Question8 month old rescue bunny quite shockingly had 2 babies!
One was WAY out of her pen on floor, still alive, partly warm. Found another baby in bunch of hay she had gathered up. It was dead unfortunately. The 1 baby I put in a nestbox in her pen w/some of our other rabbits' furs. I rubbed them on her fur 1st but this 'foster' fur had been sitting in a baggy for months (I collect fur for our canaries nesting times).
I put a hot water bottle (rubber kind) under a towel & put the baby on top within this fur I had.
The mom is a very nervous type of bunny. When do I know if I should place this baby in with another bunny we have that's still nursing 4 - t week old kits? I don't want this baby to die but I want to give the mom a chance too.
I can't find any info on this & because it's only ONE baby.
She never did pull fur either.
Thanks so much
AnswerDear Paula,
Mama is young and inexperienced and stressed. Triple whammy for unfortunate births like this. :(
I hope the information in these articles will help:
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/orphan.html
This includes feeding instructions for the "orphan": you can take over feeding if mama is unable (which is not unlikely, seeing as she didn't pull fur; her oxytocin and prolactin levels might be too low for her to successfully produce milk for her baby.
Please also see:
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/surpriselitter.html
and:
http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/orphan.html
I hope this will help with the situation. Good luck!
Dana