Dwarf rabbit just had a litter?

Question

I bought my mother and myself a rabbit . The best store told me that they were both girls. So on my visit to my mother's we had them both in the playpen area to run around and we went outside to B-B-Q, we came back to find them mating. Well I thought maybe it didnt take because she didnt seem bigger. But it did. I woke up this morning to 6 babies, 1 dead. I took the dead one out. My question is that the cage she had was very small, too small because she was stepping on the babies every time she moved and they were squeeling and crying. 2 of them even have marks from her paws and nails stepping on them. So i went to the pet store and bought a much larger cage and some bedding, because she had nothing to make a nest out of either. I washed my hands well and rubbed my hands all in her fur, and kept what little hair she pulled out and placed them in this cage. Was that wrong? Should I place her back? What can I do to help this litter survive and the changes in cage and etc? Please help!

Answer 1

You need to build a nestbox to put the babies in. It's not that the cage wasn't big enough most likely. A nestbox is basically a box where the rabbit builds its nest inside the cage. Usually you build it to be not much bigger than the female. I recommend about 2" wider and 2" longer than her when she is laying down. Cut an opening at the front that is about at a 45 degree angle and make the nestbox tall enough for her to get in and out of easily. Use pegboard for the floor of the nestbox to allow any urine to drain out. Fill it with some clean straw then put a little divot in the straw and fill that divot with all of the loose fur. If there is none, pull some out of the doe. Then put the babies in that divot.

Answer 2

Good idea moving her to a bigger cage if she was stepping on the babies. How large was the cage she had before? Keep the mom with the babies in the bigger cage together, and leave them alone for a bit, maybe with a towel or something covering part of the cage. Mother rabbits usually only feed once sometimes twice a day at dawn or dusk, so don't be alarmed if you don't see the mother feeding her young. You can tell that the babies are being fed if their bellies are large and round, almost like they've swallowed a ping pong ball.

You can give the doe some hay (rabbits should have this available at all times anyways) for nesting material.

Answer 3

Whatever you do, don't make the same mistake I did. I thought our Dwarf wasn't taking proper care of her babies so I took them from her and began feeding them myself. After they all died I found a website that said they only fed their young for ten minutes per day! All I can suggest is to look for pet web sites they have a lot of information that can help you. P>S. Dwarf bunnies are one of the best pets I've ever owned, their very loving and gentle, and believe it or not, you can train them. Good luck!

Answer 4

Sometimes rabbits can be picky about having their babies handled by anyone,but she might be ok with it. You did the right thing by getting a bigger cage.I bet those babies are soooooo cute!!!