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› Forum › HOUSE RABBIT Q & A › Help Accidental litter!
Ok so we have these two lil dwarf rabbits, angel and flora, when we got them we were told they were both female, we took them to the vet for a check up and asked if he could confirm that they were both female, he said he would but we never heard anything about it after that so we assumed that they were both girls. unfortunately we went to get flora fixed yesterday only to find out flora is a boy(Now we call him by his nickname which is floppy) and then today three little bitty babies just popped up in the kitchen while the bunnies were running around(one of the babies was dead  
… Angel has been to the vet while she was aparently pregnant, they never found anything out of the ordinary and I never noticed any change in her habbits, she didn’t get bigger and she didn’t eat more or anything like that. Then holy cow, babies. I’m so stressed and idk what to do. I tried reading about bunny litters online, I guess that helped but if anyone else has any umm tips or idk something helpful?
Oh dear! Firstly, put them somewhere safe, warm and quiet with the Mum but watch her closely. How old is she? Please keep Floppy away from them. He can impregnant again straight away.
Please read this article and ask more questions here if you need. http://www.rabbit.org/care/babies.html
When you say popped up in the kitchen, is this where she made a nest? Or do you think she’s removed them from the nest?
Angel and Floppy are almost a year old. We never noticed Floppy humping her or anything like that hence why we never knew Floppy was a boy, we never had reason to check.
We take them out of their cage and let them run around in the kitchen. It’s like their play time (only alot longer). And we were putting them back in their cage when my mom found one of the babies on the floor and two others in this lil bunny hutch we have for them to play in. One of the bunnies in the hutch was dead but the other one was alive. We put them in the cage with angel, who while we were running around like headless chickens trying to figure out what to do, made a nest in the litter box. We got a shoe box and put a towel in the bottom and took the fur and hay out of the litter box and put it in the shoe box for a new nest and we put the babies in there and angel seems pretty ok with that. She wouldn’t stay still long enough for the babies to eat so I held her while my mom held the babies so they could eat (we had to have a bunnie expert walk us through that part)
You usually don’t see the mother feed them. They only do this 2 times a day, probably at night. You can check their bellies though to see if she has been feeding them at all. There’s more info on this in the article I linked above. How do they look? Are they a healthy pink colour? 1 day old they don’t have fur. If you can see they’ve started to grow fur at all, they were likely 2-3 days old. Do you have a local shelter or animal society close by? I’m wondering if an experienced volunteer could visit and give you some face to face advice.
edit:
She wouldn’t stay still long enough for the babies to eat so I held her while my mom held the babies so they could eat (we had to have a bunnie expert walk us through that part)
Oh, you have someone helping? That’s good!
Oh dear, bet that came a surprise!
Don’t force feed unless the babies tummies aren’t all round and full, mama rabbits feed mostly late at night when people can’t see them do so, and they only feed once or twice a day, so unless they are really scrawny without round tummies, its best not to force feed as it can cause problems.
Make sure the show box next is big enough for mama to get in and out of without being cramped, and give her unlimited pellets and hay, she’ll need the extra calories.
And definitely keep Floppy away, keep them seperated until they are both fixed.
yes, I forgot about the food! Unlimited food for Mama.
We read the info on the site it was really helpful. I don’t know if we have a shelter or anything like that around here. I’ll look into that though, but we do live way out in the middle of no where so idk if anyone could come to give us advice.
Oh, It does describe how to do that….I never realised & I feel like I’ve read it manymany times! You may find now Angel will do ok tending to them. You just need to check she feeds them and that they’re warm. Let nature do the rest. You can always contact your vet for extra support.
We’ve had a few accidental litters here and so I found another thread that also may be helpful to you as well.
https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tab…fault.aspx
Also, check our links section for “Oops Litter” for more links. (if you haven’t already)
Thanks for everything, the babies are warm and happy in their shoe box. Angel and Floppy are dwarf bunnies(Floppy’s a lop) so the shoe box is most deffinately big enough for angel to sit in, it’s not to big though. As I mentioned before we just got Floppy fixed yesterday, we know that he’s still fertile for a while so it’s monitored visits between the two buns only. They’ve been together all their lives so I’m worried it’ll stress out angel to be away from floppy.
I understand not wanting them to “unbond” and/or getting stressed due to not being around each other, just be REALLY careful, as you are right, he can still get her pregnant up to a month after he’s been neutered. (what’s amazing about this story is that she didn’t get pregnant earlier , unless I am misunderstanding how long they’ve been with you ….How long have they been with you?)
She could also get aggressive with him because of the babies. So as long as they have “supervised” visits (makes me nervous)- but just watch VERY carefully as it takes just a second with bunnies.
We’ve had them since they were very little, I don’t remember how old they were, just a few months old I think. They were too young to get fixed when we first took them in to the vet and since we thought they were both girls we didn’t really think there was a rush to get them fixed ya know? The babies look like they’re doing good this morning. We let angel and floppy in together, they’re doing fine, no humping or aggression or anything like that. The babies are so cute, one of them is gonna look just like it’s mom, white with odd black patches, and the other is gonna be totally black. I’m just wondering about what their ears will be like, Angels ears are as straight and pointy as can be and floppys ears are well… floppy…
are you thinking on keeping them?
I deffinately want to keep them if we can. The idea of giving away a pet has always scared me because I’m terrified that they’ll end up with some one who doesn’t know how to take care of them properly. Buns need alot more than just food and water, they need human interaction and mental stimulation, I don’t think alot of people understand that.
My fiance named the one that died so we could pray for the poor lil guy, his/her name is Baby Bunny B. Sleepy.
That is a very sweet name. Binky free sweet little Baby Bunny B Sleepy!!
I saw angel feeding the babies earlier, pulling fur for the nest while the lil pink one wiggled out to eat. I didn’t see the black one, I’m worried about it getting enough to eat but I didn’t want to disturb them when the other one was obviously eating just fine. They seem like they’re doing good, angel was actually sleeping in the nest earlier, it was the sweetest thing.
You may want to check the black one is actually in the nest. If not, put it back in and see what Angel does.
*Binky free Baby Bunny B. Sleepy!*
The black one is in the nest, he/she is nice n healthy round so he/she was probably just sleeping that one time. Angel is being an awsome mommy considering this is her first litter. The babies are looking healthy and strong, it’s so cute to watch her feed them, they just wiggle their way out of the nest like lil aliens and glomp her lol.
You need to keep Angel and Floppy separate! Angel could possible be pregnant again already- they can breed after giving birth and you don’t want another litter- especially as you are not confident in finding great homes for the 2 new babies already.
Rabbits are highly breedable- so I would be worried about another litter. Once Floppy has been neutered for a month- he will no longer be able to create any babies with Angel.
We were going to keep the two little ones. They died today, idk what happened they were fine warm and happy yesterday and today they were alive and kicking then I went in and found them just cold and dead. :'( I feel like it’s all my fault, maybe I coulda done something to help them or something idk what happened but something must of gone wrong.
Oh no, I’m so sorry Don’t blame yourself, you were checking in on them often like a good bunny parent. It sometimes happens.
*binky free babies*
I’ m so sorry. It wasn ‘t anything you did or didn’t do – with a young and inexperienced mother sometimes they just don’t know what to do.
I was checking on them all the time, I noticed this morning they were cold and they kept crawling away from each other and I kept putting them back together and I didn’t want to mess with them too much because they were cold so I just turned the heater on in my room and left them alone hoping angel would take care of them. They were kicking and still strong then and I was feeding angel about an hour later and she hopped in the nest and the babies didn’t pop out to eat and I reached in and they didn’t move and I pulled them out and they were very cold. The pink one was stiff so he/she had probably been dead longer and the black one is still a lil floppy and I keep picking it up and holding it hoping the warmth of my hands will wake it up and I can’t stop crying I feel like I caused this some how or I could have prevented it. I should have helped but I figured angel should be able to take care of them and pestering her all the time wouldn’t help. She was being such a great mommy yesterday, she was feeding them and pulling fur, they look like they had enough food they weren’t skinny or anything they just kept getting cold. I wonder if taking floppy away from angel just stressed her out too much or something. Maybe they got sick because I touched them too much, I was just trying to make sure she was feeding them and taking care of them.
Sometimes you can’t prevent things, don’t beat yourself up about it.. It may have been somethign wrong from birth, its so hard to tell when they are so little. they are binkying across the Rainbow Bridge with their little sibling, they’re quite happy there
Don’t blame yourself. You wouldn’t have made them sick from touching them, and you couldn’t risk the two adults being together at this point as you could just have even more babies. You checked on them and did what you could. It is not uncommon, especially for a first litter, for the babies not to survive. Please don’t blame yourself. Monkey is right sometimes these things happen, and there is something wrong from birth. You were doing a good job, it just wasn’t meant to be for them.
Binky free little ones! Hugs to you Mandi.
Thank you all. My mom and fiance have been telling me the same thing it still hurts though. I feel like I could have done something. I feel a little better, I don’t blame myself now. I still keep going over and looking at their little bodies hoping I’ll see them moving or breathing. It’s just so hard to believe they’re dead when they were so healthy yesterday and they were alive and wiggly just an hour before I found them. I held Floppy and Angel for a bit after we found the babies and that helped me feel so much better.
Their names are coa coa and joo joo bean.
I’m so sorry. You did your best for these kits. *Binky free Babies!*
You will of course need to keep Angel and Floppy apart for a few more weeks. If you’re concerned they’re missing one another, set up their cages close by one another. It was important to keep them apart and I don’t this this would really have anything to do with what’s happened. If Floppy remained with Angel she would have been at risk also. There is a small possibilty that she is pregnant as Floppy was with her up until the discovery of these babies. Does can actually carry 2 litters at the same time & it’s very risky for the Doe. Also, she could conceive post birth. I am encouraging another vet visit for her.
I was thinking about the time these 2 have co-habited without it resulting in a litter before. My thoughts are that maybe Floppy was a late bloomer…or that Angel did conceive but due to her age the embryo(s) may have been resorbed. This can happen when a Doe needing the protein for her own growth or is not in peak health. (Note: Don’t quote me on this!! I cannot recall where I learnt this. If I can find it, I’ll post the info here.)
I’m very sorry. It’s sad when baby bunnies pass away, even if you weren’t expecting a litter in the first place. You did everything you could, please don’t feel bad. It’s just nature. Many litters have at least one baby that does not make it, they all have to compete for resources and sometimes the mama bun doesn’t have enough to go around, or there may be something else wrong with them that you don’t realize.
Binky free babies…
We already had a vet visit set up for this coming tuesday. Last week was hell with the bunnies, on Tuesday I let angel and floppy out to play and I looked at angel and realized she had something IN her eye. Not just on the surface but a white lil blob within her eye. So we took her to the vet that same day and made arrangements for floppy to get fixed the next day. The vet said it looked like an infection but angel is acting totally normal, shes eating the same, she doesn’t paw at it and she can still see just fine. It’s not bothering her at all. So the vet gave us some eye drops to give her three times a day and told us to come back in about a week so we could see how shes doing. Then the next day we had to take floppy in to get fixed and we found out she was a he so when we brought them back home I knew they wouldn’t be able to be together which was majorly stressful since when I got TZ and Thumper fixed they got unbonded and they hate each other now even though they grew up together. Then the next day angel and floppy were out in the kitchen together and we picked them up to take them back to their cages (one of which is a floor cage and the other is up high so we can’t put the cages next to each other) when we found the three babies one of them was dead and that was heartbreaking. Then two days after that the two surviving babies die… Baaad week. I’m wondering if the size of the babies could have actually damaged their health. Angel is a tiny bunny and floppy is about twice her size, the three babies that came out of angel were about three inches long each. We called the vet after they were born and the vet was shocked that they were so big considering how tiny angel is. I’m just wondering if that could have damaged their health at all.
I’m sorry. :0( Binky free little babies.
I’m so sorry THat’s so stressful to go through all that in such a short period. *HUGS* And {{Calming Vibes}} for you. Rest assured it was not your fault. Orphaned rabbits don’t survive the majority of the time in vet care-you certainly couldn’t have cared for them anymore then you did, to ensure survival. They very likely had something wrong with them if they passed so young so keeping them alive would not have been easy, or really a good idea. Mother nature takes care of things, and sometimes it seems cruel but it was likely nothing you could have done to help them. They were loved for their short lives.
*Binkyfree babies*
› Forum › HOUSE RABBIT Q & A › Help Accidental litter!