3 week old bunnies noisy tummy

Question
I am not a backyard breeder. I have 2 mini rex babies that will be 3 weeks old tomorrow. I have had to keep them separated from their mother as she ate one and at first would not care for her young. She now nurses and cleans them however I always supervise as she only started this 3 days ago. Tonight I noticed their little tummies are noisy. I have been rubbing them and giving them small amounts of water via syringe. Can I put a little apple juice in the water? how often should I rub their tummies?

Answer
Hi Corenna,

You don't want to use apple juice it has to much sugar in it.  Truthfully your best bet is to let the mother take care of them.  They have a much higher survival rate if she cares for them than if you try to do it yourself.  If she is grooming them she will probably take care of them.  Some new mothers just don't have any clue what they are doing.  Also normally when they eat their young they were already dead and they are just doing it to keep predators away from the nest.

Good luck with the babies.

Pam