Rabbits reach sexual maturity\u00a0as young as 3 months of age. When this happens, they will seek to breed. This could even be with a parent or sibling, so the kits should be separated to prevent unwanted pregnancies.<\/p>\n
A\u00a0rabbit will give birth to 1-14 kits in her first litter, with the average being 6. It\u2019s unlikely that all of these baby rabbits will survive. A first-time mother may fail to care for her young, so you must ensure that kits are kept warm and well-fed.\u00a0The kits will need to live with their mother for approximately 8 weeks. You will then need to separate them from their mother.<\/p>\n
Some of the kits will be stillborn. If there are stillborns, do not be surprised if your rabbits eats the remains.\u00a0This is not an act of cannibalism. Your rabbit is taking a safety-first approach. Predators\u00a0may be attracted by the scent of a stillborn rabbit. If there isn\u2019t a body, there isn\u2019t a scent.<\/p>\n
Some babies will be weaker than others. The runt of the litter may not survive. Rabbits are not naturally maternal, so the mother may ignore her weakest young, focusing on feeding and rearing the stronger kits.<\/p>\n
Rabbits are instinctively driven to continue their species. If a rabbit feels that she can only keep so many babies alive, she\u2019ll prioritize those that are most likely to survive. Stronger young have a better chance of surviving and eventually breeding themselves.<\/p>\n
She may separate her babies into two groups. The strong kits will bed fed and the weak neglected. So, you should check the hutch regularly as a nest of hay and fur will likely hide the babies. The weaker young may be buried deeper in this nest, unable to access milk and warmth.<\/p>\n
Mother rabbits will not mourn stillborn babies, or those that die shortly after birth. She knows that she can be impregnated again just days later. Rabbits see their kits as essential for the continuation of the species. If pregnancy doesn\u2019t have a successful outcome, she will try again.<\/p>\n
However, the mother may be somewhat protective of her surviving kits. Don\u2019t be surprised if she reacts aggressively when you attempt to handle her young, which can make cleaning the hutch more difficult.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rabbits reach sexual maturity\u00a0as young as 3 months of age. When this happens, they will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5786,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rabbit-farming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}