# Help rearing baby rabbits!



## BoaBurmCorn! (Jan 3, 2012)

i found 2 baby rabbits shaking in the grass after floods destroyed their warren. the mother has gone, the warren is destroyed and there was 2 dead babies nect to them, they have their eyes closed and they must only be just over a week old. they are at my house warm in a shoe box with bedding, but how can i feed them and what should i feed them? they only have tiny teeth and they cant see yet


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## corny girl (Aug 30, 2009)

It's very hard rearing them successfully, you'd be better off getting someone to cull them. I know it sounds harsh but believe me they probably won't make it anyway being so young & if you don't know what you are doing you can drown them which will be a horrible death for them. In all the years i was breeding rabbits i only reared a couple of litters successfully, one was a litter from 9 days old & another litter were older. I lost plenty of others though.


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## JasonR (Mar 27, 2011)

Why on earth would you tell him to drown them! That's such a horrible way to cull an animal, how would you like it if I drowned you?

If your really worried you could try and find a rescue centre nearby, I'm sure bringing baby rabbits up isn't that difficult as theres plenty of them about.
If your concerned about their current health then maybe stop by a vets if able to although they do charge rediculous prices



corny girl said:


> It's very hard rearing them successfully, you'd be better off getting someone to cull them. I know it sounds harsh but believe me they probably won't make it anyway being so young & if you don't know what you are doing you can drown them which will be a horrible death for them. In all the years i was breeding rabbits i only reared a couple of litters successfully, one was a litter from 9 days old & another litter were older. I lost plenty of others though.


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## BoaBurmCorn! (Jan 3, 2012)

JasonR said:


> Why on earth would you tell him to drown them! That's such a horrible way to cull an animal, how would you like it if I drowned you?
> 
> If your really worried you could try and find a rescue centre nearby, I'm sure bringing baby rabbits up isn't that difficult as theres plenty of them about.
> If your concerned about their current health then maybe stop by a vets if able to although they do charge rediculous prices


im not worried about health what so ever, theyre very active etc and i'd say their eyes would be open in a few days. its just im not sure what to feed them?


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## JasonR (Mar 27, 2011)

In terms of feeding I just had a quick and it looks like people use either goats milk or some sort of powdered milk, be worth you having a quick look yourself though


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## sarahc (Jan 7, 2009)

I think she meant that you can flood their lungs(drown) while trying to hand rear,not that it's a suitable way to cull.I h/reared a wild rabbit on evaporated milk and it survived,I've since read that lactol is more appropriate.They only need feeding a couple of times a day.


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## FLINTUS (Feb 12, 2012)

Where do you live? I can give you some rescues if you're in Wiltshire/Somerset/Dorset. Never raised bunnies myself but have had lots of rescue bunnies. My last one was 13 weeks when I got her so still young. I feed my bunnies on EXCEL pellets at night and grass, weeds and veg in the morning. They should have lots of human interaction as bunnies with this kind of experience can be scared for life. My 13 week one-Bracken who's now 2- was dumped in a tied plastic bag with her brother in a field at 6 weeks. Her brother sadly died. My other bunny was a classic case of being in a hutch with no food at bottom of the garden with his sister who sadly passed away which is why we got Bracken.


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## BoaBurmCorn! (Jan 3, 2012)

JasonR said:


> In terms of feeding I just had a quick and it looks like people use either goats milk or some sort of powdered milk, be worth you having a quick look yourself though





sarahc said:


> I think she meant that you can flood their lungs(drown) while trying to hand rear,not that it's a suitable way to cull.I h/reared a wild rabbit on evaporated milk and it survived,I've since read that lactol is more appropriate.They only need feeding a couple of times a day.





FLINTUS said:


> Where do you live? I can give you some rescues if you're in Wiltshire/Somerset/Dorset. Never raised bunnies myself but have had lots of rescue bunnies. My last one was 13 weeks when I got her so still young. I feed my bunnies on EXCEL pellets at night and grass, weeds and veg in the morning. They should have lots of human interaction as bunnies with this kind of experience can be scared for life. My 13 week one-Bracken who's now 2- was dumped in a tied plastic bag with her brother in a field at 6 weeks. Her brother sadly died. My other bunny was a classic case of being in a hutch with no food at bottom of the garden with his sister who sadly passed away which is why we got Bracken.


im in bishop auckland. ive had a look on alot of sites and ive went with powdered baby milk for new borns. i fed them and theyre being very active, snuggled up and its looking good! if they survive the night then i reckon they'll be strong enough to make it. im going to go with feeding 5 times a day as ive been told thats the best way. 8am, 12am, 4pm, 8pm, 12pm. i'll keep you all posted!


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## JasonR (Mar 27, 2011)

If that was indeed the case then I apologise to her for my cooment, it just read that way to me and got me quite angry lol



sarahc said:


> I think she meant that you can flood their lungs(drown) while trying to hand rear,not that it's a suitable way to cull.I h/reared a wild rabbit on evaporated milk and it survived,I've since read that lactol is more appropriate.They only need feeding a couple of times a day.


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## JasonR (Mar 27, 2011)

If that was indeed the case then I apologise to her for my cooment, it just read that way to me and got me quite angry lol



sarahc said:


> I think she meant that you can flood their lungs(drown) while trying to hand rear,not that it's a suitable way to cull.I h/reared a wild rabbit on evaporated milk and it survived,I've since read that lactol is more appropriate.They only need feeding a couple of times a day.


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

What are you using to feed them??

I handreared a litter of 4 wild rabbits whose eyes were still closed when I got them and they all survived. I fed mine the same mix that I've fed every orphaned animal I've every used, which was a mix of full fat goats milk, ABIDEC baby vitamins and pro-biotic yoghurt.

Personally I don't like using a dried mix because I always worry about maybe one lump not dissolving and blocked a tiny passageway.

If you intend to release them, then you need to feed them as natural a diet as you can - things like Excel pellets aren't good because they won't find them in the wild.


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## FLINTUS (Feb 12, 2012)

feorag said:


> What are you using to feed them??
> 
> I handreared a litter of 4 wild rabbits whose eyes were still closed when I got them and they all survived. I fed mine the same mix that I've fed every orphaned animal I've every used, which was a mix of full fat goats milk, ABIDEC baby vitamins and pro-biotic yoghurt.
> 
> ...


Yes, but it depends whether he will or not. I'd personally be worried whether they'd have the survival skills in the wild after being brought up at sucha young age in captivity.


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## sarahc (Jan 7, 2009)

FLINTUS said:


> Yes, but it depends whether he will or not. I'd personally be worried whether they'd have the survival skills in the wild after being brought up at sucha young age in captivity.


wild rabbits retain their natural instincts and don't make docile pet captives .The survival skills are built in.It's just giving them a second chance,if their survival skills let them down then they will become food for something else in the food chain as nature intended.


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

FLINTUS said:


> Yes, but it depends whether he will or not. I'd personally be worried whether they'd have the survival skills in the wild after being brought up at sucha young age in captivity.


If you do it right then there shouldn't be a problem. As soon as they are weaned you put them outside and withdraw all human contact (as much as that is possible obviously as you have to feed and water) and they will 'wild up'. When you go out to feed them and they run and hide, that's when you know that they're ready to be released with a reasonably good chance of survival, as much as any rabbit has a good survival rate, being top prey for so many predators.


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## corny girl (Aug 30, 2009)

JasonR said:


> Why on earth would you tell him to drown them! That's such a horrible way to cull an animal, how would you like it if I drowned you?
> 
> If your really worried you could try and find a rescue centre nearby, I'm sure bringing baby rabbits up isn't that difficult as theres plenty of them about.
> If your concerned about their current health then maybe stop by a vets if able to although they do charge rediculous prices





sarahc said:


> I think she meant that you can flood their lungs(drown) while trying to hand rear,not that it's a suitable way to cull.I h/reared a wild rabbit on evaporated milk and it survived,I've since read that lactol is more appropriate.They only need feeding a couple of times a day.



Thank you Sarah, if JasonR had read my comment properly it says that if you don't know what you are doing then they can drown, meaning that if you flood the lungs with milk they can drown or get pneumonia.

JasonR, have you actually tried hand rearing rabbit kits this young? I have tried hand rearing quite a few litters as i bred rabbits for many many years. It is not as easy as just feeding them, they are young so you also need to make sure they toilet after a feed & when feeding that you are getting the milk into their stomach & not their lungs!!! I'd be interested to know how successful you've been :2thumb:.


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## Pushkabounce (Jul 2, 2012)

Hey I dont know if I'm too late for replying to this thread but I have tons of experience when it comes to this!

Here it goes..

Age wise.. with hair but eyes closed at between 7-10 days.. due to lack of mothers milk their eyes may take longer to open..

Feeding wise. You can use puppy or kitten milk but just make it a bit weaker than what it says on the tin. I have always found that bottle feeding is impossible! They just don't take to the teat like a mothers teat. A small syringe will work best.

Hold the baby on its back in a towel, almost so it's facing you. ONE drop at a time drip milk onto the babies mouth. It takes a long time but any faster and you can get milk into their lungs (as someone else correctly said). They will stop when they are full. Another way of telling is their skin will be smooth and bellies nice and plump. You may need to stimulate urine by rubbing the area with a damp piece of tissue. Careful because it comes out like a fountain!

You will need to feed every 3 hours to start off with for now.. 

It is very hard to rear baby rabbits. Their mothers milk is so nutritious that they really struggle with anything else.

Good luck and email me if you need more help.

[email protected]


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Pushkabounce said:


> Feeding wise. You can use puppy or kitten milk but just make it a bit weaker than what it says on the tin. I have always found that bottle feeding is impossible! They just don't take to the teat like a mothers teat. A small syringe will work best.


Sorry, but I'm inclined to disagree with this. As you yourself said it's a well known fact that rabbit milk is one of the richest and actually is impossible to replicate, which is why does only feed their young once a day. So watering down a formula to me is not the right thing to do at all.

I've never had a problem with any baby animal taking a teat - maybe that's because you've started with too large a teat? I've always used the smallest size Catac orphan teat on the end of a 1ml syringe and even an 18g baby stoat found that very easy to suck on. This baby wild rabbit came to me with its 3 litter mates with eyes closed at about 7 days old. here it is happily sucking on an orphan teat 5 days later.











Also I'm sorry, but you should never feed a baby animal on its back, as you're more likely to flood the lungs, even a drop a time can go down the wrong way. You may be well experienced in feeding baby rabbits, but this is not good advice to give to a novice who's never done it before imao!


By the way, how's it going with the babies???


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## Pushkabounce (Jul 2, 2012)

Ive only described what I have done to successfully rear 23 babies and what I have learnt from the people who have taught me how to rear orphaned babies. Im currently raising 6..

I fed holding them on their backs but facing towards me because its normal for baby rabbits to feed on their backs and because I find they usually arent strong enough to sit up and so I can see them taking their milk better. The picture you have shown is of an older rabbit taking its milk by syringe.

I personally have never managed to get them to take a teat of any size..

I also water down puppy or kitten milk slight as its so different to the mothers milk you would be lucky not to cause d++ or bloat.. A richer formula can be made once they have taken to their new feed.

I dont mind you or anyone disagreeing with me but I just posted what I normally do..


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

I did explain that I've never had a problem getting any orphan animal, including rabbits, to take a small teat and I did say the photo was taken 5 days later when the rabbit was 12 days old to show how small the teat was.

All baby animals at some stage suckle on their backs, as well as their fronts and side, but they are sucking and swallowing, I still think it's wrong to advise someone who has never fed a tiny orphan animal to put the animal on its back and drip milk into it's mouth. Sorry!

If that's the way you were shown by an expert, fair enough and you've obviously been successful, but I think you have to remember that you are explaining a technique to someone who hasn't done this before_ in writing_, not demonstrating and that's why I thought the advice wasn't really the best to give.


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## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

Pushkabounce said:


> Hey I dont know if I'm too late for replying to this thread but I have tons of experience when it comes to this!
> 
> Here it goes..
> 
> ...


 
No handreared babies should ever be fed on their backs!!!!! Ive been handrearing for over 30 years and have a very high success rate. Also when toileting never rub always gently stroke the area.


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## martyb (Sep 5, 2007)

Shell195 said:


> No handreared babies should ever be fed on their backs!!!!! Ive been handrearing for over 30 years and have a very high success rate. Also when toileting never rub always gently stroke the area.



I used a thin paint brush on my 4 babies to make them go toilet and now they are an healthy 8 weeks old.:flrt:


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