For the first few days of lactation, a mother mammal produces colostrum, which contains antibodies that help destroy foreign bacteria. Without a colostrum "starter", the babies have a lower chance of survival.
If the babies really are orphans or have been abandoned by their mother, here's a protocol that's been successful for us. Keep the babies in a warm about 75 o - 78 o Farenheit , quiet place in a nest similar to the one described above.
Bunny fur is the best lining, but clean cotton wadding will do as a substitute. Just be sure the babies do not get tangled in it. DO NOT use an electric heating pad.
Two or more babies usually are able to snuggle and keep each other warm if they have a good, padded nest. If there's only one baby, a warm water bottle wrapped in a soft towel can provide an excellent artificial heat source, but be sure the baby can crawl away from the bottle if it feels too warm. The nest box should be at ground level, in a room where small children and pets are not allowed at least until the babies are eating solid food and out of the nest. For the first few days, keep the room relatively dimly lit and quiet.
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.
Heat the formula to about o Farenheit you can gauge this with a common, quick-read plastic rectal thermometer unused, or fully sterilized! They are generally more eager to accept warm formula.
Feeding Procedure The most important thing to avoid is aspiration inhalation of formula by the babies. The smallest drop of formula in the lungs can cause fatal pneumonia within a few hours. Steam disinfect all syringes, bottles, and nipples as per instructions on the disinfecting bag. 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 and unexpectedly, and you must be on the floor so that they don't hurl themselves off a chair or table and injure themselves. A drop of only one or two feet can be fatal, especially if the baby has a stomach full of milk.
If you wrap the bottle in a washcloth or cotton pad, allowing a fold to drape over your hand with the nipple protruding, the baby will be able to "paddle" with his front feet, as he would his own mother's breast.
During the summer months, cottontails primarily eat grasses, legumes, succulent annuals, weeds, as well as the occasional garden vegetable. The winter diet includes small grains, as well as twigs, bark, and buds of shrubs and trees.
Favorite food items often include white and crimson clover, Bahia grass, and green succulent vegetation like alfalfa, wheat, barley, ryegrass, and winter peas. A captive diet frequently consists of a variety of greens, grasses, clover, and hay.
This species tends to be high strung and easily stressed. Cottontails do not bear the rigors of captivity well and should be maintained in captivity for as short a period as possible. Provide adequate visual security like a hide box and house them as far away as possible from the sight, sound, and smell of dogs and cats. Cottontails are also crepuscular and nocturnal. Feeding activity peaks 2 to 3 hours after dawn and during the hour after sunset.
The doe creates a shallow nest made of grass and lined with fur. Here the young remain hidden by litter or leaves. The doe cottontail may breed the same day the litter is born and may repeat the young rearing process three or four times during the breeding season. A new nest is generally constructed for each litter. The principles and precautions for cottontail rabbit restraint are the same as for the European rabbit , however the high-strung nature of the cottontail requires particularly swift and sure technique.
Rabbits possess a relatively lightweight, delicate skeleton paired with extremely strong, well-developed back and leg muscles. With improper restraint, rabbits that struggle or kick run the risk of a broken back or leg.
Always restrain rabbits on a non-slip surface such as a large, heavy towel or pad. Venipuncture : Collect larger volumes from the jugular vein or lateral saphenous vein.
Smaller samples may be taken from the cephalic vein. What do you do? Naturally you might find yourself inching towards the nest to see if there were any baby bunnies that could have survived the attack. And there you see it, a cute little bun that needs your love and affection. But do you know what to feed a wild baby rabbit? Baby rabbits are only fed from their mother a few minutes a day.
The feeding normally occurs at night to help protect the babies. The mother rabbit can be seen away from the nest during the day which is why it is important to leave babies in nests alone unless you are confident that the mother has either abandoned the nest for good or has died.
Again, make sure you KNOW for sure the mom was killed and the bunnies are abandoned not warm, etc. You will not see the mom. The mom will only come back in the middle of the night to feed her babies. If the mom was killed, the best thing you can do for a wild orphaned baby bunny is to get in touch with a skilled rehabilitator.
In the meantime, call your local humane society or animal control and one of these vets for a wildlife referral: Rabbit Vets and Pet Bunny Vets. The following is a guideline for the daily amount to feed a TRULY orphaned wild bunny mother was killed, etc. Remember with wild bunnies, the mom only comes back at night to call and feed him once or so for 5 mins; please put him back for her if just found and healthy. She leaves them alone between feedings.
Wild rabbits NEED a skilled wildlife rehabber. You should not feed at home or the chances of their surviving is extremely low! These feedings are NOT meant to take place of an actual rehabber, but for someone only who may live too far from a rehabber and is faced with a wild mother, killed, for example.
All others need to call your humane society, local rabbit vet, or google your state and wildlife rehabber. It is impossible over the Internet to see your particular rabbit, so this is only approximate. Add a pinch of acidophilus aka Probiotic to the formula to promote healthy gut flora. Formulas vary depending on region. Avoid Esbilac and any puppy formulas! Feed only with the bunny sitting UPRIGHT , and point syringe down towards bottom or side of mouth, so if too much comes out, the baby does not aspirate.
At first, they may only take a few drops at one feeding until they are not stressed and used to this. 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. Domestic eyes open at about 10 days of age. Start introducing them to timothy and oat hay, pellets and water always add fresh greens for wild ones. Half this at most. Most markets will sell these greens. They need a rehabber before release!
These feedings are NOT meant to take place of an actual rehabber, but for someone who may live too far from a rehabber and is faced with a wild mother, killed, for example. Please call your humane society for referrals to rehabbers, or your rabbit vets, or google your state or country and wildlife rehabbers.
No need to do this for jackrabbits; they go on their own. Use a cotton ball moistened with warm water after eating, and gently stroke the anal area until the bunny starts producing stool and urine and keep stroking until the bunny stops. You are reproducing the behavior of the mother rabbit who would lick her young to stimulate them to go to the bathroom and to keep the nest clean. Again, ONLY if the eyes are still closed. Dandelion greens and hay timothy and oat hay are extremely important for wild rabbits.
You can add whole oats from a feed store, and some grated carrots. The greens must be fresh, rinsed, and replaced if not eaten in a few hours. You can place them in a cup of cold water with just the tops sticking out to keep them fresher. For a domestic rabbit baby, see section under the Domestic heading. Wild cottontail and brush bunny rabbits should be released as soon as they are eating hay and greens and are approximately 5 inches in body length and run from you.
This varies with the area, so size is not easy to say. They will be small, but the longer you keep them, the more agitated and difficult to handle they will become and the less likely their chances for survival in the wild.
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