Giving Birth

Question
my rabbits just gave birth today. when i tried to place the 3 babies beside the mother rabbit, it jumps around and im afraid that it might step on the babies. how do i take care of the babies w/out the mother's help. can i feed it milk? how many days can it survive w/out eating anything?

Answer
Dear Saeedah,

Are the babies in a nest box? If not, try to find a clean, sanitary, non-cedar, non-chemically treated box that offers the mother easy access. Fill the bottom with white shavings, hay, and the fur the mother hopefully pulled. Make a little bowl shape in the shavings and put the babies in it--covering them with the fur.
Sometimes it looks like the mother is stepping on the babies when she is feeding them. It can be nerve racking! There are times when the mother does not take care of the babies, but often when it appears that the mother is not taking care of them, she really is, and we just do not see her doing it.
If the babies have little round bellies, and they do not hop and bob around and squeek when you set your hand on them, they are probably getting fed. The mother stands directly over the babies to feed and clean them, and it might look like she is stepping on them, but if she is taking care of them well, she probably is careful not to step on them.
If the babies are uncovered all the time, if they are cold, and if they bob around and squeek, or worse--are thin and act week and sickly--then they are probably not being cared for very well. At this point, if you cannot find a mother rabbit that has a litter the same age that can take them (fostering the babies to another mother rabbit is much easier than hand-rearing, which is a last resort situation) then you may have to try to raise them by hand. If you think this is necessary, you can write back and I tell you what I have done in the past when I have tried to hand-feed babies. This is very difficult, though. None of the ones I have fed survived more than four days. You could try writing another rabbit "expert" on this site, asking your local rabbit 4-H group (if one exists), or looking up rabbit info. sites on the web, for more tips.

Here is one site I have found helpful in the past:

www.rabbit.org


I hope all goes well!
God Bless, and Happy Easter!
AEJ