Help,rabbit had babies yesterday and started eating them. What causes that? Any ideas? Daryll

-- Daryll (twincrk@hotmail.com), April 22, 2001

Answers

never have seen that myself,, but have heqard of it. Shes a bad mom,, use her for stew.

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), April 22, 2001.

Well, two more rabbits had babies this morning,both started eating their babies. Unlikely they are all bad mothers. Could something be lacking in their diet? I feed them rabbit pellets and hay and sometimes greens from the garden and water is always available. Daryll

-- Daryll (twincrk@hotmail.com), April 22, 2001.

Sometimes they will eat there babies if upset .Put them in a quiet place , and not to light. Resist checking on them .Offer some fresh veggies or some greens

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), April 22, 2001.

Leave them alone! The number one problem is human interference. If you are even around close enough to know they are having babies, you are too close. Rabbits like to be solitary when kindling. Sometimes one will eat them anyway, and she is a stew candidate after she does it with the second litter. Most important thing is quiet and a good nest box with straw or hay for her to build nest.

-- melina b. (goatgalmjb1@hotmail.com), April 22, 2001.

do you have a kinding box for her?? or is she out in the open? Do you have hay/straw in there for her nest??

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), April 22, 2001.

Daryll,

I had this problem. Some people told me it was lack of salt, some said protein. I read the ingredients in hairball remedy dry cat food and decided to try it since it was high in fiber and protein. They stopped eating their babies (one would eat one a day) and they loved it. They would run to me and take it from my hand. I only gave about 10 pieces a day. I've used it for almost a year now, giving it to them when they first pull fur and for a few weeks after, and have found no adverse effects to the rabbits. (okay, one meowed once...just kidding)

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), April 22, 2001.

A couple things come to mind, is something scaring these does? dog, kids, possums rats ?

I think dee might be on to something with the protien, Breeding does should be fed a rabbit pellet mix of at least 16% protein. There are pelleted rabbit mixs made special for does, purina carrys one and other brands do to. maybe they wernt producing enough milk[ a little calf mana added to pellets might help]. Are these does related? Low milk,and bad mothering can be genetic. Marylns right, rebreed and if they do it again time to get new stock.

-- kathy h (ckhart55@earthlink.net), April 22, 2001.

Sory meant Melina not marlyn, Patty is right about quit to.

-- kathy h (ckhart55@earthlink.net), April 22, 2001.

I have 60 rabbits, have raised them for 3 years now. The reasons why moms eat babies are: 1 the water bowl is, at times, empty. Keep it full. Keep moms on free choice feeding for first week or two with newborns. 2 Poor moms. Some moms eat half a litter and thats it, all the time, no matter what. Others eat all the litter, all the time, no matter what (they get theirs in the end). Others raise huge litters and never touch a single baby, ever. I would say the water bowl fix solved about 1/2 baby eating problems. We eat the poor moms after giving them 3 strikes under 'good' conditions- if its super cold or hot, we give them a little lee way. The salt/ mineral lick did not make any difference- a good feed should satisfy all needs no licks required. Breed the rabbit that ate its babies immediately to dry her up. (if it ate whole litter).

-- Kevin in NC (vantravlrs@aol.com), April 22, 2001.

Hi all, Well I think I found the problem. Set two traps last nite, this morning two big coons. so I'll try breeding them again. Thanks for all the advice. Daryll

-- Daryll (twincrk@hotmail.com), April 23, 2001.

Mother rabbits eat their kits for a number of reasons. If the kits are not healthy, if they were born dead, if they are too cold and there is no way for the mother to warm them. They will also eat kits if they are stressed.

I would remove the dead ones.

She might not kill them all.... And, you won't be able to tell if she is nursing, because they only nurse one time per day. So, just remove the dead ones (and parts thereof).

If there are live ones now, but she continues to kill them off, put them in with another nursing doe if you have one. Rabbits will readily take on 'orphans' even if they are slightly younger than their own.

Leaving them alone begs for problems. If there is any bacterial or viral reason for her behavior, she could get sick. If they were wild - then it would be different.

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), April 23, 2001.

Daryll, my parents raised rabbits for awile and they had one doe that did this. An old friend of theirs,long time rabbit breeder, told them to watch when this doe was kindling to give her a ball of hamburger as she was needing protein. This worked very well and the doe never ate her young again.

-- Wynema (nemad_72039@yahoo.com), April 24, 2001.

Daryll,

I bet it wasn't coon eating the babies. They would have killed the rabbits too, just to do it. Try the hairball cat food. It really works.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), April 25, 2001.

Dee, the coons wernt eating the babys the moms were scared so they were.Rabbits dont deal on the whole with stress well.and a high protein rabbit pellet probably has close to the same ingredients as the hair ball cat food.

-- kathy h (ckhart55@earthlink.net), April 27, 2001.

here's a question on breeding rabbits. I have two does, one is three and the other is around two. When both were a year younger, we bought a buck, but neither doe after several mating attempts would breed with him, they fought him off even though we took the does to the bucks pen several times during the month. One doe, the oldest, is very mean, bites and scratches when I try to feed her. She even growls when I put the food in her cage. She is a spotted/black and white doe and has been this way since we got her as a bunnie. The other, is the standard white with pink eyes that was raised by the local kids as a school project and you know what happens, school ended for summer and no one wanted the rabbit so we took her. She has a lovely disposition and loves to be petted. Is the two year old white rabbit too old to breed? BTW - I can't kill off the mean doe as we bought her for my son as a pet so we just feed her and stay out of her way. (not very economical. The strange thing is we held and petted this bunnie from day one and she never liked people). Having raised rabbits many years ago, I have forgotten how old they are when they are past their bunny raising prime. Can you tell me?

-- Cindy (colawson@mindspring.com), April 28, 2001.

Rabbits kept at a good weight and fed properaly can reproduce to 5 or 6 years old, as they get older the litters get smaller.I had a doe who was mean to, she was fine out of the cage but mean as a snake in it. I bred her to my sweetest buck [ she had great lines] and both her babys were sweet.rabbits like people have definite personalitys. My guess as to the breeding is first, are does over weight? harder for them to get intersted then, [ the does, bucks could care less]. put the does in a cage near bucks so they can smell, cuddle through wire. When they are ready to bred ther private area will be dark red purple colored. If you can put them in run pen,[ built with pallets, chicken wire ect]as then they can play, which helps does to get them in the mood.

-- kathy h (ckhart55@earthlink.net), April 28, 2001.

kathy, I could't get a higher protien rabbit food from anyplace around here, I guess that is why I keep saying the cat food worked for me, it was handy. Either way, I found the additional protein was the ticket and my rabbits weren't scared by coons, just canibals. I'll look again and see if I can maybe special order the breeder's mix somewhere. Cindy, I had a doe that was nasty so I would hold her for breeding. She hated it but loved being a mother. She tolerates breedings now I think because she loves the company the babies give her.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), April 28, 2001.