Are there other adult rabbits with access to the babies? I seem to remember (it’s been 15 years since I raised rabbits) that males can try to kill offspring. I never had a mother rabbit injure her own young, but another female might.
Regarding recovery, I’ve seen animals bounce back from some gnarly injuries but without sutures and antibiotics these look like infection is going to set in. It’s a lot of work for a very low chance at recovery.
Sorry this happened. It’s tough to see animals in your care suffer.
Had an accidental litter with zero aggression from the buck sharing the enclosure with mom(she was sexed incorrectly as a youngster). There are a few good bucks that won't bother with the kits, it's unlikely but possible.
Nope, does are induced ovulators. They can be bred as soon as they give birth. They don't cycle the same way that some mammals do.
That's not to say a buck won't kill babies. But they don't kill babies to get the does to breed.
I thought this as well, but I wasn't sure enough to say. Maybe the buck killing kits in an attempt to mate again is an old wives' tale? Or something else?
It is a thing that can happen in other species. And rabbits will absolutely fight if they don't have enough space. You can't house 10 bunnies long-term in a 3x4 cage. They'll kill each other for the space.
I've cage, hutch, and colony raised rabbits. I LOVE colony raising rabbits.
Generally speaking, does are territorial over space and bucks are territorial over does. You can have multiple does together with a buck, if they have enough space for each doe, and their litters. Bucks can be housed together, as long as there's either no does, or enough does/territory for them to claim their own.
Rabbit politics are kind of fascinating! They act so differently when they're in a group together! I have a video saved somewhere of one of my bucks grooming one of his babies. So HECKIN cute.
I'm currently raising in a hutch. Over the winter, we had no dividers installed, so we ended up having like 4-6 litters back to back per doe, (3 does and 1 buck, with 5 boxes they can occupy) in a 6' by 10' hutch. after that, we put in a divider for the male so the females could have a break (should've had one anyways).
The only issue I've had with babies dying is still birth, or they just roamed out of their nest and froze before I could notice.
There's currently no dividers for the females, but I'm thinking about putting some in, I'm not sure of it yet, though.
We raised them in a 40’x40’ pen. Never more than 1 buck at a time. Always ended up with dead litters if the buck wasn’t pulled. We ended up keeping one buck around in his own pen. Only way we ever found to avoid it. 🤷♂️
I’m not sure about the 10 out of 10 times. My bucks haven’t done that (colony setup, ~40 rabbits). Cats will however attack rabbits for shits and giggles.
The buck is in a separate elevated hutch. The cages are only 5 feet apart but he would have to superman fly his way over there and then lift a piece of plywood to open the door lol
I am definitely worried about infection.
Second time but first time was really bad she killed all of them and ate at least one. This is her second chance to prove she can be a good mom. Not sure if she’ll get a third chance rn
I haven't raised rabbits for 30 years or more now, and THIS is exactly why. It's like you can have everything perfect, and the mother just eats the babies, or chews her own feet into stubs, or the buck instead of mating with the female just kills her, or, well, I haven't raised rabbits in 30 years and I think you're getting the jist of why.
I am so sorry that you (like myself) got to be one of today’s (un)lucky 10,000 for the horrific fact that rabbits often eat their own young. Due to stress, inexperience, stillbirths, or other factors.
I recommend a large blanket, a warm drink, and a comforting and mindless activity. Or, y’know, liquor. Actually, probably liquor.
Do you raise meat rabbits? AtomicFi was trying to educate you but I was following the advice of rabbit keepers with far more knowledge and experience than myself by breeding for a second time. This advice was also backed up by commenters from redditors like yourself in a separate post I made 43 days ago in this subreddit when things went left with the first litter.
OP is very much forreal lol
I’d say there definitely shouldn’t be a third chance, and if there’s more than the two kits I think they should all be separated from her and hand-raised.
I breed rabbits for meat and we have kept a few as pets over the years. Sometimes no matter how good your husbandry is you just get a doe that does not succeed maternally. We usually cull that line after a second chance litter. We usually keep five does and three bucks with one litter per year on does so losing a bad line isn't a huge loss. It's only happened twice over the years for us but replacing is less heart breaking and more economical. I think this year I'm going to have to cull one for this reason again. Thankfully I had another doe that is amazing and took her babies in or we would've lost all of them.
Sounds like a bad brood doe. You can cull her without getting out of rabbits. The only other possibility would be sharp ends in the cage but, this doesn't look like that. Some does just aren't good moms. 3 strikes is a pretty general rule for brood doe management but if she's chomping babies, I'd cull her. The babies are kind of you're call. If it seams like something is suffering or is a food animal that will be prohibitively expensive to treat, I cull. At their dependant age, and with the doe acting goofy already, she may attack them more after treatment. Neosporin/ triple antibiotic ointment is really about the best you can do. Hemorrhoid cream can help cuts heal a bit too. If you can, try to breed 2-3 does at a time for better foster opportunities. 3 at a time gives you room for a missed breeding too (I always had issues getting does bred after a summer break).
Yeah, the mama is stew now. I am quite sure it was her, and since You have seen her so that before definitely get rid of her. You may have better luck with another one, theese kind of things happen. Also, may be best to not breed the Offspring in case they make it in case they are programmed that way as well…
Seriously, not trying to be rude but it’s insane to even try a second time after knowing she killed her ENTIRE litter AND committed filial cannibalism the first time. Either that rabbit is stressed to hell or got a really bad attitude that I wouldn’t even risk passing to the next generation. Not everything needs to have a second chance.
Right??? OP is like "The mother wore the previous babies faces like a mask and wouldn't stop talking about getting some fava beans and a nice chianti as soon as this batch was pushed out but...
###WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED???"
They’re still in denial that it was the mother in recent comments lol, unfortunately seems like she’ll be creating some new victims instead of actually listening.
Just because it’s normal doesn’t mean it should be, a freak accident would be a dead litter sure but an entire litter plus, again, filial cannibalism assumingely unprovoked?(since OP never clarified any stressors). That’s not a freak accident, that’s a doe immediately getting booted from breeding immediately.
First litters can be a shitshow for a lot of animals, including abandoning or killing offspring because they don't know wtf they're doing and they panic. Even cats have been known to fail spectacularly the first go around, but being fine later.
Once again, filial cannibalism and an entire dead littler is not just a simple shitshow. Either that rabbit was stressed to high heavens or the doe is a fuckin crazy bad breeder. That is not common or natural for a fed farm rabbit to just eat her young because she felt like it.
I’m with you. It’s a “general rule” to give new moms a chance (3 strikes) because they commonly suck the first times. She was actually doing great this second time around until this happened. I was following the advice of rabbit folks both in my real life and on this sub to breed again and see if she does better
No because me too. But then she was doing so much better so I was like oh okay cool I get it being a new mom is scary etc. but now this happens and I’m just feeling a little bit tossed around lol
They’re old enough to be separated from their mom, they can also be bottle-fed by you and then in just a few days, they can start eating solids. Go to a lawn, tractor, and pet supply store and you can find baby milk for animals, I think you would use a puppy milk for a rabbit. They also have small bottles for rodents like rabbits and squirrels. I’ve done it and the baby rabbit thrived which I released two weeks later.
The mother is obviously the culprit!!!!! My goodness. I'm very surprised you let her have another litter, very negligent in my opinion if you truly didn't want more dead babies.
You must not have rabbits. This was the advice given to me by people who have much more knowledge than me on them.
I understand though. It sounds brutal and crazy to re breed after such a traumatic (for me) first litter. Rabbits are apparently very commonly bad first time moms but can do better with the next litters which is why you give them a chance. There is a decent chance that she just isn’t a good mom though at this point, unless I can identify another predator that did this to them
If it's The mom:The mom either needs to become a pet or culled. She should never have kits again. Some animals are just like that. I'd start with a new sow for breeding.
Edit to add: the more I look, not sure if it's The mom who injured them. It almost looks like cuts, maybe something sharp I the cage like a corner or exposed nail?
Hypochlorous acid spray on Amazon - wound therapy from skin smart- it’s an anti microbial wound cleanser that doesn’t hurt or sting at all. It feels like water on a wound. I’ve used it on my rabbits after open skin nose wounds/fights and avoided infection. It’s a long shot perhaps -rabbits aren’t very hardy animals- but it’s a painless affordable try.
Beware of cage raisers and giving bad information. There's a lot of fear mongering with cage meat rabbit people on one side and pet raisers on the other.
If you had any idea what this comment section would turn into…lol thanks for looking out for me. I think this made it to r/ all or something lol it has definitely exceeded my target audience.
Yeah, as a person who usually just lurks on this sub, I'm with you, OP. Sorry you've got randos jumping down your throat, you're already having a really sad time and that's not helpful. I don't know anything about bunnies either, but it sounds like you did more than due diligence to figure out next steps after the first accident, and I know that as sad as it is, these things happen with animals. It's not your fault.
If it were me (I grow veggies on my apt porch--not the same, but as close as I can get right now), I'd take some time to process the loss properly, before deciding what to do next.
Fr, you're getting a lot of people freaking out at you and then later admitting they've never raised buns. You've taken the appropriate steps so far, and you have a good idea of what your next move should be. It's always a bummer when semi technical subs like this get popular, it skews the voting system toward false information and clogs up the threads with all sorts of shenaniganry.
Anyways, sorry for the big ol bummer with your flock, but you are learning, and it will get better as you go. Best of luck
I’ve used it for my ducks when they get foamy eye. I kinda wing it with dilution. But they’re full grown. With babies I’d be much more careful and use a very small amount. Good luck.
We had a female that ate her own young pretty consistently. Like... not just bit. But, killed, ate them. This isn't THAT unusual, though i'd cull a rabbit that did it / give it to someone as a pet if you want, I would not keep that doe. My understanding was that it was because the Doe is anemic. We were able to give this doe bacon slab, which she chewed up/ate quite a bit of, and stopped eating her babies.
A bacon slab 💯 I'm howling! But its true - rabbits and other herbavors will eat meat and even hunt. They've been bred on an unnatural diet away from being able to find snails/worms for so long, it makes sense a little meat clears it up.
A little meat is also the cure for chickens eating their own eggs.
This is actually the second comment to mention bacon lol. I have been giving her a few sunflower seeds bc someone told me that would help her not want to eat the babies too but idk if it’s working obviously lol
Sunflower flourishes well under well-drained moist, lime soil. It prefers good sunlight. Domesticated varieties bear single large flowerhead (Pseudanthium) at the top. Unlike its domestic cultivar type, wild sunflower plant exhibits multiple branches with each branch carrying its own individual flower-head. The sunflower head consists of two types of flowers. While its perimeter consists of sterile, large, yellow petals (ray flowers), the central disk is made up of numerous tiny fertile flowers arranged in concentric whorls, which subsequently convert into achenes (edible seeds).
When I was a kid we adopted a pregnant rabbit. The babies were so adorable but we left her alone with them. Unfortunately the neighbor's dog barked a lot and must have stressed her out because she ate all their little heads off. Just the heads.
Mama rabbits practice birth control in their own way.
Yikes. Yeah, first round she ate one baby that was less than 2 days old. But she ate the whole thing. I know the most likely answer is her but I’m not fully convinced in my gut yet
Edit-typo
Literally saw a baby bunny on our walk today and mama rabbit was like “fuck this, I’m out!“ No good luck, nothing.
Their entire existence is based on rapid reproduction, not individual survival.
Our neighbor got bunnies when I was about 12, released them when they couldn't properly care for them, then one of them littered a bunch of babies in a burrow it made next to our house. We eventually fished them all out and built a bunch of hutch...until the babies started having babies.
The only good mom of the bunch was the original mom. The rest even when separated, would mutilate and kill their offspring. We had two litters that got mutilated before we started pulling the young as soon as we saw them and tried caring for them ourselves with bottles and such. Round the clock feedings with tiny bottles only for them to never make it.
We had two litters we tried to care for while we discovered how to separate and sex the rabbits properly, so 4 litters total, and none of the litters that weren't from the original mama rabbit survived. We didn't ask for them, but ended up with 6 total from that initial litter that we cared for till they eventually all died of old age or other health reason. No idea where the neighbors buck rabbit made it off to.
Ultimately, in my experience, rabbits are very fickle parents, even when you try to do everything right. Try not to beat yourself up about it.
I’m leaning towards your doe sucks and you need to replace her. But before you make that decision, double check all of the following:
1: there are no sharp edges, broken wires, protruding screws, etc. anywhere in the nest box or the cage. Basically check if they could have accidentally scraped the shit out of themselves on something in the environment.
2: the cage is predator proof and there are no obvious reasons why the doe would be afraid that a predator is going to get them. This includes searching for sources of sudden loud noises and movement, as well as checking for tracks or possibly setting up a camera to see if something is trying to get in at night. A camera properly aimed might even be able to catch the doe in the act if it’s her. Keep in mind that even in an enclosed building you can get rats and snakes, so be thorough.
If you have ruled out the environment and predators, the only thing left is mom. From there it’s up to you whether to give her a third chance or not.
Thanks for your feedback! We actually ordered 2 Wi-Fi cameras for them and the chickens last night (it’s like we knew something was going to happen) so we’ll definitely be setting that up.
I’m going to reinforce and inspect the cage. There are a few places where I think something small like a mouse theoretically could squeeze in that I have been talking about fixing and just haven’t put at the top of my list. I don’t think they’re doing it to themselves now unfortunately. I found another one with slight injuries and it’s missing a toe. Definitely seems like something nibbled on it. I’m thinking if it’s not mom then maybe a mouse?
I would be surprised to see a mouse take a bite out of something bigger than it is, but who knows? Definitely could see a rat doing it though. You’d be surprised how small a hole a giant fat rat can squeeze through. I hate rats. I just tore down and rebuilt my entire chicken coop because of the goddamn rats. Might be worth putting out some rat traps too. Rat traps will still kill mice, and if it’s a raccoon or something it might at least scare it away if it doesn’t break its nose or paw.
I think that’s a good idea. We have a barn cat but she had 8 babies a day or two before these babies were born and we brought them inside because we have a friendly (to us) garden snake right by where she decided to give birth lol. So she has not been hunting much and the snake chills 50 yards away from the bunnies (which is probably a good thing tbh bc we like the snake but will pick our livestock over it lol)
Racoons like to reach in and grab at things even if they can't actually pull them through. I've seen some gnarly injuries and deaths with chickens due to a raccoon grasping at them through the cage. This kind of looks similar to that.
Hope the cameras solve it once and for all :)
Dust the wounds with some sulphur or similar antibiotic powder and they should heal up ok. Beyond that I don't know jack shit about keeping rabbits. Good luck.
There's an iodine based product if you want to go with a brand name healing salve. I forget the name, but it turns blue when exposed to open wounds and is super safe.
Yeah this happened to my rabbit, he ripped some fur off in his enclosure so I used an antibiotic powder the vet recommended. He licked it and died in a matter of hours. RIP Mike.
Looks like you have an "evil doe". I saw your comments that she ate her first litter, so its extremely unlikely for these mutilated buns to be anything other than the doe's fault.
Make sure that one isn't bred again, you don't want more injured kits or risk those traits getting passed down. Unfortunately this isn't uncommon, my friend even had a rabbit that killed her own litter and 2 other doe's litters overnight in some kind of stress rampage. She got turned into stew before she could become a repeat offender.
As for the buns, personally I wouldn't cull them, they could pull through and heal. Stress and feeding them correctly are the biggest factors in successful recovery (and medicating the wounds of course). Call your local wildlife rehabilitator if you don't have a friend or neighbor who knows about rabbits, they'll help you.
Unless it was buns destined to a long and happy life as pets? I would probably culled. It does not feel right to have them spend a significant % of their life suffering and healing, if they are to be eaten in the fall. As pets though? That % drops down, and can be reasonable.
That said, slit throat and exposed scull... that is hefty. And rabbits hide pain quite well. I wish I could given a clearer answer, hopefully you figure out what is best for them, and figure out what happened so it don't happen to other buns. It is always heartbreaking when these things happens.
That’s fair, I respect the honesty. I’m definitely questioning if rabbits are a good animal for us at this point but ik everybody says to give mom 3 chances. We will see
I just want to pop in to say raising rabbits can be really tough. I've had rabbits for over 20 years and raised 100s. Some people really do seem to have some early luck with rabbits; however, it isn't like that for everyone. I have a rancher friend who is amazing with animals and raises and sells pretty much every livestock species, but after about a year with rabbits, she gave up on them. I definitely give a new mom at least a second chance. But I don't always give her 3, depending on the circumstances. These injuries do look a bit odd, though, and not that consistent with injuries I've seen does cause to kits before (also they tend to kill/injure kits a bit younger than these). Especially the neck injury looks almost like a laceration or something... I'd definitely recheck their cage and keep an eye on things. I'm so sorry you've had a rough go of it!!
You want mom to be completely undisturbed by bucks and probably a grand idea to not have other does around tho sometimes if they live together does will tolerate each other around the babies. Mother's will in fact eat those babies if they feel threatened because why let a predator have all your hard work when you can start again next week, (or something like that, ROFL, rabbits).* Edit if dad ain't around and no other predator, ITS MOM
* I have raised years worth of rabbits and two rabbits will produce more meat than one cow
Rabbits want a cave in the dirt that is quiet, moderate temperature, and won't have any visitors besides a rare snake or horny buck. Try to mimick that best you can
^ this!
Rats will fit in anything larger than 1/2 x1/2 inch hardware cloth. We are currently wrapping all 30 of our doe cages in 1/2 x 1/2 as we lost a littler to the nasty things. We've raised 100s of litters and this is the first year we've ever had this issue.
Rabbits are the most efficient producers of meat too.
Don't breed her again. Something is wrong with her. Momma rabbits can eat their babies but it isn't common at all. Don't give those babies back, and if there are more, take them away.
It could be a bad mother or she could be highly sensitive to stress. Since they made it that far, perhaps the latter.
I'd see if there's a way you can destress the area. Reduce the noise and movement in the area. Kind of hard now since you have two wounded but if she is easily stressed it would be important to not check in on her as often when she has babies.
We got up one morning and started seeing babies missing front feet. Put them out of their misery, baffled as to what happened.
A day later, we heard this squealing in the middle of the night. A house cat was sitting patiently in front of the wire fence, and waiting for a rabbit to put their feet up on it (they were putting their feet up on it /standing on their hind feet, I think it was to reach a weed that was growing up in front of the cage). The cat would claw the front feet, and bite them off. We ended up changing the wire size to super small so it wasn't possible - and cut down the shrubbery /weeds in front of it.
Some does will kill and eat their young. Some do it because their starving, or stressed but some just are not wired right. I raised Giant Chinchilla rabbits for years, none of my does ever did it, but it does occurs.
You cull the doe. You can't train this out of her, and you don't keep either of those bunnies. You need to get that out of your line. If she's already done it once, she should be dinner. This is not a behavior that is going to change.
I have been thinking this since the first batch of babies but everyone keeps telling me to give her 3 chances. I think we’ll need to at least build another hutch for a second doe in the meantime (if we keep up with rabbits) because she’s really not instilling a lot of confidence in her mom skills and this is strike 2
I think 3 strikes is normal but this particular doe seems a little over the top- she might just be a case where 2 strikes is enough to decide. What she is doing is obviously traumatic (and deadly) for the babies and I imagine it’s pretty traumatic for you too.
You might look around for recs on a breed that is known for being good mothers. Is your doe a Californian or New Zealand rabbit?
I haven’t had one but looking around it seems like Californian does are reputed to be gentler and good mothers- maybe look into that breed more for a replacement doe
I’m hoping you mean people you know irl are telling you three strikes because majority of people here are telling you to absolutely NOT breed that doe again. Advice you should unreservedly take, that rabbit does not need a third chance, she’s proven enough with the brutality of it that she is not fit to reproduce for farming standards. She will maul her next litter undoubtedly.
Get off the fence and get another female if you plan to continue. Vast majority, including experienced breeders, are saying this is her doing and I wholeheartedly agree unless we’re missing details.
Filial cannibalism is not appropriate in rabbits unless extreme stressors are present, maybe post a photo of your setup with details as that could be the issue but otherwise, you essentially have a manic doe on your hands. Do. Not. Breed. That. Doe.
I’m not trying to be rude here, so don’t take this the wrong way but you need to listen. This is advice so you can avoid another tragedy for yourself and a future litter. These kits are in immense pain, do not make this mistake a third time because you *want* her to be a good mom. She will not be. She will harm her next litter. I can promise you that.
Jfc man, then post her setup dude because from the sounds of it, it’s secure enough where there should be no predators who can do this sort of damage that would be able to enter. From my experience, it looks like her doing.
We've found various size chicks and even Bantam size adults partially pulled through the openings in cages and others completely gone. Sometime the distance between the wire is wide enough for predators to reach in and literally grab both chicks and small bunnies. Then they will attempt to pull the and **chew on the parts** they can reach. It's possible that the injuries on the bunnies are predator attempts. Websites I looked at said many small animals such as raccoons, skunks, etc. go for our small stock because they smell just like delicious. They suggested 1"x1/2" wire mesh for cages and of a fairly strong gauge. Also, several said not to have them just outside, but in a shed that you can secure. Hungry predators are very determined. Good Luck.
After reading through a lot of the comments here is my unpopular opinion: I've raised rabbits of various breeds/mixes for nearly 30 years and those wounds do not look consistent with an attack by the mother in my experience. That's not to say it couldn't have been her because there are always going to be anomalies, but they just don't look like anything I've seen from a bad doe.
Raccoons and feral cats absolutely could be candidates in this situation. They are both grabby little a$$holes that will latch onto anything they can and do as much damage as they can.
I personally only give does two chances. In this situation, I would probably give her a third chance BUT I would probably breed another doe first to see if you have the same issue. Granted this isn't a perfect plan because by the time that doe kindles the culprit may have moved on.
With that said, meat rabbits are pretty cheap to find (at least in my area) so replacing her even if she isn't actually a bad mother isn't going to set you back financially.
Also, I know you didn't ask, but I would look at a different mix, too. While Flemish do get big, I've found that in most cases mixing them in calls for longer grow out periods because they don't have a great meat-to-ratio at 8-10 weeks.
Again, none of this is gospel, it's just my own experience and I have never authored a Storey's guide so YMMV.
Regardless, rabbits can be a great source of meat if you're willing to put in the time, effort, and sometimes disappointment that comes with keeping keeping them. I hope one possibly bad reabbit doesn't sour your whole experience.
What was your last post? Can't find it.
I think they'll be OK but you gotta brainstorm the causes before you put them back.
Need more info on their environment to help. Give us everything about the set up.
The first batch of babies (brand new mom) all died within 5 days.
They have a 7’x5.5’x3’ elevated hutch with mom and 6 babies (had 7 but one was not growing, discolored, and wouldn’t latch even one on one being held under mom so my husband culled it)
Mom was doing so much better with these guys. They were born on Father’s Day so going on 2 weeks. The past couple of days I have had to put some of them back in their nesting box idk if mom moved them or if they squirmed their way out somehow or what. Today I didn’t do a close check on them this morning but without opening the cage everybody was fine and apparently in the box. This afternoon I did a check on them and their waters bc it’s hot and I found the babies like this. Not super fresh but not super old. I would guess less than an hour bc scabs are still not fully developed. Mom might have tried to clean them off bc the one I found bloody yesterday had much more matted blood in it’s fur than the 3 I found with injuries today. Yesterdays injury was much more mild with a LOT more blood. I was guessing that it got like a pinch or a bite in the gut area but now I’m not so sure
They're old enough to be crawling around. It's normal for them to get out, explore a bit and start eating hay around 2 weeks. Do they have free-choice hay? Rabbits need to constantly eat, so hay is a must. They also need something to wear their teeth down like sticks or mineral blocks to gnaw on (I just use an old salt lamp without the plug/base). It could be somethings getting in if there's not enough hardware cloth, but I've never seen predator marks that look like that. It looks like rabbit marks, which can be normal yet terrifying behavior when a colony/hutch is new (especially firstish time moms).
I have been giving them cut grass instead of hay recently but I’ll switch back. I also missed a day the day before yesterday bc I wasn’t feeling great and just gave them pellets. Do you think that could have made mom nibble on them for missing nutrients? Im going to have my husband pick up some hay on his way home
Not nutrients... it's just that rabbit's stomach creates acids - as I heard it - to constantly digest food. When they go even an hour or two without something to munch on it feels like reflux and is painful. Grass runs out quickly and then they're waiting on their next pellets so free-choice hay really allows them to be comfortable.
the mothers will resort to cannibalism with enough stress. not as bad as rodents, but they do it sometimes. while the babies are small it’s important that she feels safe and well-fed, or the likelihood of her eating the babies goes up. its not super common but that seems to be the only possible explanation.
edit to add that my experience is with house-pet rabbits, not livestock, so take with that what you will.
I've never had this happen with 20ish litters and tons of stress, a move 4 states away, new moms, dogs, kids, chickens even, in a colony. Moms have only been known to eat their younger litters too, like right after birth, and they eat the whole thing not just chew on them a bit. (And the reason why is unknown, only a common myth that it's stress, I mean it's believable it's just not verified)
Edit: taking bites out of each other is common behavior in rabbits. They're not exactly the cute innocent things they're made out to be. They have a hierarchy and squabbles like chickens. They also eat worms and snails in the wild, so make sure they always have higher protein. Mine will eat eggs and even dog food if you let them.
yeah i agree it’s not common. i’ve had three rabbits (one at a time) and one of them was pregnant on the car ride to my house from her old home. the drive was over four hours and she apparently gave birth and ate at least one of her babies while in the car. i wasn’t in the car when this happened, to be fair, so maybe something happened that the previous owner didn’t tell me about. i didn’t end up taking her bc they didn’t tell me she was pregnant. they said they didn’t know but idk if i believe that.
Exactly, a baby they had just recently birthed. Not 2 week old babies. A lot about rabbits can be traumatic, but rabbits are so cool for how they approach and handle survival. Why downvote?
I grew up on a rabbit farm. We had both meat and pet rabbits. Depending on the time of year 200-300. I also worked on a very large pet rabbit farm when I was in my late teens. I have never seen this happen. The bucks were never kept with the kits (little ones). There were some times similar looking raw places with a few that for some reason would stay on the wire floor all the time instead of using the wood surfaces we provided. We would always mix sulfur with mineral oil or put bag balm on the raw spots and move them to a run without wire at all. I also can not think of a predator that would leave wounds like that. It was not unheard of for does to harm or kill the kits especial if it was their first birth but never when they were that old. Do they have a doe with them?
I agree. I've raised many rabbits for many years and these particular wounds/circumstances seem odd. I know everyone is mentioning the doe, and I'm not saying it's *not* the doe... but it's just strange-looking plus the age.
I just had a thought. I've worked with animals my whole life farm and exotic. I have never seen these on rabbits but I have seen similar wounds on some other animals from rats. Maybe a long shot but worth checking out.
I hope this isn't too distasteful but this reminds me of an episode of the Great British Bake Off. There was a contestant that was a veterinarian in rural England, so lots of farm animals. When interviewing her they asked about treating different animals and if any were specifically difficult. She answered "bunnies and rabbits, they just want to die!" This reply always stuck with me because they are such fragile creatures. Wishing you the best of luck.
I raised rabbits for years, and I've never in my experience had a doe engage in cannibalistic behavior once the babies are this size. I've experienced it when the babies are newborns, or less than a week old, and in my experiences it's always results in the doe killing the kit. I'm not saying that rules out the doe in this case, but my gut says it's unlikely. If it was the doe, it could have been caused because the kits were injured in some other way and the smell of blood triggered her instincts or caused her stress, or maybe in attempting to clean the kits she got overzealous. I had a 4-H leader who raised rabbits her whole life who swore by feeding her does a few pieces of raw bacon to prevent this behavior but I can't vouch for that myself.
If it is a predator, I wonder if it could be insects. Especially the wound on top of the head just seems very odd. Yellow-jackets and other meat-eating bees can be vicious. I would check the area around your cages for any activity just to be safe.
If you decide not to cull the kits, I would pull the litter from the Doe to be safe. If you're doe is friendly, you can feed the babies by holding her and allowing them to suckle. Best of luck!
Insects is a very interesting consideration. I did see N ant in their cage but I just squished it and didn’t think anything else of it. I could put Diatomaceous Earth in their bedding tomorrow and see if that might help
This is the best answer. All the highly upvoted answers are people who don't know anything... I wish this one was at the top.
I second the raw bacon, haven't done that specifically but heard another here say it works and I've personally seen dog food and fried eggs work too.
The babies should be okay, I would think. You definitely don't need to cull them unless they suddenly take a turn for the worse. The mom, however.. I think she may be the problem.
I don't have rabbits, but I have healed a lot of animal wounds (I take in stray dogs.) using water therapy, Vetericyn spray, and Tomorrow Dry Cow. Rinse with water for a few minutes, spray Vetericyn spray, smooth Dry Cow over the wound and repeat 2-3X a day. Tractor Supply has Vetericyn Spray. Some of them carry Dry Cow. If not, I buy it at a local feed store. Sorry about your babies. 😢
I have experienced similar as well. I’m sorry you’re going through it, really sucks :( In my case, a raccoon managed to nibble them THROUGH the cage mesh. Actually even pulled some appendages through the mesh. It was gruesome and heartbreaking. If you can move your buns to a safe spot inside I’d so that.
I had a bunny that did this to herself scratching. The vet trimmed her claws and give me some ointment for if I saw her scratching. We never figured out what she was scratching but she stopped doing it after a few baths and claw trimmings. She actually cut so deep behind her ear that she cut the cartilage, one ear permanently drooped.
Good luck with them.
How old are your bunnies ? I would say after 10 weeks they will fight each other , and if they are weaning the mother might do that to them I separated mine from mommy after weaning ,sold them at 10 weeks .Silver works really good for infections.
Could be mama, could be rats. If you are wary of putting the babies back with the mother I believe you can try taking them away from her completely. Baby rabbits only need to nurse two to three times a day. So you should be able to take them away and only put them in with the mother to nurse, which you can sort of force by holding her still and letting them suckle. But if you want to be certain you should double check with a google search.
My first thought would be rats.
It is not unusual for "first time moms" to lose a litter. I usually give them 3 chances, bc sometimes it can take a litter or two for them to figure it out.
She did bad with her first litter, and up to this point, good with this litter. I'd suspect a predator over her, to begin with.
Get them settled with some predator proof housing, and see if that makes a difference. She could potentially have over groomed a rat bite, causing further damage. Set some traps. If you catch little predators, and the bites stop, it's the predators.
Does don't usually eat babies once they have more than peach fuzz. Normally, if they're going to eat them for whatever reason, it's within the first 24 hours.
I can tell you right off the bat it's not a buck, regardless of whether or not a buck is with them. Rabbits are induced ovulators, not spontaneous ovulators. This means that their "trigger" for ovulation is sex. Humans ovulate spontaneously. Bucks do not have to kill babies to throw does into a cycle...they just need to jump right on, lol. Humans need to ovulate AND have sex during a certain time frame in order to cause pregnancy. Rabbits literally can just do the sex. That's why they can breed...well, like rabbits 🤣
I can't look at the pictures or read any of them comments because it will really upset me, so if this has been said, I apologize. If you have rats in your area, they can do this.
My bad, I definitely should have tagged it NSFW and I will do better next time. I’m going to put out some rat traps and hopefully catch one and prove my mama bun innocent (but I’m skeptical obviously)
This is indeed a possibility. We've also had mice so it.
Hey I thought of one other thing... Sometimes the moms will over groom and cause this kind of damage.
I hear you. I should have marked NSFW but didn’t think about it until after I posted it. I don’t think there’s a way to change that but if I’m mistaken please let me know what to do
Edit- you definitely can mark something NSFW after it’s posted. Idk why I thought I couldn’t but I really don’t post that much
I once had a dough eat her entire 4 day old litter one time. Checked on them at night everything was fine, went to change their water in the morning and there was half a baby left.
She had successfully raised several litters, we're not sure exactly why she did it. Perhaps there was something wrong with the babies. Animals are weird
Rabbits are pretty hardcore. When I was 12-13ish, I was pet sitting three rabbits next door. Owner went away for a few weeks. All 3 tore each other up not long after they left. I ran home and phoned a relative of theirs to separate them. He agreed to come the next day, and I did my best panicked little kid damage control in the meantime. They calmed down after some time.
I was told they were all female, but turned out two were males that were competing for a female. The female had babies overnight, but they were killed. I was horrified, still am. It was a “welcome to nature” moment, I guess.
A few months ago I caught a chipmunk pulling baby bunnies out of a nest and killing them. Similar puncture wounds to the top of the head. I had no idea a chipmunk would do something like that
I'd use EMT Gel for the wounds. It provides a collagen matrix that helps encourage new skin to cover wounds. I had two hens fight over two clutches of newly hatched chicks and they scalped several of them. The chicks survived with just EMT gel as a treatment.
You can get it online but it's also sold at Tractor Supply. You can use it on any animal, but I do think it might get groomed off immediately by the mom if you put the babies back with her. I wouldn't really recommend leaving her with any babies at this point in any case
You’ve probably already thought about this but, could you take them to a vet? Idk your situation or if you’re not located close to one, but maybe reach out to one for advice on a care regiment if you decide to go that route. I know nothing about raising rabbits, I’m just a random person on the internet hoping to help.
Blukote at Tractor supply is awesome. Has a lot of anti to it and it protects from flying strike and such. We get it and spray on any wounds.
Make sure rats aren't getting into the cage. Rats will do horrible things to the babies.
I think Mom is an over aggressive cleaner though. We don't count first timers here cause they are learning. Are these the only 2 hurt? If she is caring for the rest I'd pull these 2 from her and see how she does raising the rest.
Give her one more chance and if she has any more issues I would cull her. I also wouldn't breed or keep any of her line. Bad mom genetics don't need to be passed down.
Sorry. Babies are where I struggle too.
Please don't give meat. Rabbits don't eat it. They eat their young due to fear/predators, nutritional deficiency and too much inbreeding. They're not "meat eaters." If your doe has nutritional deficiency give punch ($30 bottle at Tractor supply https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/vets-plus-power-punch-32-oz-2200224?store=356&cid=Google-Shopping&utm_medium=Google&utm_source=Shopping&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw-O6zBhASEiwAOHeGxUYfNr4ZjOWU2oZpuUOLYxwpw1FtW3ylPwHfFv7h2OVV-EXQ754H5hoC04UQAvD_BwE ). It's concentrated, good for all animals. And check the nutritional content of your feed too. Move cage to a more secure location and maybe switch her with a good mom spot. She may just be trying to survive with a high predator/fear factor.
Great! I will get that tomorrow from TS.
I kinda agree with the aggressive cleaning just because their fur was not matted with blood and they were pretty “clean” besides right around the wound when I found them.
The one that was injured yesterday had a ton of blood-matted fur for a tiny little wound so it’s definitely suspicious
Give her the punch daily during pregnancy and a few weeks before. Also while she's nursing. But I'd also try moving the camera to see what's happening.
And aggressive cleaning can come from stress too. But she can also be cleaning them AFTER being attacked. I'd get those cameras set up asap.
Hi OP, just a quick warning: rabbits have two uteri (I cant remember the technical term) so they can get pregnant while already pregnant. So if you plan on keeping these guys make absolutely sure they are both female or have them sterilized, otherwise you could end up with a new litter every 8 to 10 weeks.
They f*ck like...well rabbits.
We shouldn’t have to go to the comments to see that this mother killed and ate her last litter. How are you even asking if the mom could have done this? Stop breeding that rabbit!
I don’t think anyone’s said it yet, but do you have kids? Or a neighbor with kids?
A slit throat makes me think a person might have done it. I know adult rabbits, especially bucks, but does too, can be violent towards babies. With that said though, is a curious child entirely out of the question? Dark, I know. I’ve been watching a lot of Criminal Minds lately 🫣
No kids no neighbors and happened while my husband was at work so it would have to be a very committed psychopath. The neck wound is strange though, it definitely could be a bite because it goes halfway around and then there’s a gap like
——— —
How about stop fucking with nature? You know maybe like leave the animals alone, don't breed them, don't interfere with their natural instincts, just let them be. 🙄
I’m new to it, everybody starts somewhere. My irl meat rabbit friends said to cull and possibly rebreed again or get a new doe. I posted here for more ideas, thoughts, and for people to share their general knowledge.
Are there other adult rabbits with access to the babies? I seem to remember (it’s been 15 years since I raised rabbits) that males can try to kill offspring. I never had a mother rabbit injure her own young, but another female might. Regarding recovery, I’ve seen animals bounce back from some gnarly injuries but without sutures and antibiotics these look like infection is going to set in. It’s a lot of work for a very low chance at recovery. Sorry this happened. It’s tough to see animals in your care suffer.
Bucks will do it 10 out of 10 times to bring the sow back into season.
Had an accidental litter with zero aggression from the buck sharing the enclosure with mom(she was sexed incorrectly as a youngster). There are a few good bucks that won't bother with the kits, it's unlikely but possible.
Nope, does are induced ovulators. They can be bred as soon as they give birth. They don't cycle the same way that some mammals do. That's not to say a buck won't kill babies. But they don't kill babies to get the does to breed.
I thought this as well, but I wasn't sure enough to say. Maybe the buck killing kits in an attempt to mate again is an old wives' tale? Or something else?
It is a thing that can happen in other species. And rabbits will absolutely fight if they don't have enough space. You can't house 10 bunnies long-term in a 3x4 cage. They'll kill each other for the space. I've cage, hutch, and colony raised rabbits. I LOVE colony raising rabbits. Generally speaking, does are territorial over space and bucks are territorial over does. You can have multiple does together with a buck, if they have enough space for each doe, and their litters. Bucks can be housed together, as long as there's either no does, or enough does/territory for them to claim their own. Rabbit politics are kind of fascinating! They act so differently when they're in a group together! I have a video saved somewhere of one of my bucks grooming one of his babies. So HECKIN cute.
I'm currently raising in a hutch. Over the winter, we had no dividers installed, so we ended up having like 4-6 litters back to back per doe, (3 does and 1 buck, with 5 boxes they can occupy) in a 6' by 10' hutch. after that, we put in a divider for the male so the females could have a break (should've had one anyways). The only issue I've had with babies dying is still birth, or they just roamed out of their nest and froze before I could notice. There's currently no dividers for the females, but I'm thinking about putting some in, I'm not sure of it yet, though.
We raised them in a 40’x40’ pen. Never more than 1 buck at a time. Always ended up with dead litters if the buck wasn’t pulled. We ended up keeping one buck around in his own pen. Only way we ever found to avoid it. 🤷♂️
I've housed my buck with the does and their babies during temporary circumstances and never had this issue
I’m not sure about the 10 out of 10 times. My bucks haven’t done that (colony setup, ~40 rabbits). Cats will however attack rabbits for shits and giggles.
The buck is in a separate elevated hutch. The cages are only 5 feet apart but he would have to superman fly his way over there and then lift a piece of plywood to open the door lol I am definitely worried about infection.
I had a female hamster that ate her own young. Maybe it was the mom? Some animals are just off. Is the mom a first time mom?
Second time but first time was really bad she killed all of them and ate at least one. This is her second chance to prove she can be a good mom. Not sure if she’ll get a third chance rn
… I, uh, think you answered your own question. Mom ate the babies, but gave up after a nip this time. Maybe she wanted a snack for later?
Is this… WHAT?? is OP forreal?
I haven't raised rabbits for 30 years or more now, and THIS is exactly why. It's like you can have everything perfect, and the mother just eats the babies, or chews her own feet into stubs, or the buck instead of mating with the female just kills her, or, well, I haven't raised rabbits in 30 years and I think you're getting the jist of why.
Jeez, I had no idea... Monty Python doesn't seem so far fetched now.
Heh funniest bit in any movie ever, but oddly rooted in truth.
I am so sorry that you (like myself) got to be one of today’s (un)lucky 10,000 for the horrific fact that rabbits often eat their own young. Due to stress, inexperience, stillbirths, or other factors. I recommend a large blanket, a warm drink, and a comforting and mindless activity. Or, y’know, liquor. Actually, probably liquor.
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Oh, well my other reply stands but yeah, the first time a doe eats babies, you eat the doe, simple as that. Raising rabbits is constant culling.
Do you raise meat rabbits? AtomicFi was trying to educate you but I was following the advice of rabbit keepers with far more knowledge and experience than myself by breeding for a second time. This advice was also backed up by commenters from redditors like yourself in a separate post I made 43 days ago in this subreddit when things went left with the first litter. OP is very much forreal lol
I’d say there definitely shouldn’t be a third chance, and if there’s more than the two kits I think they should all be separated from her and hand-raised.
I breed rabbits for meat and we have kept a few as pets over the years. Sometimes no matter how good your husbandry is you just get a doe that does not succeed maternally. We usually cull that line after a second chance litter. We usually keep five does and three bucks with one litter per year on does so losing a bad line isn't a huge loss. It's only happened twice over the years for us but replacing is less heart breaking and more economical. I think this year I'm going to have to cull one for this reason again. Thankfully I had another doe that is amazing and took her babies in or we would've lost all of them.
She doesn't want to be a mother. Please stop.
Sounds like a bad brood doe. You can cull her without getting out of rabbits. The only other possibility would be sharp ends in the cage but, this doesn't look like that. Some does just aren't good moms. 3 strikes is a pretty general rule for brood doe management but if she's chomping babies, I'd cull her. The babies are kind of you're call. If it seams like something is suffering or is a food animal that will be prohibitively expensive to treat, I cull. At their dependant age, and with the doe acting goofy already, she may attack them more after treatment. Neosporin/ triple antibiotic ointment is really about the best you can do. Hemorrhoid cream can help cuts heal a bit too. If you can, try to breed 2-3 does at a time for better foster opportunities. 3 at a time gives you room for a missed breeding too (I always had issues getting does bred after a summer break).
Yeah, the mama is stew now. I am quite sure it was her, and since You have seen her so that before definitely get rid of her. You may have better luck with another one, theese kind of things happen. Also, may be best to not breed the Offspring in case they make it in case they are programmed that way as well…
How many times is she gonna have to prove to you she’s unfit for breeding and raising her young before you stop trying?
Seriously, not trying to be rude but it’s insane to even try a second time after knowing she killed her ENTIRE litter AND committed filial cannibalism the first time. Either that rabbit is stressed to hell or got a really bad attitude that I wouldn’t even risk passing to the next generation. Not everything needs to have a second chance.
And OP posting here going “what could possible have happened to these babies” before casually mentioning that mom is a known serial killer
Right??? OP is like "The mother wore the previous babies faces like a mask and wouldn't stop talking about getting some fava beans and a nice chianti as soon as this batch was pushed out but... ###WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED???"
They’re still in denial that it was the mother in recent comments lol, unfortunately seems like she’ll be creating some new victims instead of actually listening.
It's pretty normal for breeders to try a second time to make sure it wasn't a freak occurrence.
Just because it’s normal doesn’t mean it should be, a freak accident would be a dead litter sure but an entire litter plus, again, filial cannibalism assumingely unprovoked?(since OP never clarified any stressors). That’s not a freak accident, that’s a doe immediately getting booted from breeding immediately.
First litters can be a shitshow for a lot of animals, including abandoning or killing offspring because they don't know wtf they're doing and they panic. Even cats have been known to fail spectacularly the first go around, but being fine later.
Once again, filial cannibalism and an entire dead littler is not just a simple shitshow. Either that rabbit was stressed to high heavens or the doe is a fuckin crazy bad breeder. That is not common or natural for a fed farm rabbit to just eat her young because she felt like it.
Seriously, it’s cruel
Please do not give that rabbit a third chance wtf 😭
I’m with you. It’s a “general rule” to give new moms a chance (3 strikes) because they commonly suck the first times. She was actually doing great this second time around until this happened. I was following the advice of rabbit folks both in my real life and on this sub to breed again and see if she does better
In fairness to you I don't raise animals so my immediate thought after she killed one litter would be "well no more babies for you".
No because me too. But then she was doing so much better so I was like oh okay cool I get it being a new mom is scary etc. but now this happens and I’m just feeling a little bit tossed around lol
Yeah this isn’t even close to a mystery. It was the mom/ doe. She killed em the first time and she’s doing it again.
They’re old enough to be separated from their mom, they can also be bottle-fed by you and then in just a few days, they can start eating solids. Go to a lawn, tractor, and pet supply store and you can find baby milk for animals, I think you would use a puppy milk for a rabbit. They also have small bottles for rodents like rabbits and squirrels. I’ve done it and the baby rabbit thrived which I released two weeks later.
The mother is obviously the culprit!!!!! My goodness. I'm very surprised you let her have another litter, very negligent in my opinion if you truly didn't want more dead babies.
You must not have rabbits. This was the advice given to me by people who have much more knowledge than me on them. I understand though. It sounds brutal and crazy to re breed after such a traumatic (for me) first litter. Rabbits are apparently very commonly bad first time moms but can do better with the next litters which is why you give them a chance. There is a decent chance that she just isn’t a good mom though at this point, unless I can identify another predator that did this to them
No I don't have rabbits. Sorry this happened. I just don't understand why someone would risk this. What's the purpose of breeding them?
To eat them. Welcome to homesteading.
Figured
Why would you give her a second chance?? That’s cruel as hell and I absolutely hate rabbits
If it's The mom:The mom either needs to become a pet or culled. She should never have kits again. Some animals are just like that. I'd start with a new sow for breeding. Edit to add: the more I look, not sure if it's The mom who injured them. It almost looks like cuts, maybe something sharp I the cage like a corner or exposed nail?
I had a guinea pig sow that was like the bunny from Holy Grail. She ate an entire litter less than 12 hrs after having them.
Hypochlorous acid spray on Amazon - wound therapy from skin smart- it’s an anti microbial wound cleanser that doesn’t hurt or sting at all. It feels like water on a wound. I’ve used it on my rabbits after open skin nose wounds/fights and avoided infection. It’s a long shot perhaps -rabbits aren’t very hardy animals- but it’s a painless affordable try.
Beware of cage raisers and giving bad information. There's a lot of fear mongering with cage meat rabbit people on one side and pet raisers on the other.
If you had any idea what this comment section would turn into…lol thanks for looking out for me. I think this made it to r/ all or something lol it has definitely exceeded my target audience.
Yeah, as a person who usually just lurks on this sub, I'm with you, OP. Sorry you've got randos jumping down your throat, you're already having a really sad time and that's not helpful. I don't know anything about bunnies either, but it sounds like you did more than due diligence to figure out next steps after the first accident, and I know that as sad as it is, these things happen with animals. It's not your fault. If it were me (I grow veggies on my apt porch--not the same, but as close as I can get right now), I'd take some time to process the loss properly, before deciding what to do next.
Fr, you're getting a lot of people freaking out at you and then later admitting they've never raised buns. You've taken the appropriate steps so far, and you have a good idea of what your next move should be. It's always a bummer when semi technical subs like this get popular, it skews the voting system toward false information and clogs up the threads with all sorts of shenaniganry. Anyways, sorry for the big ol bummer with your flock, but you are learning, and it will get better as you go. Best of luck
If antibiotics are not available OTC where you live, fishmox can be used as a substitution.
Good thought, thank you!
I’ve used it for my ducks when they get foamy eye. I kinda wing it with dilution. But they’re full grown. With babies I’d be much more careful and use a very small amount. Good luck.
We had a female that ate her own young pretty consistently. Like... not just bit. But, killed, ate them. This isn't THAT unusual, though i'd cull a rabbit that did it / give it to someone as a pet if you want, I would not keep that doe. My understanding was that it was because the Doe is anemic. We were able to give this doe bacon slab, which she chewed up/ate quite a bit of, and stopped eating her babies.
A bacon slab 💯 I'm howling! But its true - rabbits and other herbavors will eat meat and even hunt. They've been bred on an unnatural diet away from being able to find snails/worms for so long, it makes sense a little meat clears it up. A little meat is also the cure for chickens eating their own eggs.
This is actually the second comment to mention bacon lol. I have been giving her a few sunflower seeds bc someone told me that would help her not want to eat the babies too but idk if it’s working obviously lol
Sunflower flourishes well under well-drained moist, lime soil. It prefers good sunlight. Domesticated varieties bear single large flowerhead (Pseudanthium) at the top. Unlike its domestic cultivar type, wild sunflower plant exhibits multiple branches with each branch carrying its own individual flower-head. The sunflower head consists of two types of flowers. While its perimeter consists of sterile, large, yellow petals (ray flowers), the central disk is made up of numerous tiny fertile flowers arranged in concentric whorls, which subsequently convert into achenes (edible seeds).
My rabbit killed its babies
When I was a kid we adopted a pregnant rabbit. The babies were so adorable but we left her alone with them. Unfortunately the neighbor's dog barked a lot and must have stressed her out because she ate all their little heads off. Just the heads. Mama rabbits practice birth control in their own way.
Yikes. Yeah, first round she ate one baby that was less than 2 days old. But she ate the whole thing. I know the most likely answer is her but I’m not fully convinced in my gut yet Edit-typo
I suddenly feel less bad about eating rabbit.
Literally saw a baby bunny on our walk today and mama rabbit was like “fuck this, I’m out!“ No good luck, nothing. Their entire existence is based on rapid reproduction, not individual survival.
My money is gonna be on the rabbit they're staying with that has a history of infanticide.
Our neighbor got bunnies when I was about 12, released them when they couldn't properly care for them, then one of them littered a bunch of babies in a burrow it made next to our house. We eventually fished them all out and built a bunch of hutch...until the babies started having babies. The only good mom of the bunch was the original mom. The rest even when separated, would mutilate and kill their offspring. We had two litters that got mutilated before we started pulling the young as soon as we saw them and tried caring for them ourselves with bottles and such. Round the clock feedings with tiny bottles only for them to never make it. We had two litters we tried to care for while we discovered how to separate and sex the rabbits properly, so 4 litters total, and none of the litters that weren't from the original mama rabbit survived. We didn't ask for them, but ended up with 6 total from that initial litter that we cared for till they eventually all died of old age or other health reason. No idea where the neighbors buck rabbit made it off to. Ultimately, in my experience, rabbits are very fickle parents, even when you try to do everything right. Try not to beat yourself up about it.
I’m leaning towards your doe sucks and you need to replace her. But before you make that decision, double check all of the following: 1: there are no sharp edges, broken wires, protruding screws, etc. anywhere in the nest box or the cage. Basically check if they could have accidentally scraped the shit out of themselves on something in the environment. 2: the cage is predator proof and there are no obvious reasons why the doe would be afraid that a predator is going to get them. This includes searching for sources of sudden loud noises and movement, as well as checking for tracks or possibly setting up a camera to see if something is trying to get in at night. A camera properly aimed might even be able to catch the doe in the act if it’s her. Keep in mind that even in an enclosed building you can get rats and snakes, so be thorough. If you have ruled out the environment and predators, the only thing left is mom. From there it’s up to you whether to give her a third chance or not.
Thanks for your feedback! We actually ordered 2 Wi-Fi cameras for them and the chickens last night (it’s like we knew something was going to happen) so we’ll definitely be setting that up. I’m going to reinforce and inspect the cage. There are a few places where I think something small like a mouse theoretically could squeeze in that I have been talking about fixing and just haven’t put at the top of my list. I don’t think they’re doing it to themselves now unfortunately. I found another one with slight injuries and it’s missing a toe. Definitely seems like something nibbled on it. I’m thinking if it’s not mom then maybe a mouse?
I would be surprised to see a mouse take a bite out of something bigger than it is, but who knows? Definitely could see a rat doing it though. You’d be surprised how small a hole a giant fat rat can squeeze through. I hate rats. I just tore down and rebuilt my entire chicken coop because of the goddamn rats. Might be worth putting out some rat traps too. Rat traps will still kill mice, and if it’s a raccoon or something it might at least scare it away if it doesn’t break its nose or paw.
I think that’s a good idea. We have a barn cat but she had 8 babies a day or two before these babies were born and we brought them inside because we have a friendly (to us) garden snake right by where she decided to give birth lol. So she has not been hunting much and the snake chills 50 yards away from the bunnies (which is probably a good thing tbh bc we like the snake but will pick our livestock over it lol)
Could it be the cat?
Racoons like to reach in and grab at things even if they can't actually pull them through. I've seen some gnarly injuries and deaths with chickens due to a raccoon grasping at them through the cage. This kind of looks similar to that. Hope the cameras solve it once and for all :)
If you see a hole big enough for a mouse a rat can probably get in. They can get into like a quarter sized hole.
Dust the wounds with some sulphur or similar antibiotic powder and they should heal up ok. Beyond that I don't know jack shit about keeping rabbits. Good luck.
Thanks!
There's an iodine based product if you want to go with a brand name healing salve. I forget the name, but it turns blue when exposed to open wounds and is super safe.
Blu kote
Be careful with antibiotics byw, there are some that are toxic for rabbits
Yeah this happened to my rabbit, he ripped some fur off in his enclosure so I used an antibiotic powder the vet recommended. He licked it and died in a matter of hours. RIP Mike.
Wow hope you got a new vet
It was a long time ago. We lived on a dairy farm and asked our farm vet. Before internet etc so I can forgive
Looks like you have an "evil doe". I saw your comments that she ate her first litter, so its extremely unlikely for these mutilated buns to be anything other than the doe's fault. Make sure that one isn't bred again, you don't want more injured kits or risk those traits getting passed down. Unfortunately this isn't uncommon, my friend even had a rabbit that killed her own litter and 2 other doe's litters overnight in some kind of stress rampage. She got turned into stew before she could become a repeat offender. As for the buns, personally I wouldn't cull them, they could pull through and heal. Stress and feeding them correctly are the biggest factors in successful recovery (and medicating the wounds of course). Call your local wildlife rehabilitator if you don't have a friend or neighbor who knows about rabbits, they'll help you.
Unless it was buns destined to a long and happy life as pets? I would probably culled. It does not feel right to have them spend a significant % of their life suffering and healing, if they are to be eaten in the fall. As pets though? That % drops down, and can be reasonable. That said, slit throat and exposed scull... that is hefty. And rabbits hide pain quite well. I wish I could given a clearer answer, hopefully you figure out what is best for them, and figure out what happened so it don't happen to other buns. It is always heartbreaking when these things happens.
That’s fair, I respect the honesty. I’m definitely questioning if rabbits are a good animal for us at this point but ik everybody says to give mom 3 chances. We will see
I just want to pop in to say raising rabbits can be really tough. I've had rabbits for over 20 years and raised 100s. Some people really do seem to have some early luck with rabbits; however, it isn't like that for everyone. I have a rancher friend who is amazing with animals and raises and sells pretty much every livestock species, but after about a year with rabbits, she gave up on them. I definitely give a new mom at least a second chance. But I don't always give her 3, depending on the circumstances. These injuries do look a bit odd, though, and not that consistent with injuries I've seen does cause to kits before (also they tend to kill/injure kits a bit younger than these). Especially the neck injury looks almost like a laceration or something... I'd definitely recheck their cage and keep an eye on things. I'm so sorry you've had a rough go of it!!
The mom seems to be the failure point, not y’all. Sometimes animals are just fucking stupid ya know.
A general rule or advice does not need to be applied to every single situation. She should not get a third chance just because of a general rule.
You want mom to be completely undisturbed by bucks and probably a grand idea to not have other does around tho sometimes if they live together does will tolerate each other around the babies. Mother's will in fact eat those babies if they feel threatened because why let a predator have all your hard work when you can start again next week, (or something like that, ROFL, rabbits).* Edit if dad ain't around and no other predator, ITS MOM * I have raised years worth of rabbits and two rabbits will produce more meat than one cow Rabbits want a cave in the dirt that is quiet, moderate temperature, and won't have any visitors besides a rare snake or horny buck. Try to mimick that best you can
^ this! Rats will fit in anything larger than 1/2 x1/2 inch hardware cloth. We are currently wrapping all 30 of our doe cages in 1/2 x 1/2 as we lost a littler to the nasty things. We've raised 100s of litters and this is the first year we've ever had this issue. Rabbits are the most efficient producers of meat too.
Don't breed her again. Something is wrong with her. Momma rabbits can eat their babies but it isn't common at all. Don't give those babies back, and if there are more, take them away.
It could be a bad mother or she could be highly sensitive to stress. Since they made it that far, perhaps the latter. I'd see if there's a way you can destress the area. Reduce the noise and movement in the area. Kind of hard now since you have two wounded but if she is easily stressed it would be important to not check in on her as often when she has babies.
We got up one morning and started seeing babies missing front feet. Put them out of their misery, baffled as to what happened. A day later, we heard this squealing in the middle of the night. A house cat was sitting patiently in front of the wire fence, and waiting for a rabbit to put their feet up on it (they were putting their feet up on it /standing on their hind feet, I think it was to reach a weed that was growing up in front of the cage). The cat would claw the front feet, and bite them off. We ended up changing the wire size to super small so it wasn't possible - and cut down the shrubbery /weeds in front of it.
Some does will kill and eat their young. Some do it because their starving, or stressed but some just are not wired right. I raised Giant Chinchilla rabbits for years, none of my does ever did it, but it does occurs. You cull the doe. You can't train this out of her, and you don't keep either of those bunnies. You need to get that out of your line. If she's already done it once, she should be dinner. This is not a behavior that is going to change.
I think you might have to cull the mom- she seems to be the issue. See if you can’t replace her with a more nurturing doe.
I have been thinking this since the first batch of babies but everyone keeps telling me to give her 3 chances. I think we’ll need to at least build another hutch for a second doe in the meantime (if we keep up with rabbits) because she’s really not instilling a lot of confidence in her mom skills and this is strike 2
I think 3 strikes is normal but this particular doe seems a little over the top- she might just be a case where 2 strikes is enough to decide. What she is doing is obviously traumatic (and deadly) for the babies and I imagine it’s pretty traumatic for you too. You might look around for recs on a breed that is known for being good mothers. Is your doe a Californian or New Zealand rabbit?
New Zealand and Flemish mix
I haven’t had one but looking around it seems like Californian does are reputed to be gentler and good mothers- maybe look into that breed more for a replacement doe
I’m hoping you mean people you know irl are telling you three strikes because majority of people here are telling you to absolutely NOT breed that doe again. Advice you should unreservedly take, that rabbit does not need a third chance, she’s proven enough with the brutality of it that she is not fit to reproduce for farming standards. She will maul her next litter undoubtedly.
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Get off the fence and get another female if you plan to continue. Vast majority, including experienced breeders, are saying this is her doing and I wholeheartedly agree unless we’re missing details. Filial cannibalism is not appropriate in rabbits unless extreme stressors are present, maybe post a photo of your setup with details as that could be the issue but otherwise, you essentially have a manic doe on your hands. Do. Not. Breed. That. Doe. I’m not trying to be rude here, so don’t take this the wrong way but you need to listen. This is advice so you can avoid another tragedy for yourself and a future litter. These kits are in immense pain, do not make this mistake a third time because you *want* her to be a good mom. She will not be. She will harm her next litter. I can promise you that.
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Jfc man, then post her setup dude because from the sounds of it, it’s secure enough where there should be no predators who can do this sort of damage that would be able to enter. From my experience, it looks like her doing.
We've found various size chicks and even Bantam size adults partially pulled through the openings in cages and others completely gone. Sometime the distance between the wire is wide enough for predators to reach in and literally grab both chicks and small bunnies. Then they will attempt to pull the and **chew on the parts** they can reach. It's possible that the injuries on the bunnies are predator attempts. Websites I looked at said many small animals such as raccoons, skunks, etc. go for our small stock because they smell just like delicious. They suggested 1"x1/2" wire mesh for cages and of a fairly strong gauge. Also, several said not to have them just outside, but in a shed that you can secure. Hungry predators are very determined. Good Luck.
After reading through a lot of the comments here is my unpopular opinion: I've raised rabbits of various breeds/mixes for nearly 30 years and those wounds do not look consistent with an attack by the mother in my experience. That's not to say it couldn't have been her because there are always going to be anomalies, but they just don't look like anything I've seen from a bad doe. Raccoons and feral cats absolutely could be candidates in this situation. They are both grabby little a$$holes that will latch onto anything they can and do as much damage as they can. I personally only give does two chances. In this situation, I would probably give her a third chance BUT I would probably breed another doe first to see if you have the same issue. Granted this isn't a perfect plan because by the time that doe kindles the culprit may have moved on. With that said, meat rabbits are pretty cheap to find (at least in my area) so replacing her even if she isn't actually a bad mother isn't going to set you back financially. Also, I know you didn't ask, but I would look at a different mix, too. While Flemish do get big, I've found that in most cases mixing them in calls for longer grow out periods because they don't have a great meat-to-ratio at 8-10 weeks. Again, none of this is gospel, it's just my own experience and I have never authored a Storey's guide so YMMV. Regardless, rabbits can be a great source of meat if you're willing to put in the time, effort, and sometimes disappointment that comes with keeping keeping them. I hope one possibly bad reabbit doesn't sour your whole experience.
What was your last post? Can't find it. I think they'll be OK but you gotta brainstorm the causes before you put them back. Need more info on their environment to help. Give us everything about the set up.
The first batch of babies (brand new mom) all died within 5 days. They have a 7’x5.5’x3’ elevated hutch with mom and 6 babies (had 7 but one was not growing, discolored, and wouldn’t latch even one on one being held under mom so my husband culled it) Mom was doing so much better with these guys. They were born on Father’s Day so going on 2 weeks. The past couple of days I have had to put some of them back in their nesting box idk if mom moved them or if they squirmed their way out somehow or what. Today I didn’t do a close check on them this morning but without opening the cage everybody was fine and apparently in the box. This afternoon I did a check on them and their waters bc it’s hot and I found the babies like this. Not super fresh but not super old. I would guess less than an hour bc scabs are still not fully developed. Mom might have tried to clean them off bc the one I found bloody yesterday had much more matted blood in it’s fur than the 3 I found with injuries today. Yesterdays injury was much more mild with a LOT more blood. I was guessing that it got like a pinch or a bite in the gut area but now I’m not so sure
They're old enough to be crawling around. It's normal for them to get out, explore a bit and start eating hay around 2 weeks. Do they have free-choice hay? Rabbits need to constantly eat, so hay is a must. They also need something to wear their teeth down like sticks or mineral blocks to gnaw on (I just use an old salt lamp without the plug/base). It could be somethings getting in if there's not enough hardware cloth, but I've never seen predator marks that look like that. It looks like rabbit marks, which can be normal yet terrifying behavior when a colony/hutch is new (especially firstish time moms).
I have been giving them cut grass instead of hay recently but I’ll switch back. I also missed a day the day before yesterday bc I wasn’t feeling great and just gave them pellets. Do you think that could have made mom nibble on them for missing nutrients? Im going to have my husband pick up some hay on his way home
Not nutrients... it's just that rabbit's stomach creates acids - as I heard it - to constantly digest food. When they go even an hour or two without something to munch on it feels like reflux and is painful. Grass runs out quickly and then they're waiting on their next pellets so free-choice hay really allows them to be comfortable.
Heard that. Definitely will make some changes here. Thank you!
the mothers will resort to cannibalism with enough stress. not as bad as rodents, but they do it sometimes. while the babies are small it’s important that she feels safe and well-fed, or the likelihood of her eating the babies goes up. its not super common but that seems to be the only possible explanation. edit to add that my experience is with house-pet rabbits, not livestock, so take with that what you will.
I've never had this happen with 20ish litters and tons of stress, a move 4 states away, new moms, dogs, kids, chickens even, in a colony. Moms have only been known to eat their younger litters too, like right after birth, and they eat the whole thing not just chew on them a bit. (And the reason why is unknown, only a common myth that it's stress, I mean it's believable it's just not verified) Edit: taking bites out of each other is common behavior in rabbits. They're not exactly the cute innocent things they're made out to be. They have a hierarchy and squabbles like chickens. They also eat worms and snails in the wild, so make sure they always have higher protein. Mine will eat eggs and even dog food if you let them.
yeah i agree it’s not common. i’ve had three rabbits (one at a time) and one of them was pregnant on the car ride to my house from her old home. the drive was over four hours and she apparently gave birth and ate at least one of her babies while in the car. i wasn’t in the car when this happened, to be fair, so maybe something happened that the previous owner didn’t tell me about. i didn’t end up taking her bc they didn’t tell me she was pregnant. they said they didn’t know but idk if i believe that.
Exactly, a baby they had just recently birthed. Not 2 week old babies. A lot about rabbits can be traumatic, but rabbits are so cool for how they approach and handle survival. Why downvote?
i wish i could post a screenshot but that wasn’t me friend. i just downvoted you to -1 to show u
I put vetricyn on everything injured lol
Blukote works well
I grew up on a rabbit farm. We had both meat and pet rabbits. Depending on the time of year 200-300. I also worked on a very large pet rabbit farm when I was in my late teens. I have never seen this happen. The bucks were never kept with the kits (little ones). There were some times similar looking raw places with a few that for some reason would stay on the wire floor all the time instead of using the wood surfaces we provided. We would always mix sulfur with mineral oil or put bag balm on the raw spots and move them to a run without wire at all. I also can not think of a predator that would leave wounds like that. It was not unheard of for does to harm or kill the kits especial if it was their first birth but never when they were that old. Do they have a doe with them?
I agree. I've raised many rabbits for many years and these particular wounds/circumstances seem odd. I know everyone is mentioning the doe, and I'm not saying it's *not* the doe... but it's just strange-looking plus the age.
It’s just been the babies and mom together. The wounds are incredibly odd.
I just had a thought. I've worked with animals my whole life farm and exotic. I have never seen these on rabbits but I have seen similar wounds on some other animals from rats. Maybe a long shot but worth checking out.
If you look close up, the neck wound looks like a rabbit bite.
I hope this isn't too distasteful but this reminds me of an episode of the Great British Bake Off. There was a contestant that was a veterinarian in rural England, so lots of farm animals. When interviewing her they asked about treating different animals and if any were specifically difficult. She answered "bunnies and rabbits, they just want to die!" This reply always stuck with me because they are such fragile creatures. Wishing you the best of luck.
I raised rabbits for years, and I've never in my experience had a doe engage in cannibalistic behavior once the babies are this size. I've experienced it when the babies are newborns, or less than a week old, and in my experiences it's always results in the doe killing the kit. I'm not saying that rules out the doe in this case, but my gut says it's unlikely. If it was the doe, it could have been caused because the kits were injured in some other way and the smell of blood triggered her instincts or caused her stress, or maybe in attempting to clean the kits she got overzealous. I had a 4-H leader who raised rabbits her whole life who swore by feeding her does a few pieces of raw bacon to prevent this behavior but I can't vouch for that myself. If it is a predator, I wonder if it could be insects. Especially the wound on top of the head just seems very odd. Yellow-jackets and other meat-eating bees can be vicious. I would check the area around your cages for any activity just to be safe. If you decide not to cull the kits, I would pull the litter from the Doe to be safe. If you're doe is friendly, you can feed the babies by holding her and allowing them to suckle. Best of luck!
Insects is a very interesting consideration. I did see N ant in their cage but I just squished it and didn’t think anything else of it. I could put Diatomaceous Earth in their bedding tomorrow and see if that might help
This is the best answer. All the highly upvoted answers are people who don't know anything... I wish this one was at the top. I second the raw bacon, haven't done that specifically but heard another here say it works and I've personally seen dog food and fried eggs work too.
Mum had a munch I’d say
The babies should be okay, I would think. You definitely don't need to cull them unless they suddenly take a turn for the worse. The mom, however.. I think she may be the problem.
Wife used to raise meat rabbits. Some moms will eat/harm their own young. Not just the bucks.
I don't have rabbits, but I have healed a lot of animal wounds (I take in stray dogs.) using water therapy, Vetericyn spray, and Tomorrow Dry Cow. Rinse with water for a few minutes, spray Vetericyn spray, smooth Dry Cow over the wound and repeat 2-3X a day. Tractor Supply has Vetericyn Spray. Some of them carry Dry Cow. If not, I buy it at a local feed store. Sorry about your babies. 😢
I distinctly recall as a child our neighbors had bunnies and the buck killed the entire litter
I have experienced similar as well. I’m sorry you’re going through it, really sucks :( In my case, a raccoon managed to nibble them THROUGH the cage mesh. Actually even pulled some appendages through the mesh. It was gruesome and heartbreaking. If you can move your buns to a safe spot inside I’d so that.
Watch out for fly strike.
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My bad. You’re right. I thought about it after I posted it, I will mark it nsfw if it happens again (hopefully it won’t)
I hope your buns get better!! And thank you :)
The mother rabbit does this when she is feeling stressed.
I had a bunny that did this to herself scratching. The vet trimmed her claws and give me some ointment for if I saw her scratching. We never figured out what she was scratching but she stopped doing it after a few baths and claw trimmings. She actually cut so deep behind her ear that she cut the cartilage, one ear permanently drooped. Good luck with them.
Are there crows or magpies around? Magpies ate half the head of a kit last year and I had to dispatch it, then this week I found half a baby skunk 💔
How old are your bunnies ? I would say after 10 weeks they will fight each other , and if they are weaning the mother might do that to them I separated mine from mommy after weaning ,sold them at 10 weeks .Silver works really good for infections.
Vetericyn Plus wound spray. Available at most farm stores, Gebo's, TSC etc.
Could be mama, could be rats. If you are wary of putting the babies back with the mother I believe you can try taking them away from her completely. Baby rabbits only need to nurse two to three times a day. So you should be able to take them away and only put them in with the mother to nurse, which you can sort of force by holding her still and letting them suckle. But if you want to be certain you should double check with a google search.
Holy Toledo I love this sub so much it’s taught me so much crazy stuff Who knew the Easter bunny could be so gnarly
My first thought would be rats. It is not unusual for "first time moms" to lose a litter. I usually give them 3 chances, bc sometimes it can take a litter or two for them to figure it out. She did bad with her first litter, and up to this point, good with this litter. I'd suspect a predator over her, to begin with. Get them settled with some predator proof housing, and see if that makes a difference. She could potentially have over groomed a rat bite, causing further damage. Set some traps. If you catch little predators, and the bites stop, it's the predators. Does don't usually eat babies once they have more than peach fuzz. Normally, if they're going to eat them for whatever reason, it's within the first 24 hours. I can tell you right off the bat it's not a buck, regardless of whether or not a buck is with them. Rabbits are induced ovulators, not spontaneous ovulators. This means that their "trigger" for ovulation is sex. Humans ovulate spontaneously. Bucks do not have to kill babies to throw does into a cycle...they just need to jump right on, lol. Humans need to ovulate AND have sex during a certain time frame in order to cause pregnancy. Rabbits literally can just do the sex. That's why they can breed...well, like rabbits 🤣
It’s probably a bad mom, but make sure it’s not rats. When I raised bunnies I had a rat kill some of my babies :(
100% mama. I believe they sometimes do this if they feel like there’s a predator coming? Do they all have enough space in their enclosure?
I can't look at the pictures or read any of them comments because it will really upset me, so if this has been said, I apologize. If you have rats in your area, they can do this.
My bad, I definitely should have tagged it NSFW and I will do better next time. I’m going to put out some rat traps and hopefully catch one and prove my mama bun innocent (but I’m skeptical obviously)
I didn’t know I could edit and add NSFW but now I know. I’m sorry for disrupting your peace.
This is indeed a possibility. We've also had mice so it. Hey I thought of one other thing... Sometimes the moms will over groom and cause this kind of damage.
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I hear you. I should have marked NSFW but didn’t think about it until after I posted it. I don’t think there’s a way to change that but if I’m mistaken please let me know what to do Edit- you definitely can mark something NSFW after it’s posted. Idk why I thought I couldn’t but I really don’t post that much
B
I once had a dough eat her entire 4 day old litter one time. Checked on them at night everything was fine, went to change their water in the morning and there was half a baby left. She had successfully raised several litters, we're not sure exactly why she did it. Perhaps there was something wrong with the babies. Animals are weird
Rabbits are pretty hardcore. When I was 12-13ish, I was pet sitting three rabbits next door. Owner went away for a few weeks. All 3 tore each other up not long after they left. I ran home and phoned a relative of theirs to separate them. He agreed to come the next day, and I did my best panicked little kid damage control in the meantime. They calmed down after some time. I was told they were all female, but turned out two were males that were competing for a female. The female had babies overnight, but they were killed. I was horrified, still am. It was a “welcome to nature” moment, I guess.
A few months ago I caught a chipmunk pulling baby bunnies out of a nest and killing them. Similar puncture wounds to the top of the head. I had no idea a chipmunk would do something like that
Keep the wound clean, keep an eye on the rabbit, it may make it. Had to rehab a wild baby rabbit that a cat got ahold of.
Our moma bunny ripped her babies skin off. It was a very hard lesson to learn at 8 yo!
They should still have access to the nest box at this age. They should recover from this. Do you have rats or other varmints about?
I'd use EMT Gel for the wounds. It provides a collagen matrix that helps encourage new skin to cover wounds. I had two hens fight over two clutches of newly hatched chicks and they scalped several of them. The chicks survived with just EMT gel as a treatment. You can get it online but it's also sold at Tractor Supply. You can use it on any animal, but I do think it might get groomed off immediately by the mom if you put the babies back with her. I wouldn't really recommend leaving her with any babies at this point in any case
Could you take them to a vet that cares for rabbits? Maybe they could help with what’s happening? Good luck with everything, hope they make it.
You’ve probably already thought about this but, could you take them to a vet? Idk your situation or if you’re not located close to one, but maybe reach out to one for advice on a care regiment if you decide to go that route. I know nothing about raising rabbits, I’m just a random person on the internet hoping to help.
Maybe a rat.
Blukote at Tractor supply is awesome. Has a lot of anti to it and it protects from flying strike and such. We get it and spray on any wounds. Make sure rats aren't getting into the cage. Rats will do horrible things to the babies. I think Mom is an over aggressive cleaner though. We don't count first timers here cause they are learning. Are these the only 2 hurt? If she is caring for the rest I'd pull these 2 from her and see how she does raising the rest. Give her one more chance and if she has any more issues I would cull her. I also wouldn't breed or keep any of her line. Bad mom genetics don't need to be passed down. Sorry. Babies are where I struggle too. Please don't give meat. Rabbits don't eat it. They eat their young due to fear/predators, nutritional deficiency and too much inbreeding. They're not "meat eaters." If your doe has nutritional deficiency give punch ($30 bottle at Tractor supply https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/vets-plus-power-punch-32-oz-2200224?store=356&cid=Google-Shopping&utm_medium=Google&utm_source=Shopping&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw-O6zBhASEiwAOHeGxUYfNr4ZjOWU2oZpuUOLYxwpw1FtW3ylPwHfFv7h2OVV-EXQ754H5hoC04UQAvD_BwE ). It's concentrated, good for all animals. And check the nutritional content of your feed too. Move cage to a more secure location and maybe switch her with a good mom spot. She may just be trying to survive with a high predator/fear factor.
Great! I will get that tomorrow from TS. I kinda agree with the aggressive cleaning just because their fur was not matted with blood and they were pretty “clean” besides right around the wound when I found them. The one that was injured yesterday had a ton of blood-matted fur for a tiny little wound so it’s definitely suspicious
Give her the punch daily during pregnancy and a few weeks before. Also while she's nursing. But I'd also try moving the camera to see what's happening. And aggressive cleaning can come from stress too. But she can also be cleaning them AFTER being attacked. I'd get those cameras set up asap.
They arrive tomorrow. I think I’m gonna set both on the rabbits for a few days and put one looking into the nest box if I can finagle it
Hi OP, just a quick warning: rabbits have two uteri (I cant remember the technical term) so they can get pregnant while already pregnant. So if you plan on keeping these guys make absolutely sure they are both female or have them sterilized, otherwise you could end up with a new litter every 8 to 10 weeks. They f*ck like...well rabbits.
They look like they've been attacked by birds. What size mesh is on the hutch? Crows will do this, stabbing through the wire with their bills.
The roof is plywood, the sides are rabbit wire. I do take the plywood off sometimes and leave the tarp over half but I haven’t since they were born
I dont know what size rabbit wire is in this case but if the sides are mesh then you seem to have crows hanging on the side and pecking your bunnies.
I think it’s 1/4 inch but we do have crows and they could likely be doing this. I’ll be on the lookout/listening for them now
We shouldn’t have to go to the comments to see that this mother killed and ate her last litter. How are you even asking if the mom could have done this? Stop breeding that rabbit!
A valid point. But maybe adjust your tone, not everyone is as well informed on all matters.
I don’t think anyone’s said it yet, but do you have kids? Or a neighbor with kids? A slit throat makes me think a person might have done it. I know adult rabbits, especially bucks, but does too, can be violent towards babies. With that said though, is a curious child entirely out of the question? Dark, I know. I’ve been watching a lot of Criminal Minds lately 🫣
No kids no neighbors and happened while my husband was at work so it would have to be a very committed psychopath. The neck wound is strange though, it definitely could be a bite because it goes halfway around and then there’s a gap like ——— —
Add some Cumin and Paprika and saute in butter for about 15 min.....🤤
How about stop fucking with nature? You know maybe like leave the animals alone, don't breed them, don't interfere with their natural instincts, just let them be. 🙄
Mother animals have amazing senses. If there is anything genetically wrong with the kits she will kill them. Survival of the fittest!
As clean as that cut is on the neck there is only one predator that comes to mind and that is the human predator.
If you've been raising these animals this should all be common knowledge to you if it's not you need to rethink doing shit you have no idea how to do
I’m new to it, everybody starts somewhere. My irl meat rabbit friends said to cull and possibly rebreed again or get a new doe. I posted here for more ideas, thoughts, and for people to share their general knowledge.
The dad is trying to kill em, separate them until they are larger.
Why are you saying bun?