Handrearing baby rabbit

Information from LITTLE CRITTERS RESCUE CLUB

https://www.facebook.com/LittleCrittersRescueClub/

Hand rearing baby rabbits

If you follow the steps and ensure to see an exotic vet if any show signs of illness, you have a good chance of them surviving J

Please feel free to whatsapp me if you need any advice. Lauren 0727317397

Please follow these steps, including when to have them sexed and separated, so that there is no more breeding!

If you choose to Re-home them yourself, please do homechecks and ensure the rabbits do not live in small cages without company and have correct nutrition and medical care.

If you would like info on rabbit care, feel free to download our Rabbit Information pdf doc on our website under ‘critter information’

http://littlecrittersrescue.wix.com/littlecrittersrescue

Heating: as long as the room is warm and you make a nest with some cotton wool and hay they should be warm enough. You should only use a heating pad when extremely cold and not directly under them- to the side of them where they can roll to if they are cold BUT it is not necessary in warm weather. In the wild they just have their nest as the mother does not sit on them. Some heating pads burn babies so rather keep the room warm as opposed to the nest warm!

Formula

Baby rabbits should be fed Kitten Milk Replacer (KMR) which you can buy at vets or some use goat milk.

Because rabbit milk is the most caloric of all mammals, we add in one tablespoon of cream to each can of KMR.

OR Use KMR kitten plus Goat milk, regular not low fat.

*Always Add a pinch of acidophilus (aka Probiotic- Protexin which you can buy from any vet) to the formula to promote healthy gut flora.

Or another recommended recipe : Formula : whole goat milk - 1/2 cup KMR (Kitten Milk Replacer by PetAg) - 1/2 cup lyophilized (freeze dried) colostrum - contents of 10 capsules, or 1-1.5 Tablespoons. This is available at most high-quality health food stores, either in bulk powder form, or in capsules. It's expensive, but will give the babies their best head start.

heavy cream - 3 cc (a cc is the same as one ml, or milliliter), equal to about 1/2 teaspoon Mix ingredients together in a lidded container, and shake very well until colostrum is dissolved. It's best to mix this a few hours in advance so that the colostrum has time to soften and suspend easily.

Amounts

It is best to feed baby rabbits no more than twice a day, but sometimes it takes more feedings to get an adequate amount into them, especially at first.

Newborn to One Week: 2 – 2+1/2 cc/ml each feeding (two feedings per day).

1-2 weeks: 5-7 cc/ml each feeding (two feedings per day). (Depending on bunny..may be much LESS if smaller rabbit!)

2-3 weeks: 7-13 cc/ml each feeding (two feedings). Domestic eyes open at about 10 days of age.

Heat the formula a little - use a rectal thermometer (unused and fully sterilized! from any pharmacy.) and keep it warm in a water bath while you feed the babies. They are generally more eager to accept warm formula.

*Don't overfeed. This is one of the biggest problems and cause of death in hand rearing. My rule of thumb is stop feeding the moment the bunny does not accept its formula greedily or the moment its tummy becomes slightly rounded.

Use a kitchen scale and weigh the babies every day to ensure growth.

How to provide formula

*Keeping things clean will save their lives

Steam disinfect all syringes !! kits will not usually nurse from the baby animal bottles so buy and use sterile oral syringes. Some people find drippers easy to use.

Please note - Baby rabbits feed from their mothers while lying on their backs.

It is ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL to let the baby eat at their own pace—especially if it is not suckling from the syringe willingly. If you squirt the liquid in too quickly you can aspirate (get liquid in) the lungs and the rabbit will suffocate.

To feed : Sit or lie on the floor to feed the bunnies, using a towel as a lap cushion for the baby being fed. Baby rabbits are wiggly, and unpredictable. They jump suddenly.

If you wrap the bottle in a washcloth allowing a fold to drape over your hand with the syringe protruding, the baby will be able to "paddle" with his front feet, as he would his own mother's breast.

Stimulating for urination and defecating

Newborn babies (if eyes closed) all need to be stimulated to urinate and defecate prior to or following feeding until their eyes open. (Except Jackrabbits do not). *

Here is how: After each feeding it is important to make the bunny defecate and urinate to keep the intestinal tract and urinary system running smoothly. Use a soft cloth or a cotton ball moistened with warm water and gently stroke the genital area until the bunny starts producing stool and urine. Keep stroking until the bunny stops. You are replicating the behaviour of the mother rabbit who would lick her young to stimulate them to go to the bathroom. The stool will be soft and may be varying shades of green and yellow. If the urine is brown and gritty, the buns are not adequately hydrated and you need to get them to a rabbit vet ASAP—-it is an emergency.

Be sure to clean baby’s mouth with a damp cloth or paper towel, so that no milk dries in the hair.

Growing

10 days:Baby rabbit eyes open at about 10 days of age. You may start introducing them to hay and pellets at this point, but no veggies or fruits yet. Until they open handle the babies as little as possible when you're not feeding/grooming.

Start introducing them to timothy and oat hay, pellets (Get Burgess baby rabbit from www.pethabitat.co.za or second best is Russell rabbit junior pellets) for them to start to nibble on. You can also get grasses for them to feed on from www.pethabitatco.za as they offer more nutrition then the SA hay we can provide. Just make sure it's fresh and not moldy and always offer small shallow bowls of water !

Still use Probiotic- Protexin which you can buy from any vet) and provide this in syringe- keep doing this until 8 weeks old.

3 weeks-4weeks: You can offer some fresh food: parsley and carrots but in small quantities and cut up very fine. If watch their stools when u do see them because some babies have very sensitive tummies and diareah can kill them!!

4 weeks – 6 weeks: You can intro fruit and veg now just monitor their stools. Start with butter lettuce (never lettuce head or iceburg- it is toxic for rabbits), parsley, carrots, carrot tops and corn on the cob ( no husk). Then if their tummies cope well in this first week you can intro celery, cherry tomatoes and other herbs.

6 weeks- 8 weeks: Add cucumber, peppers (no seeds), banana, etc

10 weeks: At 10 weeks an EXOTIC vet must sex them and you must separate the genders because they are fertile at 10 weeks.

They should only go to homes after 12 weeks old.

Good luck !!