Found wild baby rabbit

[lakemom1]

DB's mother found a wild baby rabbit a few minutes ago and brought it to me. It has fur, but it's eyes are not yet open. I kinda feel honor-bound to try to take care of the little guy, I just have no idea of how to do it. Any of you guys have any suggestions?

[DunDunDuuun]

Pictures!!!!

[naturallysweet]

Go to your local feed or pet store and pick up a very, very tiny bottle and formula. Or If you have access to an eye dropper and goat milk, you could try that.

You only feed them 1-2 times a day and have to use a cotton swab on their behind to get them to go poo.

Good luck, tiny wild babies are not easy to raise.

[Sherrynboo]

Be sure to keep him warm too!

Sherry in GA

[naturallysweet]

There was a previous thread about raising baby rabbits. Just go to search, hopefully you will find some good info there.

Goodluck. I've had success and failure at raising baby rabbits. Hopefully you have more success.

[Little RedRidingHood]

Mom digs a deep burrow, then she makes a special exit hole that joins to the birthing area. Once the bunnies are born she will cover that special exit hole up from the outside. Later when the bunnies start moving around she will reopen it.
No, she does not usually forget to cover or uncover that special hole.
Once in a while a bunny will have such a tight grip on a nipple it will get hauled right along with mom and suddenly ... it's out of the warren and in great danger.

I use to raise rabbits, but had alot of trouble getting the breeding age does to take proper care of their new young. One day I was so sick of the deaths due to lack of care by the does, high cost of feed, and all the work involved ... I opened ALL the cages and released all the adult does and bucks into my huge barn.
Within 4-6 weeks I had bunnies all over that barn! Never fed the adults again, only the bunnies when we caught them up to fatten them before butcher. The adults ate with all the other livestock, and even the guardian dogs did not bother them.

Last summer I found a little cottontail bunnie in my barn down here in NM. Reason I found it was one of the goat kids stepped on it and it screamed out. I picked it up and then realized I had a whole litter in that stall. They had found that exit hole and all of them had come up and into that stall.

I decided I was not up to feeding 7 little bunnies by bottle so I moved the goat kids into another stall for the day. By that night mom had returned and all the bunnies were back where they were suppose to be ... in the warren. Later on I would see them as teenagers running around in the pasture behind the barn.

Just in the past few days I found another exit hole in that same stall. Someone plans or has had another litter there, today the exit hole is covered up!! Won't be but a few weeks before the bunnies will be running around in the barn again.

Spring has sprung!

[Little RedRidingHood]

Look for the warren if you want to. If you can find the main hole you should be able to place the bunny down inside. Usually the bunny will get all wiggly when you place them near the hole. They can smell their littermates and should crawl right back down to them.

Watch out for snakes and spiders though!!




One as small as the one you found ... it will be very hard to raise BUT it can happen. Just takes alot of time and effort.

A shoe box, a piece of towel or a washrag, a small glass jar with a water tight seal filled with warm water will help the bunny stay warm. Just rewarm the water and remember to feed them little drinks ... they are so tiny.

I use an eyedropper ...

[lakemom1]

Thanks for all the advice, ya'll. I got lucky. Went into Atwoods shortly after I posted and took them with me. The lady at the service center took them both off my hands. I really didn't want to mess with the little guys, but I didn't just want to let them die, either. I will tuck away this knowledge (and go in search of the baby rabbit thread) for possible future use with my domestic rabbits.

DDD, sorry, no pictures. I had already gotten rid of them before I saw your post.

[DunDunDuuun]

Noooooooo......


When I was little, a momma bunny had a liter in our yard. I remember the horrible day they were all hopping around, and I was in heaven, and then....

they all hopped right through the chainlink fence & borked mah heart.

[lakemom1]

Noooooooo......


When I was little, a momma bunny had a liter in our yard. I remember the horrible day they were all hopping around, and I was in heaven, and then....

they all hopped right through the chainlink fence & borked mah heart.

Awwwww......I sowwy

When I was 9 or so, we caught a baby rabbit in our yard. We installed him in the bathroom in a plastic laundry basket. One day I got up and he had chewed throught the basket and was gone. We never found him and never smelled any "dead animal" odor, so I can only assume he found a hole to slip outside. The funny part is the hole he chewed through the basket was in the shape of a bunny.