Hand Raising Domestic Baby Rabbits A practical manual Chris Mathyssek, PhD with Ciarra Rawleigh, BS Table of Contents Preface .......................................................................................................................................................... 3 About this manual ......................................................................................................................................... 4 First things first ............................................................................................................................................. 5 A real bunny mom as foster? .................................................................................................................... 6 The Right Environment: Where & how to house the babies? ...................................................................... 7 Living space - box, carrier or cage ............................................................................................................. 7 Cleaning the carrier/cage .......................................................................................................................... 8 Providing the right environment: Temperature, light, noise and smells .................................................. 8 Example: my set-up ................................................................................................................................. 11 Adding a Playground & Enrichment ........................................................................................................ 12 Special consideration for one single bunny ............................................................................................ 13 Special consideration for same-looking babies in one litter ................................................................... 13 A note on safety .......................................................................................................................................... 14 Weight and development ........................................................................................................................... 16 Food & Feeding ........................................................................................................................................... 17 First feedings after you get them ............................................................................................................ 17 Which electrolyte solution? .................................................................................................................... 17 The Milk Mix ............................................................................................................................................ 18 Prepare the milk ...................................................................................................................................... 19 Milk mix additions: colostrum and acidophilus (probiotic) .................................................................... 20 Feeding utensils ...................................................................................................................................... 20 Feeding procedure: preparing and giving the milk ..................................................................................... 23 Prepare milk ............................................................................................................................................ 23 Feeding procedure .................................................................................................................................. 23 Amounts of milk ...................................................................................................................................... 26 Clean up bunnies after milk feeding ....................................................................................................... 27 Help the babies pee! ................................................................................................................................... 28 A special note on adding cecals (cecotropes) ............................................................................................. 29 Transition to hay, solid food, greens .......................................................................................................... 32 Hygiene ....................................................................................................................................................... 34 Sterilizing the environment ..................................................................................................................... 34 1 ©Chris Mathyssek 2016 Domestic Rabbit Baby Manual - Version 1.0 https://babybunnymanual.wordpress.com/ Your personal hygiene ............................................................................................................................ 34 Kitchen hygiene & disinfecting syringes and nipples .............................................................................. 35 As they grow older… ................................................................................................................................... 37 A final important note................................................................................................................................. 37 Resources & references .............................................................................................................................. 38 Attachment 1: Shopping list – what to get and where to get it ................................................................. 40 Attachment 2: Crisis – I need help NOW .................................................................................................... 42 Attachment 3: How old & how well are the bunnies? ................................................................................ 44 Attachment 4: An “eye-opening” special.................................................................................................... 47 Attachment 5: Gas in baby bunnies ............................................................................................................ 48 Attachment 6: Dana Krempels’ manual – MUST READ ............................................................................... 50 Care and Feeding of Orphaned Domestic Rabbits .................................................................................. 50 Feeding the Babies .................................................................................................................................. 52 Feeding Procedure .................................................................................................................................. 53 How much to feed? ................................................................................................................................. 55 Weaning .................................................................................................................................................. 57 Attachment 7: Excerpt about Cecals ........................................................................................................... 58 Attachment 8: Excerpt about Probiotics ..................................................................................................... 60 Attachment 9: Feeding and weight tables .................................................................................................. 61 2 ©Chris Mathyssek 2016 Domestic Rabbit Baby Manual - Version 1.0 https://babybunnymanual.wordpress.com/ Preface Raising orphan bunnies is one of the most interesting and rewarding things I have had the opportunity to do. Depending on their age, they may rely entirely on you for safety, warmth, food intake and “output”. Successfully raising these babies requires a combination of great time-commitment, rigidness and sheer luck. You are in for an incredible experience. As you start searching for information on how to raise baby bunnies, you will find different manuals, opinions, do’s and don’ts – and you’ll very quickly find that some information is conflicting. The amount of good quality research in baby bunnies is unfortunately still very limited and much “information” is based on the personal experience of people who have, by their own account, managed to raise bunny babies. However, much is still unknown and “facts” can be hard to distinguish from “anecdotes”. In addition, a disheartening long list of everything that can kill the babies will come creeping in. It is very scary to read about everything that can go wrong. Do the very best you can, but realize this is a high risk activity. Be patient with yourself. You have to learn many new skills, acquire new knowledge and no matter how much you read, at times you will still have to make many “semi-informed” (at best) judgment calls. That can be stressful because of what is at stake. Allow yourself to be insecure, frustrated and sad at times. Brief moments of despair are part of this adventure - but when you look at their fluffy faces or round milk bellies, it’ll all be worth it! Be patient with the babies, too. Sometimes they can be slow or fussy with feeding or peeing, even after you thought that they “got it”. Be persistent, yet gentle and stay calm. If they don’t want to eat, keep trying to feed them more frequently and/or in different ways. A “bad hare day” can be quite time and energy consuming. Don’t ever force them to do anything