Please help me with my baby bunnies (GRAPHIC)

[Duck Survivalist]

Hello folks,

I have a bit of sorrow with my flemishes (9-10mo) first litter of baby's, 11 kits

At 1.5 weeks the runt got smooshed and starved I think and died.

At 2 weeks (yesterday) the BIGGEST one I found outside of the nestbox with its head inside the hay rack and it's leg/side chewed off.

I removed the nest box this morning and put in the nest box, later today after work I found 1 in the corner with alittle bit of his legs chewed and another with a front paws completely chewed barely hanging.

I clipped her/his paw off but don't know what to do with the kit that's barely alive I guess (white)

At the bottom is the mother which the entire time looked like a GREAT mother that always checked up on the kits in front of me. why would this be happening to my kits? Is she panicking when they squeek or something and tries to "help" them?

What should or could I even do?
Just wait this batch out and keep what's left over and hope she learns on the next litter?
In the last photo I tipped the box to show the entire litter.

 

[Duck Survivalist]

I applied salt water the rabbits wound where I had to cut off the leg, ill apply twice daily.

 

[dlynn]

Hello folks,

I have a bit of sorrow with my flemishes (9-10mo) first litter of baby's, 11 kits

At 1.5 weeks the runt got smooshed and starved I think and died.

At 2 weeks (yesterday) the BIGGEST one I found outside of the nestbox with its head inside the hay rack and it's leg/side chewed off.

I removed the nest box this morning and put in the nest box, later today after work I found 1 in the corner with alittle bit of his legs chewed and another with a front paws completely chewed barely hanging.

I clipped her/his paw off but don't know what to do with the kit that's barely alive I guess (white)

At the bottom is the mother which the entire time looked like a GREAT mother that always checked up on the kits in front of me. why would this be happening to my kits? Is she panicking when they squeek or something and tries to "help" them?

What should or could I even do?
Just wait this batch out and keep what's left over and hope she learns on the next litter?
In the last photo I tipped the box to show the entire litter.

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Are you sure it's mom? Could be an intruder. When grandpa raised canaries in a large aviary they sometimes perched on ledge against wire. Neighbors cats would catch and pull them in chunks thru wire. Sister in law had same problem with her chickens and neighbors dog. In both cases caught in the act( multiple times) so no doubt as to culprets
Think I remember someone here posting about neighbors dogs invading their space and chewing legs that dangled thru wire floors. I would try putting some cardboard on the floor for a while, some hay over the top.

 

[dlynn]

Are you sure it's mom? Could be an intruder. When grandpa raised canaries in a large aviary they sometimes perched on ledge against wire. Neighbors cats would catch and pull them in chunks thru wire. Sister in law had same problem with her chickens and neighbors dog. In both cases caught in the act( multiple times) so no doubt as to culprets
Think I remember someone here posting about neighbors dogs invading their space and chewing legs that dangled thru wire floors. I would try putting some cardboard on the floor for a while, some hay over the top.

Think also weasels, rats , coons, squirrel... Lots of possible troublemakers

 

[Robochelle]

When a newborn kit is dead, sometimes the mother will eat it to recover nutrients lost during pregnancy and birth, but these kits are way too old for that. The wounds also don't look the same as they would in that case. I'd bet money it's some kind of predator. Considering it's only the leg that gets injured, the predator can't get through the wire.

It looks like there's not much room below the floor for something like a cat to get under. Provided you haven't got any escaped kits or other domestic creatures of that size wandering outside the cages, I'd suggest getting a rat trap - it should be enough to kill anything in that size range.

PS: if you're planning to keep the bunny with the missing leg and haven't already named it, I'd like to suggest something pirate themed. I keep angoras for the fiber, and if one ever sustains an injury like that I have reserved the name YARRRrrn!! especially for it. I will also insist anyone who says the name must say it in a pirate voice.

 

[Duck Survivalist]

Ah okay, ill look around for an intruder, the area is fenced off but it could've been a rat that snuck in.
I have kits in the bottom cage buy they're fine, it's the top middle where they're having issues, I don't think it's the chickens, and mustnt be racoons because its only the small space thats having trouble,must be rats, ill buy som rat cages and put them out today.

 

[Duck Survivalist]

When a newborn kit is dead, sometimes the mother will eat it to recover nutrients lost during pregnancy and birth, but these kits are way too old for that. The wounds also don't look the same as they would in that case. I'd bet money it's some kind of predator. Considering it's only the leg that gets injured, the predator can't get through the wire.

It looks like there's not much room below the floor for something like a cat to get under. Provided you haven't got any escaped kits or other domestic creatures of that size wandering outside the cages, I'd suggest getting a rat trap - it should be enough to kill anything in that size range.

PS: if you're planning to keep the bunny with the missing leg and haven't already named it, I'd like to suggest something pirate themed. I keep angoras for the fiber, and if one ever sustains an injury like that I have reserved the name YARRRrrn!! especially for it. I will also insist anyone who says the name must say it in a pirate voice.

Haha like that name, I'd definitely name it something pirate themed.

 

[Robochelle]

Especially seeing that layout, it has to be a rat or weasel, something that can fit below the top row, but not tall enough to get at kits on the bottom row. If you can trade places with an adult on the bottom row I bet your kits will be safe again.

 

[Preitler]

My thought is rats, too. With chicken around it's quite likely that you have rats. They are just too messy with their food to not attract those critters.

 

[Duck Survivalist]

Especially seeing that layout, it has to be a rat or weasel, something that can fit below the top row, but not tall enough to get at kits on the bottom row. If you can trade places with an adult on the bottom row I bet your kits will be safe again.

Yeah swapping isn't an option, I have and adult in the bottom but it's in a solo cubicle, the centers are double sized to fit grow outs and mammas with kits

 

[Duck Survivalist]

No injured or dead baby's this morning, so that's good, ill still get a rat trap, the bottom cage with grow outs has alot of pellets spilled because they're messy eaters and dig into the pellets, any way I can fix that or is there nothing I can do? I was thinking a catch tray but they'd pee above it...

Also the white one missing a leg seems okay, she seemed jumpy this morning when I went to check up on her, just hope infection doesn't set in since rabbits are kinda messy.

 

[judymac]

I'm so sorry to hear of your troubles, predator problems just break your heart. Weasels can fit through 3/4" holes, rats fit through amazingly small holes as well. The normal 1" x 2" or even 1" x 1" sides often used for cages just doesn't work in this situation. It isn't fair. It isn't easy to rat-proof your pens. It's expensive and frustrating, but there really isn't a better solution when babies are involved. That inner pen makes a nice safe place for the rat, away from cats and other rat predators, and provides lunch as well.

To keep them from sitting in the dropping pan and reaching up for little baby feet, can you put a 1/4" mesh hardware cloth door flap over the front of the dropping pan opening? (Of course, you'd need mesh on the sides and back as well so they can't get into that area from a different spot.) They can walk right in the cage itself, with the 1" sides, so that will be another issue.

 

[SLRS]

I applied salt water the rabbits wound where I had to cut off the leg, ill apply twice daily.

Salt water? Really? How about something slightly less painful like hydrogen peroxide?

 

[judymac]

We have had bunnies successfully survive these injuries, they are amazingly resilient.

 

[ladysown]

that kind of damage (from personal experience) is from coons, rats or possums. Providing an easier source of food is helpful in the short term....but long term you'll need to figure a better solution. Chickens should keep rats out, but won't do a thing re possums or coons.

 

[Duck Survivalist]

Current status of the litter.

White one is super small but looks fine and happy considering injury.

I have 6 out of 11 kits alive.
1 died in the nest box at 1.5wo due to being smothered or starved.
2 died from something attacking them, not sure what, doesn't seem to be happening again.
1 died which i think one was from stress that had nestbox eye that I was cleaning/handling very often and then my grandpa cut wood near them
last one died this morning, not sure what from, I remember 2 kits having flatter stomachs and looks of diarrhea near the rectum and now I have 1 kit like that which I think he's next to go. Which I think its because their stomachs aren't handling transition away from milk.

They're all currently 3 weeks and 3 days old.
They are still with mama and I have not had anything like this with any of my other kits, this is a first time mama so I hope it's a one and done situation.

6 are alive.
White one as mentioned before seems fine. Another one I think is having starving issues do to transition to hard food or something.
Other 4 look healthy and fine.

 

[Phrick]

No injured or dead baby's this morning, so that's good, ill still get a rat trap, the bottom cage with grow outs has alot of pellets spilled because they're messy eaters and dig into the pellets, any way I can fix that or is there nothing I can do? I was thinking a catch tray but they'd pee above it...

Also the white one missing a leg seems okay, she seemed jumpy this morning when I went to check up on her, just hope infection doesn't set in since rabbits are kinda messy.

I'm so sorry about the losses! That's tough! As far as feed waste I have an idea. I cut a piece of 1/2 x 1 cage wire to fit inside the mouth of each feeder. I leave the wire long on the back so it pokes out the holes, I bend it a little so it stays in place (I have feeders from KW, they have punched metal as opoposed to mesh for sifting out the fines but I imagine it would work with mesh too). They can still get to the pellets, can dig/bat at the feeder if they insist, but it doesn't waste the feed everywhere anymore. I worried at first that they might not be able to get enough feed so I monitored condition and since I feed the breeders a ration I could see pretty quickly that they were still getting it all.

 

[ladysown]

sounds like you might have failure to thrive going on. I'm fairly convinced it means momma is carrying some illness that is subclinical but the kits just can't fight past. it compromises them just enough they won't grow well and generally will wither and die. I generally suspect a hidden case of e.cunniculi based on kidney appearance when culling does that throw kits like this.

The more I learn about e.cunniculi the more I am convinced that it plays a role. Might not affect mom, might not give you kits that roll or head tilt, but gives kits compromised internal organs (kidneys that don't work quite right, slightly stupider when it comes to eating, harder to digest feed well etc for instance). AND it means, since they are fighting a latent illness, that if anything else causes them a problem (like not drinking enough one day, something that causes stress, etc ) that it spells doom for them in the end.

 

[Duck Survivalist]

The current kits do look really healthy and active.

Since its the mommas first litter and she went through a lot of stress by losing 5 baby's and whatnot i noticed she stopped having milk at 3-3.5 weeks so they got weaned extra early and their stomachs cannot handle that quick of a transition.

But my current ones look fine and healthy, 1 of them does look to seem to have less energy, not as warm as the others and is having diarrhea, so I'm guessing he has another day and hes gone.

I can tell the mom looks sad, she lays down in a very submissive state with her ears down, i did notice she was a VERY protective and watchful mom at the start. she would jump in to feed her baby's MANY times during the day even if i was there. even right now i can see her licking and cleaning her 4 week old babies.