help i just pulled my mother rabbit out of her cage because she was eating her 2 week old bunnies. this is her second litter and she has plenty of food and water. what could be causing this. thanks

-- (jsweeney@northnet.org), October 07, 2001

Answers

Hi! Usually the does will eat their young if they are frightened by an intruder in the rabbiry or under the cage. A stray dog or even a familiar one trying to get into the cage. Or an owl or hawk, any predator will cause this to happen. Perhaps excessive handling of the babies too. Some does just do this without any reasons. If your doe has successfully raised young before I would give her another try and make sure the area is secure karen

-- Karen in Kansas (kansasgoats@iwon.com), October 07, 2001.

I know alot of people don't agree with me but I feed hairball dry cat food to the mothers. For some reason, they seem to need the extra protien. Since I've been giving them a few pellets a day, the ones who did eat the babies stopped.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), October 07, 2001.

Thanks all for your help. We do have something digging around the chicken coop, thik possibly a skunk. will try the cat food tomorrow

-- (jsweeney@northnet.org), October 08, 2001.

I raise Angora Rabbits and to have success I have to feed my moms fresh broccoli plant or I seem not to be able to raise them either to cannibalism or to fading away. Growing and leaving a broccoli plant and feeding the leaves and flowerets . Brocolli is such a complete food full of protein and vitamins and minerals. I have also heard of putting a piece of salt pork in with the mother and this will prevent cannibalism but have not tried it. I have had good luck with the brocolli

-- Terry Lipe (elipe@fidnet.com), October 08, 2001.

I know that this answer is late, but I think that you should know that some bunnys just have a tendency to eat their young. I'm sure there is some scientific explanation, but when I was raising bunnies some bunnies turned on their young no matter what I did. My bunny mentor, now gone for some years, told me this truth. I didn't believe it. Some bunnies could be influenced, and certainly if one has bred successfully, you should try again, but others just will not breed. Sorry.

-- Jeff Keim (Jeffk520@aol.com), October 10, 2001.