Need Baby Rabbit advice

[Butterbean]

I am new to rabbits. Our rabbit Daisy had her babies Thursday morning. Somehow one of the babies fell out of her cage. Apparently the wire was too big, DH immediately fixed this before it could happen again. The cat grabbed the baby and I chased her and made her drop it. There is a small wound on the back of the rabbit, otherwise the baby seems fine. Breathing is strong. What do I do now? I know that this baby is better off with the mother, but how can I get her to accept the baby again. I had to pick it up off the ground, and the cat had the baby in her mouth, so the baby will have our smells on it. DH and I were wondering if we put on latex gloves and got some of her fur out of the hutch, and rubbed the baby in it, would that mask our smell? What should we do?

 

[houndit]

Hi,


I have had that happen also. Usually they can make it O.K. if they are with their mother. I have rabbits that I now trust, and I just toss the bunny back in with them. I could not do that with my first rabbits. What I did was spray perfume, cologne, something strong on the bunny you have, the rest of the babies, and the Mom. This usually works. Only once did I have a mom see through it and attack the bunny. I would give that a try. I hope it works for you!

 

[LavacaW]

Try putting a little vanilla on your finger and put it on the mother rabbit's nose anytime you need to handle newborn rabbits. It messes mom's smell up enough that she can't smell you on the rabbits. Would think this would work for cats too!

 

[Butterbean]

Thank you both for your advice. Sadly, the baby bunny died overnight. Hopefully, this will not happen again. DH worked on her pen as soon as we realized that this happened. Unfortunately it was not quick enough. Guess that we still have a lot to learn! Thanks again!!

 

[houndit]

I am sorry to hear that your bunny died. Keep up the good work!

 

[RabbitMage]

I'm sorry you lost the baby, but I wanted to chime in for future reference.

It is very, very, VERY rare for a domestic rabbit to refuse a baby after it's been handled by humans. I handle my babies as often as possible from day one, no problems.

 

[PattySh]

I agree I also handle baby rabbits from day one and so far all my moms have been fine with it. I have a NZ due tomorrow tho that is a witch.. I am a bit nervous about her letting me near the babies. It's her first litter. She has been a nut since preggo, I hope giving birth settles her a bit !!!

 

[Beekissed]

Whenever we wanted a mom to except kits from another litter, we dabbed a little Vick's on her nose and a little on the kit's heads. Always worked well.

 

[Bunnylady]

I agree I also handle baby rabbits from day one and so far all my moms have been fine with it. I have a NZ due tomorrow tho that is a witch.. I am a bit nervous about her letting me near the babies. It's her first litter. She has been a nut since preggo, I hope giving birth settles her a bit !!!

I hope so too, for your sake, but IME they get worse, not better, when the babies arrive. If I have a doe that I really think may attack me, I use a screw driver through the floor wire to inch the nest box to the front of the cage, so I can get to it without having to reach past a dragon rabbit!

 

[Butterbean]

Thank you all for your replies. There are 4 rabbits left. One black\brown, one solid white, and the other two are white with black spots. They are all active and appear to be growing.

From what you are saying here, I should go ahead and handle the babies? I haven't even touched them yet. I did not know that about the domesticated rabbits, just had this fear that if we touched the babies, the mother would reject them. And any other advice that you would like to give will be appreciated! Thank you again for your much appreciated help!