Sunday, August 2, 2009

How long after the mother rabbit has her babies, will she start taking care of them?


Answers:
If you mean feeding them, you may never see her to it. Rabbits feed their kits only 1-2 times in a 24 hr period. Mine present mom of 1 week old kits feeds only at 10:30pm each night. That's it.

Rabbits don't lay down and act like a dog either. They stand over the kits and give them about 5 minutes to fill up. Then mom leaves them and ignores them till the next feeding.
Cleaning is done quickly in that 5 minute feed time.

Rabbits keep their babies alive by staying away from them so as not to attract predators to the nest. The hair she lined the nest with is the only way they stay warm. She doesn't cuddle or act like a cat or dog mom.

Thats how a mom rabbit is. And also the first feeding may not be for 2 days after the birth. The babies are born, cleaned and then she leaves them till feeding time, 24-48 hrs later!

Rabbits don't harm their babies because you touched them. They may bite or scratch you! They know your scent. They smell it every time you provide their food, water and clean their hutch. Your not a stranger. But sometimes, to tell you to leave her kits alone, she may nip you. Heck when a rabbit wants to be left alone period, they may nip or scratch.
she will take care of them, just don't touch them. some rabbit does will eat there little ones.
immediately, right, i mean most animals are good moms.
she should start taking care of them after she has them!
A mother rabbit should take care of her babies immediately after birth. In fact she should lick them clean of the afterbirth and then lick them all over cleaning them from head to toe. The licking stimulates blood flow in the skin and cleans the bunny鈥檚 hair. Most mammals are very good mothers yet every once in a while a new mom will not take care of her young. Then it鈥檚 left to you to become a surrogate mom to the little ones. So you will need to clean them from head to toe with a warm damp cloth. Clean them against the grain, so to speak, opposite the way their coat lays. This will stimulate blood flow and should make the bunnies more active. They really need to nurse from their mom at least once. You see the mother passes on her anti-bodies through her mother鈥檚 milk to her young. But afterward you can feed the little-ones a mixture of whole milk and honey. There are some commercial products available as a moms milk substitute but they are very expensive and usually only come in bulk. The bunnies will need to be feed every couple of hours for the first 4 to 6 weeks until they can be weaned and can eat solid food full time. Be sure and do not handle the bunnies if mom is taking care of them at least don鈥檛 handle them for a couple of weeks. That will insure that mom wont disown them. Good luck.

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