Handling Baby Bunnies
I’m in a Facebook rabbit group and another breeder shared photos of their kits (baby rabbits) asking about colors. Another person in the group sad faced all the photos. When somebody asked her why she sad faced them she responded that they belonged in the nest and they shouldn’t be touched!
This is false. Rabbit breeders need to check babies the day they’re born, and every day after that. Not all kits are born alive. And not all kits survive to weaning. It’s important that breeders check the nest everyday to be sure the babies are thriving.
If a kit dies and is left in the nest with its living siblings, it can kill the rest of the litter. Newborn kits don’t have fur at birth. They snuggle down into a nest made from the mother’s fur to stay warm. A dead kit in the nest doesn’t produce any body heat, and that can cause the other babies to chill and die. Dead kits not removed from the nest will also rot and draw bugs. You don’t want healthy kits in a nest full of rotting baby and maggots. You want them in a clean, warm, dry nest. So every day they need checked to be sure nobody has passed.
The reason many people believe that kits shouldn’t be handled is they simply don’t know any better. They’ve been taught their scent on a baby will make the mother abandon it. It’s not true. Domestic rabbits rarely mind if you handle them, and the ones that do won’t abandon the babies, they’ll just try to eat you up to keep you away from their babies.
I don’t just check my kits daily, I pull them out on day 7 and take cute photos of them. I have a setup inside to keep them warm and cozy as you can tell by them peacefully snoozing in all of the photos. I take these photos for multiple reasons, the main being it simply brings me joy! I also do it because it helps customers to watch the rabbits grow up, they can see how they started and where they ended up. I also think it makes better rabbits. My rabbits are all used to my smell from the day they’re born. They’re used to me bringing them in, moving them around and taking photos. So when it comes time for them to go to their next home, they’ve been handled plenty and it’s not a huge shock to them when the new people begin handling them. Why would you not want to give your babies the best start you can?
So if you have rabbits and have always been concerned about handling them? Stop worrying! Enjoy them! You don’t have to take pictures if that’s not your thing, but feel free to handle them and start getting them used to being touched by humans. They aren’t wild rabbits, and they’re going to be touched by people for the rest of their lives, might as well start young teaching them it’s not something scary!