Dead rabbit babies

[MartinFamilyHomestead]

If there is no damage to the dead kits, they weren't attacked by the adult rabbits, they probably got chilled and died, or were stillborn. Usually first time moms mess up and lose a baby or the whole litter; even experienced moms can have losses too. Newborn rabbits (called kits) are born hairless and need warmth. A good rabbit mom will make a nest, usually a bowl shaped area out of bedding and fur she has pulled, and will have the kits in the nest. There the bedding and fur will trap the body heat from the kits and keep them warm until they begin to grow fur and no longer need the nest. I recommend adding a nestbox a few days before your rabbit is due to give birth, available at pet/feedstores or plans are available online if you want to diy one. If you find a kit (alive) outside the nest you can warm it up with your body heat and put it back in the nest. If a kit is cold, check the toenails, if they look like there is blood in the toenails it's a goner, but if the toenails are still clear there's a chance you can warm the kit back up and revive it.

If you are planning to do this long term, you really should keep the males and females separate. The mom can be bred again by the males immediately after giving birth, and if her litter had survived, that means she would be abandoning them at about 28-35 days to give birth and care for the second litter. Ideally kits would not be weaned until they are 6-8 weeks old, as they are usually transitioning to eating solid foods at 4-6 weeks. Abrupt change to their diet can cause gut issues, possibly resulting in the death of the kits. Or, if the older kits can still access mom and the new litter, they may cause injury to the second litter as they try to continue feeding from mom. The second litter would not be strong enough or big enough to compete and rabbits only produce a set amount of milk so there would not be enough for both litters.

The health of the mom rabbit will also be at risk, as having back to back pregnancies and lactating will be very hard on her body. Usually female rabbits who are bred that intensively die at a much younger age than those who are allowed to take a break between pregnancies. Rabbit breeders vary as to how much time they wait between pregnancies, but I personally aim for 2-3 weeks minimum of time after their kits are weaned and removed before I breed again.

I recommend reading some rabbit books or watching some YouTube videos and making some changes to how you are currently housing your rabbits. Best of luck to you!

Thank you very much! That was very insightful and it is nice to have someone help without being rude or shaming you for doing wrong. That is personally what I think these forums are for us to learn from your mistakes and have others shine light on them. I do have them separate now and plan to keep it that way. My stepson really wants babies so when we get everything set up and give the mama a few weeks to recover we will try again, well try for the first time initially I should say.

 

[MartinFamilyHomestead]

Keep the males and females separated. If you have them you WILL have kits within 28-35 days.

Also keep the mother away from the males. Does can get pregnant while they have kits and while they are pregnant.

KEEP THE DOES AND BUCKS SEPARATE. It takes all of ten seconds for the deed to be done.

They are separate now. We did know know they were at breeding age or we would have done so before. We also have had problems keeping them in their hutch but we have made some adjustments and hopefully they won’t escape.

 

[Sara L]

Thank you very much! That was very insightful and it is nice to have someone help without being rude or shaming you for doing wrong. That is personally what I think these forums are for us to learn from your mistakes and have others shine light on them. I do have them separate now and plan to keep it that way. My stepson really wants babies so when we get everything set up and give the mama a few weeks to recover we will try again, well try for the first time initially I should say.

Good that they are now separated. You will need to keep an eye on the doe as it's possible she could be pregnant again already, mark on your calendar 28-35 days since you removed her from the males. That's your end of time period that she could still have babies. I recommend waiting until after that time before trying to breed again, rabbits have two horns on their uterus and it's been documented that a rabbit can have one litter of different ages on either side. Usually the second litter is stillborn when the more mature litter is born. When you go to breed the doe, take her to the bucks cage. They may chase each other around and then he will mount and have a "fall off". It only takes one to be probably pregnant, but most breeders try for 3 fall offs to ensure pregnancy. Length of pregnancy varies between rabbits but mine are usually right at 31 days after date of breeding.

May I ask why you have the dwarf buck? What is the purpose of these rabbits? Pets? Food? 4h or FFA?

 

[MartinFamilyHomestead]

Good that they are now separated. You will need to keep an eye on the doe as it's possible she could be pregnant again already, mark on your calendar 28-35 days since you removed her from the males. That's your end of time period that she could still have babies. I recommend waiting until after that time before trying to breed again, rabbits have two horns on their uterus and it's been documented that a rabbit can have one litter of different ages on either side. Usually the second litter is stillborn when the more mature litter is born. When you go to breed the doe, take her to the bucks cage. They may chase each other around and then he will mount and have a "fall off". It only takes one to be probably pregnant, but most breeders try for 3 fall offs to ensure pregnancy. Length of pregnancy varies between rabbits but mine are usually right at 31 days after date of breeding.

May I ask why you have the dwarf buck? What is the purpose of these rabbits? Pets? Food? 4h or FFA?

My step son loves animals. I have my ducks and my husband has his cows and rabbits is what my stepson wanted. We got the two Flemish giants from a neighbor and the smaller breed a lady was getting rid of them and he needed a home so we gave him one. They are just pets but my son did request we have one litter of babies at least so we said we could make that possible when they were of age. Now we know thankfully from this site what to do some now on!

 

[cassie]

First of all, your rabbits should be housed separately. As Bunnylady has said many times, rabbits get along together until they don't, and then it can get pretty bloody. A good book for the beginning rabbit keeper is Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits by Bob Bennett. It covers all phases of rabbit keeping in understandable language. It isn't very expensive. I got mine on amazon.com. I think the book will save you a lot of headaches.

 

[Sara L]

My step son loves animals. I have my ducks and my husband has his cows and rabbits is what my stepson wanted. We got the two Flemish giants from a neighbor and the smaller breed a lady was getting rid of them and he needed a home so we gave him one. They are just pets but my son did request we have one litter of babies at least so we said we could make that possible when they were of age. Now we know thankfully from this site what to do some now on!

Do you have a plan for the kits? Homes lined up or will you be keeping them?

If these are pets only, I recommend getting the dwarf buck neutered asap. The flemish buck and doe should be as well after the successful litter. Rabbits kept as pets will have longer healthier lives if they are nuetered/spayed, there's a bigger chance of reproductive organ cancer if left intact, plus the hormones will make them moody and territorial. Do talk to a good vet about the surgery though, as there's a danger with the anaesthesia.

 

[MartinFamilyHomestead]

Do you have a plan for the kits? Homes lined up or will you be keeping them?

If these are pets only, I recommend getting the dwarf buck neutered asap. The flemish buck and doe should be as well after the successful litter. Rabbits kept as pets will have longer healthier lives if they are nuetered/spayed, there's a bigger chance of reproductive organ cancer if left intact, plus the hormones will make them moody and territorial. Do talk to a good vet about the surgery though, as there's a danger with the anaesthesia.

We might keep one baby. We will find homes for the rest. These are not house pets but more of barn animals pets. They won’t be going to the vet. Not to be insensitive because we love all of our animals but they were barn bunnies when we got them and that’s what they are now. On top of that I would rather keep them separate and risk then getting cancer than putting them through a surgery that might have complications regardless.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Keep them separate. You clearly aren’t prepared for babies, and if she really is having more, than that isn’t good.
I don’t mean to offend, truly, but that is very bad management. You don’t need or want babies, but yet do nothing to stop the birth of them. And the death.
Please, separate them.

 

[MartinFamilyHomestead]

Keep them separate. You clearly aren’t prepared for babies, and if she really is having more, than that isn’t good.
I don’t mean to offend, truly, but that is very bad management. You don’t need or want babies, but yet do nothing to stop the birth of them. And the death.
Please, separate them.

If you don’t mean to offend then don’t be so rude. How is it for you to say if we want babies or not? And obviously I am trying to prevent the death of them as I am seeking help and doing research. Furthermore they have been separated since we found the first baby. We did not know they were at mating age or even that we had a female. There is no reason why it isn’t good that she is having babies. There is no need for you to say I have bad judgement. This is forums to help people in the future. Not shame them for a mistake.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

If you don’t mean to offend then don’t be so rude. How is it for you to say if we want babies or not? And obviously I am trying to prevent the death of them as I am seeking help and doing research. Furthermore they have been separated since we find the first baby. We did not know they were at mating age or even that we had a female. There is no reason why it isn’t good that she is having babies. There is no need for you to say u have bad judgement. This is forums too help people in the future. Not shame them for a mistake.

Okay. I didn’t see that they had been separated. I also thought you were asking why they had died. I also thought you had known they were males and a female.
And there is a reason it’s bad she’s having babies. Several.
Unpreparedness, led to the death of babies.
Unknowingness, just bad overall.
And, the fact the babies DIED.