You came home with your baby rabbits and now you have thousands of questions about their care, in this post we share 4 tips that help you bring well-being to these beautiful ones.
4 tips for caring for baby rabbits
The first thing to keep in mind is that baby rabbits should not be separated from their mother until at least 8 weeks to develop a proper digestive and immune system from their mother’s milk and blind.
If you bought a rabbit that still needs to be fed milk, keeps in mind that your rabbit won’t have much of a chance of surviving.
Do not bring home rabbits under 8 weeks of age from a pet store or breeder.
1. Do baby rabbits grow very fast?
The growth of baby rabbits is affected by different factors, such as:
- Litter size and birth weight: Studies have shown that domestic rabbit growth rates are significantly affected by litter size and birth weight: heavier babies grow faster than smaller ones. lighter, perhaps because they compete better for breast milk.
- Temperature: Babies grow faster at higher temperatures than at lower temperatures. At lower temperatures, babies need to devote more energy to heat regulation rather than growth, but to complicate the relationship, babies in larger litters require less energy for thermoregulation due to their cuddling behavior.
A recent study by Rödel showed that babies in litters of three grew relatively faster at lower temperatures than babies in litters of two, despite more siblings competing for milk.
- Diet : The rapid growth of a domestic rabbit before weaning can be attributed to its mother’s milk, which is high in energy, high in fat and protein, and low in sugar. Domestic rabbit milk is 12-13% fat and 10-12% protein. To put this in perspective, domestic rabbit milk is twice as fat-dense and three times as protein-dense as cow’s milk.
- The Breed : Flemish Giant rabbits are usually born around 3-4 oz, and at 8-9 weeks weigh 5 lbs. From 8 weeks to 8 months, the rabbit can gain 0.5 to 0.75 pounds per week and is not considered fully grown until 14 months of age. In a study group of 29 rabbits, New Zealand White rabbits have been recorded to reach 6% of the mean 34-week body weight at 2 weeks, 72% of the 34-week weight at 16 weeks, and their weight continued to increase after 34 weeks.
- Champagne D’ Argent x Palomino kits can weigh around 1-1.5 pounds at 3 weeks, and at 8 weeks they are 4 pounds
Some helpful terms that rabbit breeders use regarding the age of the rabbit:
- Junior – A rabbit under the age of 6 months.
- Senior – A rabbit older than 6 months.
- Intermediate or 6/8 : Rabbit between 6 and 8 months of age.
4 baby care tips
- To distinguish multiple baby rabbits in the litter : You can use a little xylene-free food coloring, felt- tip pen , or marker on the ear. TheFelt-tip pen marks should be renewed weekly and, with prolonged use, rabbits can develop dermatitis as a reaction to the chemicals in the ink. Xylene-free markers leave marks that last about three weeks and are non-toxic.
- You can handle baby rabbits even if the mother doesn’t know about it : but avoid constant interference for the first few days as it increases the chance of maternal cannibalization.If you find baby rabbits outside their nest during the first two weeks, you can pick them up and put them back inside. Kits can sometimes be taken out if they are still nursing when the mother rabbit jumps out. After they are 12 to 18 days old, baby rabbits should naturally begin to explore around the nest.
- Make sure their nest box is clean and dry at all times to prevent infection. If an area inside the nest is dirty or wet, it can be cleaned by removing the material and replacing it with new material. The nest box can be removed after the babies are 18 days old.
- If you want proof that their mother is properly caring for the babies, check on them once early each morning: They should be warm and round-bellied from feeding and buried and hidden in the bottom of the nest until feeding time. Baby rabbits that are not being fed will be restless, crawling on the surface of the nest, and have a wrinkled appearance due to dehydration. The best way to confirm that they are being cared for is to weigh them on a small postal or kitchen scale and check their weight. If they are gaining weight (~1/4 oz), the babies are being fed.
Male rabbits will generally be tolerant of baby rabbits and can stay with babies if they have been neutered for at least a month.
The parent will begin to nibble and play rough with the offspring as they begin to hit puberty and begin to act forceful, and the parent rabbit should be separated.
If the father rabbit has not been neutered for more than 6 weeks, he should not be in contact with the mother, as she can become pregnant immediately after giving birth.
To breed rabbits that are more willing to approach and stay close to humans, one study suggests that baby rabbits between the ages of 26 and 42 days should be picked up and handled.
