Rescued Bunny with Babies

[faisal]

Hi there, 

One of our neighbours abandoned their rabbit on the street. I live in the middle east(dessert climate) and these things wouldn’t be able to survive for very long on their own so I took it in in the hopes to find a new owner for the rabbit. 

I woke up this morning and to my surprise the rabbit had given birth to 5 babies. 

I don’t know anything about rabbits, let alone taken care of 6 at a time and would really appreciate some help. 

Ive been mainly feeding the mom kale, hay and some food i got from the pet store which consists of a variety of ingredients. 

The one thing I’m worried about is the nest box, I’ve uploaded a picture of the cardboard box, it has hay inside, about 350mmW x 300mmL. I’ve uploaded a picture of the box, is his good enough? I would much rather leave the box as is because i don’t want to stress the mum out as she still hasn’t settled and still not completely used to me or the new environment. She doesn’t like it when i touch it and would rather not have her stress and she’s been through a lot. Don’t think she had any water or food for about 4 days when she was abandoned. 

The mum usually sits outside the box, but she i did see her inside the box at some stage today. 

Also, should i just let nature take its course, or should i interfere with anything? example when looked inside the box, 4 of the babies were huddles together, the other was on its own on the other size of the box. 

Ive uploaded some pictures, any help and suggestions would be really appreciated. 

Thanks

[Bam]

Thank you for rescuing this poor mama bun!

Here are a few links from our resources-page that might be of some help: 

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/surpriselitter.html

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

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

Bunny mothers don’t spend the majority of their day with their babies – she just hops in once or twice to feed them. It’s important that the kits are kept warm, the mum is supposed to “wrap” them in her own fur. 

Mother bun needs extra food now. The stuff you got from the pet store is probably a mix with pellets and seeds and stuff – it’s not a good choice for an adult rabbit normally, but could be good for her now because she has a vastly increased need of calories and nutrients and will have as long as she’s lactating. 

It’s best if you interfere as little as possible, but you should check so all kits have nicely rounded milk-bellies after feeding-time. 

[Tgbarber]

Kudos to you for tsking her in. You got a lot more than you bargained for. You sound very caring. I think she’s in good hands. This is s great place to learn everyone is so helpful. I’m a new bunny mother so i have little expertise but can offer moral support.

[faisal]

thank you both for the messages. I found the links to be very helpful. The mum has wrapped the babies in fur which is a good sign that she’s looking after them. Ill keep you posted

[Azerane]

Looks pretty good except you are going to need a higher front wall on the nest box, as they’ll be able to crawl out of that. When they do start to leave the box, you may also need to put some solid or fine mesh edging around the bottom of the play pen as the bars are probably wide enough for them to crawl through or get their heads stuck in.

[faisal]

Thats a very good point. Thanks. 

Any idea when they would be big enough to crawl out? They are two days old.

[Author]

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