Taking care of an Orphaned Baby rabbit

Question
Hi,

One of my family's rabbits (her name is Duchess, and she's a lionhead) just had a unexpected baby rabbit. Duchess is only 3 months old and we think the baby might belong to one of our other rabbits. (We have 2 other rabbits, who are both male. One of them is Duchess' brother, and the other is 1 year old, and we don't know what breed he is.) We didn't expect this litter, and there was only one kit. He was born while we let Duchess out of her cage, on the carpet, and he's black with pink-ish ears and legs. We quickly took the rabbit and made a box for him.  This is Duchess' first litter and she tried to squish the kit. When i looked at them later, the kit was getting cold and she was not trying to take care of him. So we took the kit, warmed him up with our hands, and we're trying to take care of him by ourselves. We looked at another website, and it said to feed him with soy baby formula, so we fed him with a bit of that. We put him into a shoe box, wrapped with a rabbit skin and tissues. He is sleeping right now. What else should we do for him? Should we use a lamp to keep him warm? Should we keep on feeding him soy baby formula or should we switch to something else? We are in need of answers fast, because we have no idea what to do, and we want the baby to live. Please help us!

Thanks,
Christina

Answer
Pet supply store - get kitten milk replacement.  Instead of mixing it with water, mix with whole milk or cream.  Feed 4-5 times a day, via bottle that comes with it, you may need to make the hole in the bottle nipple a little bigger for thicker fluid.  Be very careful and feed him very slowly, you don't want him to choke.  

They need a 60 watt bulb/lamp that will not fall over and cord protected about 2 feet above the nestbox.  Use clean soft cotton towels and make a nest he can rest in, and partially cover him with the towels.

Pick up The House Rabbit Handbook from Waldens or Barnes and Noble.  They have a section on newborns.  Also spend time on the House Rabbit Society web site (www.rabbit.org) and search on "newborns" , and "babies".  They have great articles there.

And you had better find out how the pregnancy happened and have a good rabbit vet spay the females.  You will be doing them a major favor and doubling their lifespans by saving them from dying at about 5-6 from uterine cancer.  You can find good rabbit vets listed at the HRS site: www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html