Baby Rabbit Just Disappeared!?!

[MotherOfPeepPeeps]

Ok, my doe had 12 kits in her nestbox. One I was very concerned about because it was really runty was not there when I went out to check! Gone. Not a trace. Vanished.

Did Wendy eat her baby?!? I've had does do that, but usually only moments after they are born... and usually you will find some trace. There is no evidence in the nest box or on my doe. It just vanished without a trace. WTF?!?

 

[MotherOfPeepPeeps]

Anyone ever have this happen before?

 

[HuffleClaw]

So sorry!

I have not had that happen before.

My rabbit (now deceased) never ate one of hers, but she did stomp it to death

 

[Bunnylady]

When a doe eats a live baby, there is usually some sign of it - it's a messy business. The baby might have died and the doe eaten it, but I really can't remember ever having had that happen. Most of the time, when a baby disappears, I eventually find it, in some corner or wad of hay, deceased.

Any chance it could have gotten out of the cage?

 

[MotherOfPeepPeeps]

When a doe eats a live baby, there is usually some sign of it - it's a messy business. The baby might have died and the doe eaten it, but I really can't remember ever having had that happen. Most of the time, when a baby disappears, I eventually find it, in some corner or wad of hay, deceased.

Any chance it could have gotten out of the cage?

 

[MotherOfPeepPeeps]

They are only five days old.

 

[Bunnylady]

Baby rabbits are surprisingly mobile from the get-go; this is why they make "baby saver" wire. I had a litter of Mini Rex that I had to retrieve from as much as 10' away from their mother's cage every day for the first week of their lives; if the weather hadn't been so hot, they would never have survived (actually, I think the hot weather was partly responsible, since they were spreading out to try to cool off). I have occasionally found babies in cages that were two or three holes down from the one they were born in, even with half-inch wire on the first couple of inches up from the floor. Until they are simply too big to fit through the holes in the wire, they can crawl anywhere, which is one reason why I now move pregnant does to cages built entirely of 1"x½" wire.

 

[MotherOfPeepPeeps]

Baby rabbits are surprisingly mobile from the get-go; this is why they make "baby saver" wire. I had a litter of Mini Rex that I had to retrieve from as much as 10' away from their mother's cage every day for the first week of their lives; if the weather hadn't been so hot, they would never have survived (actually, I think the hot weather was partly responsible, since they were spreading out to try to cool off). I have occasionally found babies in cages that were two or three holes down from the one they were born in, even with half-inch wire on the first couple of inches up from the floor. Until they are simply too big to fit through the holes in the wire, they can crawl anywhere, which is one reason why I now move pregnant does to cages built entirely of 1"x½" wire.

I just found it. It had teeth marks on it and it had been drug out of the nest box. It was hidden against the wall under her hay manger.

 

[ellend]

Ok, my doe had 12 kits in her nestbox. One I was very concerned about because it was really runty was not there when I went out to check! Gone. Not a trace. Vanished.

Did Wendy eat her baby?!? I've had does do that, but usually only moments after they are born... and usually you will find some trace. There is no evidence in the nest box or on my doe. It just vanished without a trace. WTF?!?

 

[ellend]

They can eat their young whenever stressed; usually when someone bothers the nest. Maybe to count the babies. Never bother a doe that has recently kindled; do not clean the box for a while after the babies are born.