Hi,

Wondering if you guys could help me.

Went down this morning and my Hunni had given birth - I didn't even know she was pregnant! The thing is, I'm worried that she didn't have a nesting box, she's had them in her bed compartment of her hutch (obviously cos it's dark and quieter there). Do I get her a nesting box and transfer the babies or are they best left now? I know you're not supposed to handle them, as she could possibly reject or kill them. She's covered them over well with her fur and they all look healthy and lively from what I could see. I tried to do a quick head count and it looks like she's had 7!!

Secondly, what do I do about cleaning her out? Can I still clean her main compartment, without upsetting her?

Also, she's a house rabbit so she's normally let out for a run round the kitchen quite a bit - do I leave her in her hutch with her babies or can she still come out for the occasional run?

If anyone could advise me please, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks

Shell :)

Hi, you could try getting in touch with Sooz, http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showpost.php?p=1751932&postcount=5

Don't touch the babies or the nest at all, if you do have to rub your hands in the dirty bedding of the hutch first to mask your scent.
It would be best not to try cleaning out her hutch for at least a week or more and even then don't touch the nest or the babies, just keep your presence as low key as possible.
You can try leaving her lots of soft hay in the front of her hutch so that she can take it into the back and cover the babies a bit.
Also don't worry if she does not spend lots of time with the babies this is perfectly normal and baby rabbits only feed either once or twice a day .
What kind of bunnies will they be?

Hiya Moonie,

Thanks for the advice - haven't touched the babies, just had a quick look earlier to check on numbers and to see if they were all breathing ok. Hunni keeps her bed really clean, so was just worried about her litter tray in the main compartment - will leave doing it for a little while tho. I gave her a heap of hay this morning as soon as I realised she'd given birth, just in case she wanted it to cover them up more.

Is it still ok to take Hunni out of her hutch for a bit of exercise tho or will she get upset leaving the hutch and little ones behind?

Both Hunni and Ziggy, the buck, are dwarf lops - he's all white and fluffy and she's a multi-coloured golden brown shade.

Shell :)

Have you taken dad out of the hutch?

If not do so now. Also rabbits can get pregnant as soon as they have given birth so the bad news is that she is probably carrying again :(

As long as mum has built a warm nest lined with her own fur do not move the babies but if any crawl out of the nest it is vital you replace them as they soon die of cold.

You do need to check the nest to remove any dead babies and to do this or to touch the babies if needed you must rub your hands in mums dirty litter to disguise the scent and then distract her with a treat whilst you check them over.

They should be warm, pink, quiet and with little round tummies.

You also need to increase mums food now as she has to produce milk on top of feeding herself.

I would leave mum al;one as much as possible and do not clean out the hutch with the exception of her litter area until the babies are out of the nest and walking around. I personally do not remove mum from the hutch until this stage unless there is a run attached.

Hi Sooz,

The buck isn't actually in the same hutch as the doe. We have a double decker one, so they have a hutch each. We don't let the rabbits out at the same times - unfortunately on one occasion (must have been when the mating took place) after putting the buck back and letting the doe out, I came back into the kitchen to discover his hutch hadn't been properly locked and he'd pushed the door open and got out! I put him back straight away and just hoped that they hadn't had a long enough time together (sounds silly now, seeing that we're talking about rabbits!)

Babies all look really healthy and mum seems really happy, maybe a little exhausted - bless her!!

Anyway, thanks for all the great advice - I'd tried looking it up on the net but couldn't find anything about if she'd given birth without the nest box and also whether I could take mum out of her hutch after having her babies.

Thanks again - and to Moonie too.

Shell :)

Hi there dont touch anything as she will do all the looking after!!! U cant tell rabbits r havin littluns and she probably made a nest in her bedding!! they usally pull out some of there own hair to do the nest and dont touch or go near babies or she will kill them Luv Rocket

Just did a search on baby rabbits and came accross this post, Im looking after my neighbours 2 rabbits and this afternnon gone to feed them and found babies there! so this post has really helped.
I was worried as the mum rabbit seems to have shed loads of fur and covered the nest with it, but now I know thats normal

Just did a search on baby rabbits and came accross this post, Im looking after my neighbours 2 rabbits and this afternnon gone to feed them and found babies there! so this post has really helped.
I was worried as the mum rabbit seems to have shed loads of fur and covered the nest with it, but now I know thats normal

please make sure you give her extra food and water, but dont feed her any
green veg,, it can be very bad for the babies..upset tummy..hope they all
do well..

please make sure you give her extra food and water, but dont feed her any
green veg,, it can be very bad for the babies..upset tummy..hope they all
do well..

thankyou, I have filled her bowl up, this was tea time. will she need more tonight or shall I fill it in the morning. I also put 2 carrots in there for her aswell, her water bottle is full and Ill check again before I go to bed, I put plenty more hay in there for her

sounds to me like you got it about right, plenty of hay and more food in the morning. you'll have sum gorgeous little fluff balls running riot in a couple
of weeks..