Rabbit babies:

Question
QUESTION: Our Female & male rabbit have an assortment of tunnels they have dug all underground . Today I found the fur nest with 3 day old babies empty and scattered around the pen.  We were heartbroken: Do rabbits eat their young- or does the male kill them?Or was it a predator?. We also have some bantams chickens that live in the pen. Could they have eaten the babies? Please give some insight.  Thanks

ANSWER: Hi Nancy,

What a tough thing to find.  Actually....any of the things you mentioned..plus some other possibilities....could be the cause. A real possibility is hypothermia.  We have seen very cold babies with quite warm outside temperatures.  If they don't have proper material in which to build a nest...many times the babies will get too cold and will die of hypothermia.  We see this very often in wild rabbits.  Baby neonates are totally helpless and have no way to regulate their body temps.  In the wild, the mom makes a nest using grass and her fur.  The babies are all together and between the shelter and insulation of mom's pulled fur and the sum of all the bodies...they can stay warm.  Mom does not stay with the kits like many other animals.  She comes to nurse, groom and stimulate them only once or twice a night.  She stays apart from them to prevent unwanted attention from predators.  But...it could have been hypothermia or any of the things you mentioned...there is really no way to know.

But, if you find your doe pregnant again....provide her with a nest box (they can be purchased at many farm supplies or can be easily hand built).  This will allow her a private place to have her babies and she will feel secure in leaving them as she should.  Provide her a separate area in which she can still care for her babies as needed...but offers her the feeling of hiding from predators.  And I would remove the male before the babies arrive.

Hope this helps....but it's anyone's guess on what actually happened.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Just an update!  We found the baby bunnies:  She had moved them into another tunnel and replaced their cover with a whole new fur and hay bed.  I didn't know they could move them like that. I guess they carry them around like kittens. The male was huddled up with them when we found them. All 5 of them are lively and healthy. Thanks for the information; A Happy ending:)

Answer
That is good news!!!  It's been a difficult weekend with lots of bad things happening to a lot of animals.  It's nice to hear something nice for a change.  It is rare for them to move their kits.  But as long as mom and dad (that is unusual too) are happy....then all is well.  Enjoy those babies....they will grow almost right before your eyes.