Help,rabbit had babies yesterday and started eating them. What causes that? Any ideas? Daryll

-- Daryll (twincrk@hotmail.com), April 22, 2001

-- Daryll (twincrk@hotmail.com), April 22, 2001

Answers

Has she had litters before? I had an evil doe who would always savage her young. I had to take them away from her and foster them to another doe every time. It may be some vitamin defeciency, but my opinion is that some does are just nasty. If it's her first time, perhaps they are just strange to her and she doesn't like them...I had rabbits as a kid. It's been awhile! Good luck.

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@yahoo.com), April 22, 2001.

Check this site. It confirms what I thought. Just a short leter from a vet answering the question.

http://www.debmark.com/rabbits/faq/eatyoung.htm

-- Doreen (bisquit@here.com), April 22, 2001.

Well two more rabbits gave birth last nite and they ate their babies. Went to the site you recommended,thanks Doreen. I have the rabbit cages above the chicken run,maybe the chickens are stressing them out.I'll try moving them away from the chickens and breeding them again before they go in the stew pot. Thanks again,Daryll

-- Daryll (twincrk@hotmail.com), April 22, 2001.

Yeah, if all three does ate their babies there must be something in the environment that is bothering them. It may not be the chickens though. I have free range chickens that are all over the pens here and have been for years. There may be some predator that is hanging out there and you haven't seen it. Maybe a dog, cat, skunk or raccoon. They don't have to be up against the cage for the rabbit to over react. All they have to do is be within 20 feet or so. Good luck.

-- Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), April 22, 2001.

Hi all, Well I think I found the problem. Set two traps last nite, this morning two big coons. so I'll try breeding them again. Thanks for all the advice. Daryll

-- Daryll (twincrk@hotmail.com), April 23, 2001.

Glad the mystery is solved. But Daryll, did you cook the coons? Or at least skin them out, although the pelts may be getting a little past prime at this time of the year. We cooked a coon last winter after my oldest son shot him out of the tree. He had been stealing chicken feed and dog feed, and probably was responsible for the two chickens I'd lost a couple of weeks before. I boiled him for a long time, and he was still greasy, but pretty good with barbeque sauce.

Now, I've got to ask ya, is that redneck or what?

-- Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), April 23, 2001.

Green ,parboil then bread and fry the coon meat.It comes out sort of like chicken fried steak.I haven't eaten coons or possums for some time because I have become too wimpy about all the diseases and parasites that these critters are purported to carry.Better luck with the next batch of bunnies Daryll.

-- greg (gsmith@tricountyi.net), April 23, 2001.

I traded them to my neighbor for some goat cheese,I'm not real fond of coon meat or cleaning them either. Daryll

-- Daryll (twincrk@hotmail.com), April 23, 2001.

Its just like a cat and her babies as I have been told. See, cats will kill their babies if they know they can't feed them by nursing or just isn't enough room if she had to many. An in most cases, my momma cat would kill her young because she knew their was something wrong with it, and this could be anything. My grandpa always said that is a normal every day animal would kill their youg, was because they are just plum crazy. I often think of it like this, maybe your rabbit is sick, those types of illness that make animals go crazy. This could be a probable cause to the situation. If you ever have anymore babies, take them away before she eats them and raise them yourself. I have done this several times with my ol' rabbit. She is just simply to immature to raise them herself. Her mother was the same way. Do you think there could be a connection like with humans and being like mothers??? (lol)

-- Katy Faulkner (dazyation@yahoo.com), February 02, 2002.

My babies are dead by the time I get home what causes that?????

-- RL Durham (CodeMonky2004@aol.com), April 11, 2003.

I have a meat doe that I've owned for over a year. She's always been very aggressive and I probably shouldn't have kept her, but she was my first. Every litter she'd give me 6-7 kits and eat all but 3- 4. At first I thought it was snakes making babies dissappear overnight Then they got too big and they still dissappeared and I figured out that she was eating them. I racked my brain trying to think of something that would supply a dietary deficiency. I thought maybe she wasn't getting enough protien or something because the babies she kept were HUGE. They were twice as big as any other doe's kits. So, I started giving her DOGFOOD! I gave her 5-10 kibbles 2x a day untill they started weaning and there were no more dead or dissappearing babbies!! She was still aggressive, but was no longer eating, killing, or mangling her babies! I spoke to my vet and she didn't see any harm in feeding dog food for short periods. She said that the kits shouldn't be sold or used for meat because DOGFOOD isn't designed to be given to animals that are intended for food. I've been careful to sell the kits only as pets or breeders. She hasn't passed on her aggression or kit killing habbits to any of her offspring. A few months ago I bought a dairy goat. Someone told me that kits would grow faster if I gave momma fresh milk to drink. Well, guess what???! I'm giving this doe GOAT MILK instead of DOGFOOD. NOT ONLY DOES FRESH GOAT MILK MAKE BABIES GROW FASTER, MY DOE HAS STOPPED EATING THEM AND IS NO LONGER AGGRESSIVE!!!!!

-- Colleen (cecc_21_4@hotmail.com), March 25, 2004.

My Rabbit had babies yesterday and she ate one that was already dead but they all were dead today. Ones legs were gone and they all were dead. Why??

-- Brittany Brooke Tart (blondie@surrealnet.net), April 14, 2004.

It the rabbit is in contact with a male or another female it may well eat it's babies. It is very common for a doe to either abandon or eat it's first litter. This has happened to me, as has your scenario, and both situations are very depressing. I managed to bring back to life several bunnies that were abandoned, by rubbing them when they were very young. They all died after that though, as the mother just wasn't feeding them. It really is best to bring your rabbit indoors or keep a very close eye on it during 'kittening', as I have found baby rabbits frequently 'stray' from the warmth of the nest and easily die of exposure or simply end up being neglected and not fed - the 'runt' of the litter.

-- Shelley Sandeman (johnmemyself@aol.com), June 24, 2004.