Horrible day, Rabbit gave birth but....

[Skybunny11]

So I am new here. Today my rabbit gave birth and we went out to go check. This is before we know she gave birth. We walk out there and there is the mother rabbit, a Mini Rex named Gracie, in a frantic pace along her cage. We get a little closer to see there are tons and tons of red ants swarming the nest box.
We grab the box and the mom and rush her in. One baby is dead, 4 are alive but weak. We got the babies and washed them off all nice. They had tons of bites on them. Gracie was okay though:? A few hours later 2 more are found dead. Now there are 2 babies. One is strong and can keep up with the mother to feed. One is not and cant I have a feeling Gracie knows it will die. She refuses to leave the box protecting the healthy baby but leaving the other without her protection.
:?The good thing is one baby is healthy and eating but the bad this is the other is not The really good this is that Gracie was not injured by the ants! We brought the other female who has pulled fur in and we cleaned out the shed and put ant killer down.
It is the kind the ant killer that they take back so it will not harm the rabbits through the air. Now we have 2 moms in the house As you can by all my frowning faces today was horrible

 

[Leaf]

I am SO sorry to hear that!! ((hugs))

What kind of cages do you have,what kind of legs do they stand on? Do they lean against anything?

If they don't lean you may be able to try a few different things -



As long as the cage is free standing (meaning the ants cant climb from something onto the cage) you may be able to do something with water to resolve the ant issue.

I have dogs and even though they are indoor pets I do normally feed them outside. To keep ants out of the food bowls I buy the flatter metal pans to set the actual bowls they eat out of in.

I put water in the larger, flatter pans and since the ants can't swim, they cant get to the food itself.

I dont know if that makes any sense at all, but it came to mind anyway.

 

[Skybunny11]

Our cages are standing up so they are not completely on the ground. Inside they have different cages though and they are safe from ants.

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

Wow I'm so sorry to hear about this. How awful

Do you know how the ants got in her cage/the nestbox? Were they in any other cages?

Wow. I have lots of red-headed ants here (They've taken over some of the yard, and I keep telling my mom and her boyfriend about them but they still haven't taken care of it yet!:foreheadsmack:I'm about to do it myself! I really hope the ants dont overtake my rabbitry, but I wont let them.

Anyway, I'm real sorry about the babies

May they R.I.P.:rip:Binky free at :rainbow:Bridge, baby bunnies :angel:

Emily

 

[Skybunny11]

Thanks guys. I think my other female gave birth but she is a horrible rabbit. Very mean so when the rest of my family gets up I will check

 

[BlueGiants]

Oh NO! I'm really sorry to hear about the ants! UGH! What a loss! If your other rabbit won't care for her litter, give them to the first mom that lost most of her litter. I'll bet she would foster them without any problems. Or if the second litter is large, pass a few to the mom with one. Helps use up her milk, helps keep the singleton warm and prevents the one bunny from being a glutton.

 

[BSAR]

:shock:Oh my gosh. That is horrible! I bet the ants smelled the babies afterbirth and came. That is such a freak accident. I am so sorry. I hope those babies that are alive make it.

Prayers for the babies. And may the others rest in peace.ray::rip:I'm glad Gracie is ok.

 

[polly]

I am so sorry what an awful thing to go out to I hope the other mum has her litter ok. Ants are horrible they always seem to appear from nowhere I hope the other one survives

 

[Skybunny11]

I am really glad Gracie was not harmed. She is the only female Mini Rex we have and she is a really great bunny. The weak baby is still alive. Gracie stopped nursing it so we took Gracie out and flipped her on her back and let the baby feed. The other baby is fat and healthy now! They both have ant bites covering her body though

 

[jcl_24]

What a horrible situation with the ants for you and the rabbits .

Howare Gracie and her babies now? Did the other doe also give birth as expected?

Jo xx

 

[Skybunny11]

Gracies litter has passed but the other doe gave birth to 6 babies. They are almost 2 weeks old now!

 

[jcl_24]

I'm sorry about Gracie's litter. May they binky at the bridge.

That's lovely news about the other doe's litter

Jo xx