Baby Bunny

[BunMama928]

My bunny just had a baby, as far as I can tell there is only one. The problem is she plopped him out in the middle of her pen, didn’t bother to build a nest. Only pulled a couple nickel sized pieces of fur. When I found it it was still lively and squirming but cold I warmed it up and built her a nest in the nesting box that was placed in her pen and added some fur that I collected from one of my other bunnies who recently just went through a big shed. She has since gone into the nesting box a couple times to check it out and I have since left her alone. Just wandering in the meantime is there any tips and tricks I can prep in case this starts to go south? This is both of our first kindling. I also weighed the baby to keep track and see if it’s being fed.

 

[BunMama928]

I have a terrible update. Apparently my bunny did build a nest and a great one with tons of fur at that but buried the whole thing. I was moving around some of the hay around where I found the live baby and sure enough came across a nest with 3 more kits. One looked very deformed, underdeveloped and it’s hind legs were eaten and the other two were cold and looked dead and lifeless but not rigorous. I heated up a water bottle and laid them next to it. Praying for a miracle

 

[ladysown]

looks to me like she did some of her job right, and some not quite as well. THOUGH, you can't fault her for the eaten kit as she MIGHT have just been cleaning up. The kit you saved looks quite bruised. So she may have had a tough delivery.

 

[BunMama928]

The kit she ate looked very deformed even before her eating it so I don’t fault her at all I’m sure it probably wasn’t even alive to begin with. The two other normal kits had similar coloring so that could make sense.

 

[BunMama928]

Ran out to grab kitten replacement formula since I suspected the kit hadn’t been fed since birth since it was so wrinkly and sunken looking. When I got back he was gone too. Very devastating to say the least

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

I have a terrible update. Apparently my bunny did build a nest and a great one with tons of fur at that but buried the whole thing. I was moving around some of the hay around where I found the live baby and sure enough came across a nest with 3 more kits. One looked very deformed, underdeveloped and it’s hind legs were eaten and the other two were cold and looked dead and lifeless but not rigorous. I heated up a water bottle and laid them next to it. Praying for a miracle

In one of my two newest litters (Th 8.5 month old ones or the 6 (I think) month old ones) one of the does had shoved all the kits in the back corners and buried them. I only found them because I was cleaning out her nest box

 

[BunMama928]

In one of my two newest litters (Th 8.5 month old ones or the 6 (I think) month old ones) one of the does had shoved all the kits in the back corners and buried them. I only found them because I was cleaning out her nest box

That’s essentially what it looked like she did. I had seen her dig this burrow in the hay some time last week but it’s not unlike her to make burrows all over the place and then burry them only to re-dig them in the same area days later. (Her pen is basically a 4’x5’ fenced off area in our yard with a hutch in the middle that she can go in and out of although she made a burrow under the hutch and seems to enjoy spending more time there than in the actual hutch). Anyway once I saw the live kit by the old burrow I figured I’d dig through the hay in that area and sure enough I found a small section of the old burrow that had been almost completely back filled and as I kept sifting through the dirt and hay I eventually found a whole bunch of fur and the three lifeless kits underneath it all.

 

[MsTemeraire]

Ran out to grab kitten replacement formula since I suspected the kit hadn’t been fed since birth since it was so wrinkly and sunken looking. When I got back he was gone too. Very devastating to say the least

When I've successfully warmed up cold kits, I always put them on the doe to nurse before putting them back in the nest. They will have lost a lot of energy from being cold, and will need the milk in their stomachs to help stay warm.

 

[BunMama928]

When I've successfully warmed up cold kits, I always put them on the doe to nurse before putting them back in the nest. They will have lost a lot of energy from being cold, and will need the milk in their stomachs to help stay warm.

I didn’t even think to do this until I read later how some people put the doe on her back and let the kits nurse if they suspect she isn’t feeding them but it was already too late by then

 

[MsTemeraire]

I didn’t even think to do this until I read later how some people put the doe on her back and let the kits nurse if they suspect she isn’t feeding them but it was already too late by then

You can put her on her back, or sit down with a blanket or towel over your lap and have her upright, with the baby under her in the fold of fabric between your legs. Bring up the edges of the towel to stop the baby rolling out. This is much less stressful for her.

 

[Mini Lop Mama]

Agh, don't hand feed them!! Have you already? That's so hard to do without drowning them. Insanely hard. Check if mama has gone into milk. She is doing her best. I'd let nature take its course.

 

[BunMama928]

Agh, don't hand feed them!! Have you already? That's so hard to do without drowning them. Insanely hard. Check if mama has gone into milk. She is doing her best. I'd let nature take its course.

I wasn’t even able to have a chance I checked the nest when I got home and the surviving kit was dead too