Baby Rabbit Care
Witnessing a birth of a baby rabbit is an opportunity that everyone would want to experience. Every rabbit owner would feel this certain anticipation when pet rabbit gets pregnant. The usual gestation of rabbit said to last for 30 days. And that excitement would further escalate with the birth of the baby rabbit. A rabbit usually gives birth to 6 to 12 baby rabbits in every pregnancy. Aside from the consideration to be made in taking care of pregnant rabbit, more attention and care is to be given when the baby rabbit comes along.
When one takes care of a baby rabbit, the first thing to consider is the making of the nest. The nest for baby rabbit is usually made by their mother. Pet owners can provide the necessary hay and other soft materials for the mother rabbit to use when making the nest. As a baby rabbit is to be placed on the nest, layers of towels must be placed first in order to provide warmth. At the same time, heaters can be turned on a low setting to assure that the environment would remain warm which is suitable for baby rabbits. As always keeping the nest clean daily is an important task to be done by pet owners. Being newly born, baby rabbits are susceptible to various microorganism brought about by litter and dirt that could cause them to get sick easily.
Like all other animals we know of, baby rabbits are primarily fed by their mother. Mother rabbits can produce high caloric milk that can sustain the growing needs of a baby rabbit. With this, it is only recommended that baby rabbits are to be fed only once. Nonetheless, there would be instances that the mother rabbit will not be able to feed the baby rabbits. When this happens, pet owners can provide substitute milk. However, one must be knowledgeable on what specific milk to buy to assure that the baby rabbit will get the required caloric that it usually acquire with the milk of the mother rabbit. In feeding, a dropper or a small oral syringe can be used. But, pet owners, should be careful in feeding the baby rabbit for it may lead to aspiration and death if not properly done. Substitute feeding provided by the pet owners should only be done twice per day. Overfeeding can result to death in newborn rabbits. Hays and pellets can be introduced to baby rabbits when they are able to open their eyes, which is about 10 days after their birth.
After every feeding, baby rabbits must be able to defecate and urinate. The stimulation is done by the mother rabbit as it licks the front leg until the anal are of the baby rabbit. The licking motion is continued from the moment defecation is initiated until it stopped. If, the mother rabbit is not available, pet owners must do the task of stimulating the defecation and urination of baby rabbits. Pet owners can use a cotton swab to stroke the front leg until the anal area of the baby rabbit. Initial feces of baby rabbits can be green and yellow in color and may appear soft at the same time.
Taking care of baby rabbits can be a tiring yet rewarding experience for pet owners. It is important that ample care must be given to baby rabbits as they are still unable to do that for themselves.