Keeping Baby Rabbits Alive: Birth to 6 Weeks Survival Guide 🐇

Ajouté : 2026-05-24

[00:00:06]Today I wanted to talk about baby rabbits, keeping them alive. Uh several different things that you can do to make sure that they don't perish and uh you have a nice healthy litter, things to look out for. Stick with us. We're going to cover a lot of information today.

[00:00:21]Here we go.

[00:00:27]Hi everybody, Bobby from the Rabbitry Center. Thanks so much for joining us today. And today on this video, we're going to talk about 10 things that you can do to prevent losses. Now, getting into rabbits and starting to raise uh any kind of livestock, you know, it's realistic to think that you're going to have losses somewhere along the way.

[00:00:45]And, you know, that's just the sad truth. But there's some things that you can do to prevent it. And we're going to talk about how to keep your rabbits healthy and alive all the way from birth all the way up to 6 weeks is really when the the risk starts to go down. So today we're going to cover 10 things. And often it's, you know, little things that you can do like um nest box safety and and just feeding habits. Um you know, making sure that mama has everything she needs. And we're going to talk all about that. So stick with us today. Make sure you stay all the way until the end of the video so you can get all the tips.

[00:01:15]Also, in the description of this video, if you want to click more below the video, you can get a formula. So, you know, in event being that you needed to nurse these kits, um, say in a rare case where mama wasn't nursing these kits and they're very skinny, um, you can actually, you know, feed a formula to baby kits. Now, it has to be specific.

[00:01:35]It has to be accurate because, you know, one thing that's very tough to mimic is mama's milk. and and a rabbit's milk is is very it's quite different from say goat milk or cat's milk even because it has a higher fat content. So, if you'd like to see that formula, be sure to click more below the video and you can see that formula along with several of our links, too. So, one of the most overlooked things is nesting box size.

[00:02:02]If the nesting box is too small, mama may struggle to comfortably nurse the entire litter. Kits can get piled up on top of each other and some babies may get pushed away from milk access. If the nesting box is too large, kits can spread out too much. They may not stay clustered together for warmth. You want a nesting box that allows the litter to stay tightly grouped while still giving mama enough room to comfortably nurse.

[00:02:26]In some cases, you'll have these really big litters and then you'll have a mama that was bred at the same time, which is a great idea to breed two doese's at the same time because just in case you need to foster kids, you can always take a few of these rabbits and move them over to the other litter so there's an even number so mama's not overwhelmed. Now, fostering kits, it's important to make sure the babies are right around the same size because if you have babies that are too small, where these other babies are much bigger, they're going to really have a hard time fighting for a nipple. Now, making sure that the nesting box is the right size is really important. But making sure the nesting box is set up correctly, you want to make sure that you have some shavings for an absorbent. You want to make sure that it's not too wet in the nesting box because, you know, that could be a big killer. Also with rabbits, they're going to produce secotropes and seeropes. You can watch this video in the corner if you'd like to hear more about rabbit digestive system, the seeum. But seeropes, it's crucial that these rabbits get to nibble on these secotropes because they want the right uh gut flora. They want the good bacteria from mama. And even rabbits that are older eat their own secotropes to make sure that they maintain high or or healthy nutrition.

[00:03:41]So making sure that there's a barrier, a piece of paper or even a piece of Luon down in the nesting box is really important so the secret tropes can remain in the nesting box so those baby kits they have access to it. It's really skiy out here. Now fur is critical for warmth. A dough should normally pull fur before kindling. But some firsttime mamas, they don't pull enough. And that's why it's smart to comb and save rabbit fur ahead of time. Store it in a clean, dry bag or a container. And on cold nights, you can use extra fur to help insulate the nest. Rabbit fur traps heat and it helps the kits maintain body temperature while clustered together.

[00:04:18]And sometimes those clusters, they break into two clusters. And it's important to put them back together because depending on where your rabbit is nesting, mama may need to nurse this cluster and then move over and nurse this cluster. And it makes it a lot easier for her if she can just nurse one big cluster. Now, you want to make sure you feed mama the right feed for good lactation. A nursing dough needs serious nutrition. If mama is underfed, milk production can suffer.

[00:04:47]Increase calories and nutrition. A lactating dough benefits from whole oats, black oil, sunflower seeds, quality hay, even dandelion around the yard, raspberry leaves or vines if you have it, fresh, clean water regularly, and a quality 16% protein pellet. And many breeders will increase feed portions substantially, sometimes nearly doubling the feed during peak lactation.

[00:05:12]Fresh water is absolutely critical because milk production requires hydration. Large litters can drain water quickly, so check water multiple times per day. Now, we don't have a gravity-fed watering system. You can bring in an extra water bottle, a big like 44 oz bottle. I'll link one down below. And you can just keep this right next to the water bottle for extra. Now, these rabbits, they're not really used to drinking out of water bottles, but all you have to do is just dab a little bit of peanut butter on the end of the the nipple, and they'll inspect it very quickly. uh they can smell that and they'll start drinking out of the bottle quite quickly. Check the nest daily. A quick nest check every day can save lives. Things to look for are cold kits, kits that have been pulled out of the box, injuries, uh maybe some hurt feet, uh sometimes there's wet bedding that needs to be changed out, underfed babies, or kits just not staying clustered. Sometimes a baby gets dragged out during nursing and will die quickly if unnoticed. If you find a cold kit, rub it gently to stimulate circulation.

[00:06:17]Warm it slowly. Place it back in the center of the cluster. Many deadlook kits can actually recover if warmed quickly enough. I can't tell you how many times I've had to take a rabbit and just, you know, rub it back to life. And sometimes their mouth, it's it's heartbreaking that their mouth is barely moving. And I'll wet my fingers and I'll rub it in their mouth. And I'll just take their legs and I'll move them around trying to get the circulation going. And what I do is I'll put them right in the cluster of warm rabbits.

[00:06:48]And you would not believe 90% of the time they actually come back. But you can't leave them cold for too long because a cold kit means probably it's going to be a dead kit if it isn't saved quickly. So, um, you know, try that and I think that you'll have very good luck with that. Another thing that you can do is bring them in and put them on a heat pad and cover them with fur. You know, one time I found an entire litter that wasn't covered in the kindling tote. And that was a new mama. I pulled them all in and I put them on a heating pad. I turned it to high until I felt the heat.

[00:07:24]Then I turned it back to low. And I covered it with fur. And you could started to hear hear them squeal. They started squealing like little piglets.

[00:07:33]And it was because the cold. It was almost like when you come inside and you start to get your circulation back, it kind of burns. But that saved their life. They all lived. So sometimes if the the whole cluster isn't warm and you can't put the cold kit back into a warm cluster, bring the whole cluster in and you can probably save those babies lives, if not all of them. And be careful with greens. One of the biggest mistakes people make is overfeeding greens too early. Yes, it's cute watching baby rabbits munch greens, but too much too soon can cause digestive problems and diarrhea. A safe approach is high quality pellet, hay, and fresh water. So, if you're introducing greens, only introduce foods mama already eats.

[00:08:18]Introduce very slowly, tiny portions at first. This helps reduce digestive shock because the kits have already been exposed through the dough, secotropes, and milk. It's really safe to feed the same greens to the baby rabbits that you fed to mama because she's produced the secotropes that possess the right bacteria, the right gut flora. It's not introducing anything new. These rabbits have what they need to digest this food and stay healthy. They their digestive system won't go into shock. Whenever you're feeding anything to the baby rabbits, always feed small amounts and feed it gradually. And make sure you prevent dehydration. As kits grow, water demand skyrockets. Large litters can empty bottles surprisingly fast. Add extra water bottles. Check bowls frequently. Clean the algae and the slime regularly. Hydration is extremely important when it comes to these rabbits. And every time you take the bowl out, you want to wipe that slime out. Make sure you use extra water.

[00:09:17]Flush it out. Even come out here once a week, at least every other week, and clean these bottles. Use a scrubby pad with soap already in it. That's a really easy way to do it. and then have another bucket standing by where you can dunk the bowl and that bowl is going to be squeaky clean, bacteriarefree, and the water will remain very clean for these rabbits. One thing that we do is we have a little cage here. Now, it just has a couple J clips on it. And what that does is it prevents rabbits from getting in the bowl and squeezing out. Because often when this bowl is empty, they're able to if you don't have that, they're able to get into the bowl and and easily escape. And you want to prevent escape by adding this really small piece of cage wire, which looks like it's about 4 in by 3 in. And if you just put two J clips like that, you can push it up, slide the bowl out, and it works really well. And speaking of cage wire, now this 1 inch by half inch cage wire, it's going to cost a little bit more. But if you have some extra lying around, you can use that or you can use hardware cloth. That's probably going to be a little bit less expensive. And what we do is we recommend going 8 in high just in case there's a nesting box where they're elevated a little bit. And often people refer to that as baby saver wire.

[00:10:41]And when you wrap all the way around a cage that has a litter, when the rabbits are very small, they can squeeze out those 1 in x 2 in holes.

[00:10:49]There's a a small period of time where they can actually you can find a baby rabbit outside of the cage. And to prevent that, you just simply wrap the bottom third of the cage about 6 to 8 in. You can zip tie that or you can just use J clips and build your cage that way. If you're losing rabbits when they're getting a little older, you very well could have a situation where the water bottle or the water lines, the gravity fed systems need to be cleaned.

[00:11:19]Maybe they're getting bacteria in the bowls. You want to keep the bedding uh clean. You want to make sure that there's no feed transitions too fast, too much too fast. Um if there's a lot of stress, you know, these rabbits could be getting sick or that could cause them digestive issues. Now, you're going to have all the time in the world to feed these rabbits all the greens you want, but their stomachs are still developing, and you're getting very close to be able to pushing them out onto uh tractors or or whatever you have as far as a system for feeding or growing them out. But try your best at that point just to keep their diet simple. Uh keep their environment peaceful and calm, predator-free, and uh you shouldn't have any losses.

[00:12:04]Most successful rabbit breeders, they still face problems, but they catch them early. So, as long as you're paying attention to these litters, making sure that you're trying your best to give them as much attention as possible. All litters, all rabbits equal attention, then you're going to catch these problems in time, and you're going to keep your rabbits healthy. You know, consistency is probably the best thing that I would recommend. making sure that there's no big changes. Uh there's no drastic uh environments, trying to keep them comfortable, you know, where you're not putting them out on a tractor too early. You're not uh making sure that they're vulnerable to predators. Um you know, this is really going to help you make sure you you keep your rabbits safe and healthy and productive. And you know, even with these mama rabbits, make sure your mamas have everything that they need. And if they have everything they need, then these these baby rabbits will have everything you need. You know, if I forgot anything or if you guys have any tips that you'd like to leave down in the comments below, I'd really appreciate that. Anybody that takes the time to do that, I always appreciate it.

[00:13:06]And and again, if you guys are interested in coming on to the podcast and talking about your your rabbit, uh your experiences, we're always excited to do that. Um, we just had uh Jordan on from Rebel Food Systems uh talking about her Tamuck rabbits uh down in Texas and that was a really good podcast. Really appreciate her being on and now we're looking for somebody who who feeds their their rabbits a lot of their own food that they grow. You know, I I definitely have shared a lot of my experiences, of course, with our feed course that just launched. Be sure to check that out.

[00:13:39]That's certainly not just a list of of food. We talk about all the different ways to feed your rabbits, transition your rabbits, uh different diets that you can entertain, and I just wanted to hear somebody else's take in other ways.

[00:13:52]Now, something real quick, too. If you guys are just looking for a really easy way to gez, sorry, looking for a really easy way to save money on feed, you know, we all have grass in our yard. We have weeds, we have beneficial uh greens, and like we talked about before, just don't put them out on the tractor too early. Now, a very simple system you could entertain is build a rabbit tractor. You can watch this video in the corner if you'd like to to build a rabbit tractor, but you know, growing your rabbits out until 6 weeks. Um, you know, slowly, gradually introducing the greens that you're going to be feeding in the yard. Uh, making sure mama had those greens like we talked about. So the secotropes and her milk is introducing that to the the kits. You can move them out on the tractor. You can grow them out uh just with the the weeds and the and the grass in your yard. And that is an excellent way to, you know, spend less money on pellet.

[00:14:50]Now supplement that feed with a little bit of pellet. I like to throw some branches in there uh just so they have some woody uh to help with GI stasis.

[00:14:58]Make sure everything's, you know, good fiber. Make sure everything's moving still. So, but then you move that tractor every day. Now, you can see a little bit more information on that if you'd like to see uh our tractor video.

[00:15:09]Just put the rabbitry center tractor.

[00:15:11]But that's an excellent way to to grow your rabbits out. And and you don't necessarily have to entertain growing big plots or raised beds or different things. And we talk about everything that you possibly could do as far as vegetables and herbs and trees and bushes and hedges and food plots and raised beds and all that stuff. So, if you guys are interested in that, uh, the course is still available for a discount right now. Um, get on the rabbitcenter.com and you can see all the courses that are launched. Next month, we're going to be launching a course on just getting started, the basics, where you should put your rabbitry and your compost and and just getting set up, uh, just basic feeding and care. Uh, and and it's packed. It's a pretty big course for for getting started. And that launches June 1st. So, and thank you to everybody that's purchased our courses and and left reviews. And if you haven't left a review yet, I encourage you to do that. Please do that on the rabbitcenter.com on the course curriculum. Uh John Cox, thanks so much for for leaving that review last month.

[00:16:12]And if anyone out there is willing or courageous enough to come on to the podcast and talk about feeding their rabbit herd, the food that they grow, we're really excited to have you. Uh you don't have to be an absolute lights out expert. You just have to be, like I said, courageous enough to share your experience, you guys. Just looking for somebody who wants to come on and have a nice back and forth. So, also, uh, looking for somebody who colony raises their rabbits and talking about their experiences, their challenges. Um, you know, that's that's something that we would like to have in, uh, June or July for a podcast. So, and if you guys have any ideas, any comments, uh, we encourage all ideas, comments, questions, you can leave it down below or you can email me a longer email at bobbythe rabbitcenter.com. Thank you so much for watching today. I wish you guys the best of luck with your rabbitry, your herd, and your baby rabbits. See you on the next one.