Rabbit has 1 baby for second litter

[Penny & Rolo]

So about two months ago I found out my rabbits were not two girls, but instead a girl and a boy. Rolo (the girl) had two babies; one was stillborn and one lived for 24 hours but Rolo did not feed it so it died. We tried to feed it with kitten milk but had no luck. We separated Simba and Rolo (both about a year old) but they got together by accident once. Anyways, today I got home and discovered Rolo’s fur all over the cage. The cage is wooden and has two small rooms on top of each other then a bigger room with a hutch in it. We are getting the rabbits fixed on Tuesday so they are living together right now. Rolo’s hair was all over the cage in all of the rooms. The baby was in the hutch but was cold and dead. There was fur in the litter box, in the smaller second room and in the big room. I am concerned because both times Rolo has shown zero concern for her baby. She didn’t react when I took the baby (both pregnancies) and just continued on with her life. Why did she only have one baby? Why doesn’t she care about the baby? Why was her fur all over the cage and not just in the spot she had the baby in. Thank you in advance.

[Mikey]

It is possible she didnt want the babies. Its also possible shes only had one living each litter because there was no prevet care, or because she was too young. You really should have separated them after the first pregnancy, as a female getting pregnant too young could cause her to die during birth. Its dangerous and you shouldnt have put your bunny through it a second time

Keep them completely separated until a month after they are both healed. Keeping them together while they are healing, you are at risk of them getting their wounds infected, undoing the stitches, causing a very damaging fight, ect

[Penny & Rolo]

I did separate them after the first pregnancy but like I wrote above, they got together on accident one time. I have been keeping them together recently because it was less than 15 days until they got fixed and it would not matter if Rolo got pregnant or not. I have a place for each bunny to live while they are healing but a place where they can still be near each other without being with each other.

[Sleepy]

Even if spaying her would abort the pregnancy, it still puts the bunny under a lot of extra stress. Plus, if they get into a serious fight (not helped by extra stress) while together, you might not be able to re-bond them after they’re healed.

It’d be better just to let them live separately while near each other until they’re healed up now rather than two weeks later.

[Penny & Rolo]

They seem to get along with each other and are happier together and that’s another reason I let them stay together. They’re getting fixed in 1 day (Tuesday the 12th.)

[Bam]

I don’t know why she had so few babies. Domesticated buns have fewer babies per litter than wild buns.
I wish you the best of luck with the spay/neuter tomorrow. Please ask on the forums if you have questions about post-op care. Make sure you get a painkiller to take home with you, esp for the girl. And take good care to keep her warm, the can get a low temp after surgery.

[Penny & Rolo]

Thank you very much, I’ll make sure to ask for the painkillers.

[Author]

Messages