UPDATE Rabbit Help!!! Found dead babies in cage...

[warmfuzzies]

She had three dead babies. She has no nest, no straw, and I dont know if there will be more! She is hopping aroung acting normal. Should I put a nest box in there? She must have been bred when we got her, we have had her for about two weeks.

The babies were three to four inches long, no fur and their eyes were fused shut. There was basically no blood, and she had not tried to eat them. Do you think they were full term?

Please help me, I know virtually nothing about rabbits!

 

[KellyHM]

They were most likely full term. You can put a box in there just in case, but she's probably done by now.

 

[obsessed]

I am so sorry about that. Rabbits pregnacy goes around 31 days so she must have been bred before you got her. If she didn't pull hair she had no intention to raise them. At least she didn't eat them. she may have been too young.

 

[warmfuzzies]

She pulled hair. She diddnt have anything but a bare wire floor. We had not got the cages set up fot them yet, we kept putting it off. And she's done, she is eating her food.

Yeah, I thought it was a good sign that she didn't eat them. How soon can I put her in with the buck now?

 

[sandspoultry]

Yes it is good that she did not eat any of them. I would give her a couple of days and then you can put her in with a buck. Mark 28 days from the first time you put her and the buck together, that is the day you put the nest box in her pen. Give her lots of fresh hay/straw to build her nest with. She should do fine the next time.
Good luck
Sharon

 

[Sachasmom]

Awww, thats too bad. She should be fine though. If you're planning on breeding her, nows the time! They're always more receptive after they loose a litter, and it will help dry up her milk. As will Mint or Sage leaves.

Its normal for them to eat the dead, they are a prey animal, and dead stuff attracts predators. Now, if she eats them while they are still ALIVE, thats NOT normal!

 

[warmfuzzies]

OK, she was eating last night, but now she has three more. Dead. it doesnt look like she is tearing the sack off their faces or cutting the cord, some of them are attatched to the placenta still. Now she looks like she is in labor, she is licking herself, and restless, but she is also laying down and streatching out alot.

Is it instict, if she doesnt have a safe place for them, to just let them die?

 

[obsessed]

it could be anything. If she is a new mother then likely she doesn't know what to do. I would rebreed her as soon as possible. That way it will dry up the milk and hopefully prevent mastitis.

 

[MissPrissy]

On day 27 you put a nest box in the cages with straw in them. The mothers will burrow in and pull their fur and begin to 'nest' in making ready for their babies.

Bunnies are born, hairless, eyes and ears shut. The mommas keep them deep in the dark straw and fur. She nurses them once sometimes twice a day. They also eat some of her poo for the enzymes she carries. As they grow and develop you will see them playing hide and seek int he nesting box. In about 4 weeks they will come out of the nest. and at 8 weeks can be weaned from the momma's cage and put into their own.

As she had no nest box and only some pulled fur she had no way to protect them hence they were on the cage floor and dead from exposure and neglect.

This time I would not fault the rabbit. The fault lays in not providing what she needed - a nest box and warm straw to burrow into.

If you breed her again be diligent. Write down the date. Count the days. Provide for her properly and she will most likely raise you a nice litter of kits.

 

[warmfuzzies]

Thank-you very much Miss Prissy! I will be sure to have a nest box ready next time, since I will be sure to know about it next time!