baby rabbit trouble(i need help)

[Goldlaced_Girl]

If she had been a cannibal mom, she would have eaten all of them. This one was probably dead or dying. happens a lot. I breed show lops! Grand Champions, bred for temperment, used in our therapy program blah blah blah...

 

[Cochinwomen]

Quote:
There is one baby that is really fat like you said and the other ones are kind of like that. I picked up momma and her nipples were red and raw. I tried to milk her and there was no milk so i grabbed a baby and put it up to her, it latched one but i wasn't sure that it got milk. I brought the babies in this morning to feed them just to make sure they at least get something to eat. The mom did not feed them for the 2 days i took care of them and gave them kitten milk.

 

[Sachasmom]

Hmmm, sounds like she has some milk left, just not very much? I would do one feeding yourself and one with Momma until her milk comes in better. At least that way they will be eating something.

 

[tay26]

From what you have said it sounds like the mother is doing a great job with them! like others have said the one she ate was most likely already dead and she was disposing of it in her way.
It sounds like they are feeding just fine from her and she should have plenty of milk and not dried up after the 2 days. I would encourage you to leave the babies with her and dont feed them yourself because then they wont drink enough of her milk, and rabbit milk has special antibodies for the babies because their immune systems are very weak when they are young. You could also stress her out more when you take them away like that and then put them back.
If that was her first litter she did very good with having so many and only 2 died. Good Luck with everything and pretty soon they will have their eyes open and be all cute and fuzzy, hopping around!

 

[pattyjean73]

I believe in letting nature take care of itself. If this is a breeding rabbit you will want to make sure she's going to raise her own babies. If this is her first litter she's doing well to maintain 6 buns. If after her second or third attempt at raising babies and she doesn't do well with them... cull her. You don't want a doe in your pens that won't raise her babies herself. Bottle raised babies are rarely ever as good as "nature raised". But do let her have 2 to 3 attempts at it before culling. Some mothers just take a bit longer to learn.

Like many of the others already said, if she only ate the one, there was probably something wrong with it and she was doing what nature required... culling it herself. If she was caniblist... she'd have eaten the entire litter in no time flat.