caught escapee rabbit-nursing? Help!

rebecca100

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Okay, my son's rabbit escaped while pregnant and it had it's kits under the shed, in a hole, down a tunnel. Needless to say, hard or impossible to get to. She has never raised her babies. The first two litters she killed, even with peace and quiet and a good diet and plenty of water. I even added vit and min. block the second time. but she did show the improvement that she did pull hair the second time and only chewed a little on the babies(you know a missing tail or foot or two). But she still let them die within two days. I promised my son we would give her one more chance since she did show improvement. I blamed the first two times on being new to it and stressed from our move. Now we have her caught. I can't tell if she is nursing or not. I want to say no because her nipples don't seem to be nursed on, but that isn't always a sign. She does have a bag, but it has only been a week since she kidded. Needless to say, I don't know whether to turn her loose again or not. She does have some thining of her underbelly fur and stays at night by the shed. I would definitely turn her loose either way, but she keeps going to the neighbors house and to the store parking lot where I am afraid someone will keep her or run over her, or she will get into the neighbors garden and cause a problem(the neighbor likes her though and has been leaving her treats out). Also we have copperheads and killed one by the shed last night. Anyway, I am at a loss on what to do with her. Should I risk the babies dying if there are any?
 
Can you express any milk from her nipples? If she's milking little or nothing, chances are she's not nursing any babies. If you can...then it's a judgment call.
 
Well, she had milk so I let her go. We can catch her again if we need to.
 
Can you put a temporary fence around the shed? Even just some fiberglass rods/garden stakes and short garden fencing would keep her from wandering into somewhere more dangerous. It wouldn't keep other critters from getting her but it would be less likely she'd get herself in trouble and then no one would think she's homeless and try to keep her.
 
I too would try to make somekind of a "cage" around the shed so she can't run loose, but she will be there for the babies if they are still alive.
 

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