My rabbit gave birth in my kitchen, so I did hours of research to see what to do if your rabbit gives birth. I feel like I’m an expert now and I’m here to share my wisdom.
From what I can tell, having a surprise rabbit birth isn’t uncommon. Rabbits are social animals, often sold in pairs and notoriously difficult to tell the gender of when they’re young.
Rabbits are enough more notorious for their reproduction rate, so it’s really important you study up on what you should do when your rabbit has given birth. Here’s everything you need to know (and I mean everything, so strap in).
Separate the Mom and Dad Rabbits
If your rabbit has surprise babies, then the father is the other rabbit your rabbit lives with, even if you were told they were both girls! You need to get the dad out ASAP because lady rabbits are induced ovulators and if he’s had the chance to get her pregnant since she gave birth, he probably already has.
It’s also essential to make sure you remove the right rabbit. If you take the mum out by accident, she’ll be stressed about her babies, and the dad will just be clueless.
The mom will probably have very pronounced nipples so you should be able to tell that way, otherwise, the dad will no double have some balls your never spotted before. The aim is to not stress the mom, so don’t go flipping any rabbits over on their backs if you can help it, feeling for the nipples should be your first stop.
It’s also worth marking 30 days on a calendar from when you separated the parents because if she’s pregnant again, she’ll deliver in a month.
Check the Babies are Alive and in a Nest
People say you shouldn’t touch the babies, but after a lot of research, the proper professionals seem to think it’s fine if you don’t do it a lot or while mother rabbit is watching.
You need to check on the nest to make sure that a, there is a nest, and b, the babies are alive. It’s not uncommon to have a couple of dead kits and you should remove them if you do. Healthy babies should be warm and wriggly (unless they’re asleep, then they’ll just be warm). If they’re not in a nest, quickly make one.
My rabbit didn’t make a very good nest so the babies were just loose on my cold kitchen floor. I had to make a make-shift nest box out of a little cardboard crate but you can buy a proper nest box online (it’s worth getting a nest box if you know your rabbit is pregnant and hasn’t given birth yet. Luckily she’d pulled fur so I grabbed some hay, stuck the hair on it and put the babies in the middle, then covered them with some of the fur. She didn’t move them after that, so she must have been satisfied with my nest. Normally they’ll make a nest themselves though.
Give Mom Unlimited Food, Water and Hay
They say you should only feed your rabbit a cup of pellets each day, but when they’re nursing they need more food. An unlimited supply of everything they need will help them recover from birth, feed their babies and stay calm in themselves.
Check the Babies Daily
You’re not going to see your rabbit feed the babies. They’re highly alert and their instincts make them hyper aware of predators, so they feed quickly and when no one is around. They’ll feed once or twice a day in the early hours.
So because you can’t see your rabbit feed her babies, you have to check the babies are being fed. If they’ve just been fed, they’ll have massive bloated milk bellies and a visible ‘milk band’ where their full tummies look bulbous.
If they’re being fed but but you’re not checking on them post feed, they’ll still have a plumpness to them.
If the babies aren’t being fed at all they’ll be skinny and wrinkly.
It’s important to check all the babies because if you have a big litter there might be one or two that are looking thin and wrinkly compared to their little mates. If this is happening then you might need to get your mother rabbit relaxed, then hold her still and put the hungry babies on her nipples. They only need a few minutes and they’ll get a good feed, since rabbit milk is very nutrient dense.
Count the Weeks Since the Baby Rabbits Were Born
Baby rabbits, like baby humans also have milestones they should be hitting. Around 2 weeks the babies eyes should open they’ll explore out the nest. At about 4 weeks they’ll start eating the same food as mom, even though they’re still nursing.
Baby rabbits should be sexed and separated from mom around 8 weeks. My rabbit only had one female baby and we ended up keeping them together and the boys in another enclosure. I’ve since found out we were lucky, as mom rabbit can get fed up of any of her offspring and you’re best to separate them all, neuter and re-unite if you plan on keeping them.
Counting the weeks is also important because there have been known cases of 8 week old rabbit reproducing. Now, 8 weeks would be very early and unusual, but it’s happened before, so why risk it?
Neutering the Rabbits
By now, the dad rabbit should have been neutered and healed ready to reunite with his bunny wife – but wait, it’s not that simple! Rabbits are grumpy and aggressive when they’ve not been neutered. So neutering the dad is only half a job. Sure, he won’t be getting anyone pregnant, but he might get badly hurt if he gets thrown back in with the mom.
If you’re going to reunite your original pair, both need to be neutered and need to have had 8 weeks to recover and let their hormones settle down. After that time has passed, you need to properly bond your rabbits, which is a specific process where you introduce them gradually in the right conditions.
Finding Homes for the Baby Rabbits
We kept all our babies, which I fully recommend. Our rabbit only had five babies, so it wasn’t too hard to accommodate. I’ve heard of some litters being 15+, which would have been a bit more of a challenge!
If you’re not keeping all or any of your rabbits you need to be very careful who you let have them. I’ve heard horrible stories about people using them to train dogs or using them to breed irresponsibly or all kinds other unpleasant things.
Basically, you want to be sure these babies you’ve cared for since birth are well-loved and well-treated, because the former doesn’t always translate to the latter. A rabbit that’s very loved might still end up in a too-small enclosure or not being fed the right diet.
Some people print out a care sheet to go away with the rabbit they adopt out. Some people ask to see the new owner’s set up to make sure the rabbit will have enough space. It also helps to attach a price tag to your baby bunnies, this generally deters anyone with bad intentions if it matches up to the rabbits other people are selling locally.
Facebook doesn’t really allow the sale of animals, so you might be better off looking at sites like pets4homes or Gumtree.
To Sum Up What to do if your Rabbit Gives Birth
So basically, if your rabbit gives birth, you don’t have to do a lot. As long as daddy rabbit is separated and mom is well fed, things should be fine. Just make sure they’re in an adequate nest initially and make daily checks to see if you babies are all getting fed.
Remember to keep track of how old they are so you know they’re doing what they should be, and that there’s no chance of the babies having babies.
Happy rabbit rearing!