feeding my new born rabbits

Question
HI my name is Arlene and I just got 2 new born bunnies from my uncle because the mother was ignoring/killing off all her babies. So the 2 I have were the only ones that survived and I had nothing to feed them besides whole milk that humans drink. is that ok?

Answer
Hi Arlene,

that will do for the moment, but you need to get to a pet supply store and pick up an Ebsilac milk replacement formula (the one for puppies and kittens will be okay for rabbits).

It is a little richer than milk and you can get a proper sized feeder for them as well (in the kit).

Roughly they should have 15-25 cc of the milk per day at 1 week (start at 15, increase to 25 by end of the week); week 2 they should have 25 cc per day; week 3 30 cc per day; week 4, 30 cc per day.  During week 4 you can start introducing them to hay and dry food (timothy pellets only), NO GREENS!).

At week 5 they should be getting most of their nutrition from pellets and hay.

This is the best thing you can do for them.

You can look up more info on the House Rabbit Web site:

www.rabbit.org

and do a search on 'babies' or 'newborn'.

Lee