My bunnies cant keep babies alive (pic of momma and papa)

[katherinerose14]

I have a dwarf bunny (male, white) and a mini rex(girl, black) They live at my boyfriends and is grandfather normally takes care of the,. Until a month ago i was unaware my bunny had been having litters, It was her 4th litter when i found out. There were about 5 babies. We removed the male. But after a day they all had died. She recently became pregnant again. We removed the male before she gave birth. We were ready to take the babies and raise them our selves. But we left for 2 hours. In that 2 hours she had given birth to only 1 baby and it was dead. Now the male and female are not together beacuse i heard she could die from giving birth too many times. But im curious as if anyone knows why she cant keep the babies alive.? And why she only had one this time?

 

[steny03]

Dwarfs tend to have smaller litters. So I wouldn't be surprised if she only had one. I used to breed polish and netherland dwarfs. My doe would often only have 2-3 babies, with only one surviving. As far as not taking care of them...some rabbits are just not good mothers. Sometimes they won't know how to take care of the first litter, and sometimes they never really get the hang of it. I had one doe that would never take care of her litters.

If a doe has a lot of litters, it does up their chance of contracting ovarian cancers.

They are both cute though.

steny

 

[jak2002003]

Oh, what a shame about the young rabbits.

If you want to give her another chance there are several things you can do to help.

You should provide the female with a nest box. Pack this with shavings and some hay. Keep this in the dark area (sleeping area) of the hutch or run so its nice and peaceful.

The female will pull her chest hair off to line the nest.

Don't have the male with the female in the same cage. Let them mate outside the cage in the run. After a few days of this leave the rabbits in their own cages.

Once any babies are borne DO NOT DISTURB HER. Do not even look into the nest box for the first few days. If she gets spooked, disturbed, or distressed in the slightest she will often panic and abandon the babies or even eat them.

Make sure the cage is in a shaded area and is dry.

Better luck next time!!!!

If she fails again, it will be best to get the rabbits neutered and then then can still live together happily and you don't have to worry about them fighting, or getting sick from giving birth too often.