' which we can buy here in the UK.

 

[tambayo]

Fortunately most of my info came from ytbers raising rabbits for meat, pet owners are mostly firmly in the adopt don't breed corner. Their breeding knowledge starts with don't breed and we think this but we don't want to so we don't really know this subject. There are times when i am tempted to make an account on such forums and put up a proper post on what is BS and what is correct, but i don't really want the hassle.