Golbez had babies

[Golbez]

shelter told me bunny was male and the owner got rid of him cause he wanted females for breeding.  
He, now she…I guess, had babies.  I have no idea when, probably when I was at work.  I noticed her nesting but figured it was a false pregnancy.  Did not expect a shelter to get me a pregnant bunny.  Woke up this morning to an even thinner golbez (he slimmed down after the fur pulling it seemed) and two things in her cage. 
I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO

[Bam]

Let Golbez take care of the babies. She won’t spend her whole day with them, but she will feed them twice a day. That’s how rabbits do. If the babies have full bellies and are kept warm wrapped in Golbez’s fur, they will thrive. Sadly many first time bunny moms don’t know quite how to deal with babies, so you might have to encourage her some. If you need to support-feed the babies, you can use forumla for kittens.

The babies should be in a box with high enough edges so they can’t crawl out but not so high that Golbez can’t get in to them. Give Golbez extra food. She needs extra now that she is lactating.

Go to our RESOURCES-page and scroll down to Pregnancy/Babies – Uh Oh, Surprise Litter?
 There are 4 links to sites with good info about oops litters. Resources

[Deleted User]

Sorry I have no idea but this might help initially?

http://www.rabbit.org/care/babies.html

[jerseygirl]

Oh dear.

Bam and AxGizmo have given some excellent resources for you. I hope that helps.

I would let the shelter know. Im not certain if that would achieve much but still, let them know regardless. In an ideal world, shelters would only let desexed animals be adopted out. Because this shelter one didn’t and now a burden has fallen on you which you certainly didn’t sign up for.

Do read throught the links provided above and ask any questions you have.

 

ETA: Its quite normal for the mother not to hang around the babies. They may only visit briefly to let them feed. I read that they feed them soon after they are born and cleaned up. So she may not provide another feed until a day has passed. Do check that the babies are pink, warm and healthy looking.

ETA2: I really dont  know how accurate that is regarding the feeding. It may vary rabbit to rabbit. I seem to remember Maple a few days after giving birth got a little sensitive (hormonal) again and I thought that was when her milk came in… She only had one baby to feed though so it could have been different for her then the norm.  

[Golbez]

Thanks for all the info!
I started googling after making this post and made sure she had extra food and water before leaving for work (just my luck I have a 12 hour split shift the day my bun has babies)

[Golbez]

Oh, and the bunnies are hard to see, kinda covered in mom’s fur and the rest of the nest (wow, autocorrect does not like the word nest, really wanted me to say best…) should they have more or less light? I.e. Should I be leaving my bedroom light off?

[Roberta]

Hi Golbez, Increase Mums food, she needs unlimited hay, greens and pellets, Leave the babies undisturbed for the time being just check in the morning to make sure every bunny is warm and has a fat tummy. Feeding usually happens late at night or early morning and it’s a quick event. Just check about to make sure none of the bubs get flung out of the nest when Mum departs as they can get carried out on a teet if she leaves in a hurry.

[Roberta]

If you have any deep water crocks or bowls you may want to change over to bottles for the moment.

[Timber]

Wow what a surprise! I’m glad our shelter only adopts out spayed and neutered pets. We wouldn’t be able to handle babies!

[Golbez]

That’s the really crazy part is they insisted it was a neutered male haha

[NoMane]

They seriously said she was a neutered male? Wow. I would be having a word with them for sure, and insisting they provide her upcoming spay too. I understand that paperwork can get mixed up but that is not what you signed up for. My local HRS shelter was even double checking incisions on my new boy before he came home.

[Author]

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