Help... Did my mummy Rabbit feed their babies??

You can check the kits by gently removing them from the nestbox and looking at and feeling their bellies. if their bellies are round and full looking she is feeding them. If the kits are skinny and wrinkly looking she is not feeding the.

Some does do not get their milk in for about 24-36 hours after kindling (giving birth), so if on the 3rd day she hasn't fed them then you will have to force her to feed them. This is not hard to do as long as the kits are in a nestbox. Take the box and set it on a stable, sturdy surface. Place the doe(mother) in the box and cover her with a towel completely. Leave her in the box for about 15 minutes. Remove her and check the kits.

I have done this many times with does, it does work. Trying to hand raise rabbit kits does not work at all.

Also do not worry about touching the kits, the mother will be fine with it, it is a myth that she will reject or hurt them if they are touched.

if you need more help you can email me.

I hope this does not sound harsh, but I would let nature take its course. If the mother and babies are healthy, she will care for them on her own. You rummaging through the nest is only going to stress her out more.

You can tell by looking at the tummy is see if it appears full or deflated. If they have not been fed, it is pretty obvious when you look at. From outside the cage, shine a flash light on them for a few seconds to see if the nest is moving. If it is, see is likely taking good care of them as they would not have survived two days without being fed.

do no longer worry. the mother is only attempting to maintain her toddlers heat in a nest of her very own fur. Do you have a container that the toddlers are in? Do you have a team of hay for her besides? mom rabbits are incredibly stable at understanding what they might desire to do for their toddlers, which you in many circumstances only might desire to reveal screen what's occurring and not do too lots. it incredibly is weird and wonderful which you mentioned the rabbit replaced into given to you 5 weeks in the past and pregnant. A rabbit's gestation era is 28 days from theory to beginning. only 4 weeks. in spite of the undeniable fact that stable success with the toddlers. be happy to ask any questions. i'm a 5 12 months rabbit breeder with 40 coach rabbits of my own, so i know some issues.

1) The mom no doubt fed the rabbits sometime in the night, and if she didn't there isn't much you can do. Gently lift the fluff off of the kits and see their bellies. It should be perfectly obvious that they are bigger in the tummy.

2) Kits always nurse until they're full, so if the mom fed them they are fine.

Good luck.

trust me my rabbit just had kits to and if the babies have lived two days then yes she has been feeding them...... rabbits like to feed there babies in the middle of the night when no one is around so don not worry the babies are fine

Hey,

I've done this before and have had babies die from this problem. If the babies are full, their tummies will be very round and fat. If they aren't carefully take them out of the nest and put them on a towel for traction, hold mom down so they can get to her nipples. Do this a couple times a day until you notice they are nice and fat.

"Rabbits feed their offspring only once or twice per day and will only do so when they feel safe, usually just before dawn and/or just after dusk. If humans and children are continually gathered around the cage, the mother may become too stressed to nurse the infants."

I stole, I mean copied, this from a fantastic answer from another Yahoo responder. The same answer also has great info about other matters.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=200803...

If they are warm and have round tummies each morning, she's feeding them. If they are cold, thin, and dirty, she's not caring for them. Look here: http://www.rabbit.org/care/babies.html for more information about caring for baby bunnies and their mom.