baby bunnies and lettuce

Question
My dutch had 2 babies on July 10th. They are 17 days old now, and I give romaine lettuce to the mother but now that the babies stay out of the nest box they have started to eat the lettuce and pellets. Is this ok for them to eat right now or not? Also do they need their own water bottle or something now. Thank you for your help.
                               Ashley

Answer
It is okay for them to eat the pellets, but I would advise giving the lettuce to the mother while she is outside the cage. That way, the babies cannot eat it. Domestic rabbits have developed to deal with pellets, so unlike wild baby rabbits, their systems cannot always handle fresh foods at a very young age. Instead, it is best to wait until they are 10-12 weeks of age before slowly starting them on fresh foods.

As long as the water bottle that you have for the mother is set low enough, the babies will drink from it when they need to. They can share with the mother. At this age, most of their moisture will still be coming from the mother's milk, but they might start getting a little water from the bottle.