The doe only feeds her babies once a day and may be on the nest for as little as 5-10 minutes. The rest of the day is spent eating, resting and doing things that she would normally do. The does’ milk is more nutritious than milk substitutes, so the babies will need feeding a minimum of 2-3 times a day, depending on how well they take it.

Hand rearing baby rabbits is very time consuming, needs a lot of patience and it is not something that you can rush.

Babies under 5 days old are more difficult to hand-rear than older ones because, if you’re not careful in controlling the flow of the milk that is going into the mouth, the baby could breath the milk into it's lungs. If this happens you will hear a popping sound as the baby breathes. You will need to hold the baby upside down in your hand and tap your fingers firmly with the other hand, this should help the fluids in the lungs drain out. Failing to clear the lungs could result in aspiration pneumonia, which is usually fatal.

I use Lactol which is a puppy and kitten milk available from most veterinary practices.  You will need 1¼ scoops of Lactol mixed with 5 fluid oz water that has been boiled and left to cool down. This will produce more milk than is needed for a single feed so store any excess in the fridge.  (If it has not been used within 24 hours it should be thrown away and a new batch made up.)  Pour the required amount into a small cup at each feed time, warm it up for a few seconds or place the cup in a bowl of hot water.  The milk should be given luke (slightly) warm.  Any remaining milk after a feed should always be discarded.

Lactol is an excellent milk substitute.

I have found that the best thing to use for feeding the babies is a pipette. Suck up a small amount of milk and place one drop at a time on the baby’s lips. It will automatically start licking its lips so keep doing this until the baby has taken between 1-2ml of milk. The amount of milk taken will vary on the size of breed and increase as they get older.

	Well wrapped because of spillages!

 By about the third or fourth day the babies will attempt to suckle. This is the best time to introduce a teat. So, using a bottle with a long soft teat, place the teat just between the lips at one side of the mouth. Once the baby realises that there is milk it will suck greedily until it has had enough. The amount of milk taken will vary from feed to feed depending on how hungry it is. Make sure all feeding equipment is washed thoroughly.

Bottle and pipette for feeding
Cleanliness is essential so make sure all the feeding equipment is cleaned after every feed.

After each feed you will need to stimulate the babies to defecate and urinate. You will need a bowl of warm water and some cotton pads.  Wet the cotton pad with the warm water and squeeze the excess water out. Wash the baby between its back legs like its mother would do - she would lick the baby to make it wee and poo.  Dry the baby thoroughly so that it doesn’t get cold.

If there is more than one baby and you are unsure on how to tell them apart, use a marker pen and mark inside one of their ears, using a different colour for each baby. This will make sure that you’re not feeding the same baby twice and missing another one out.

You will need to keep the babies warm especially until their fur has grown, which is around 7 days old.  I have found that the best way of keeping them warm naturally is to get a strong cardboard box about 1ft square. I fill it half way up with hay or straw and put as much fur as possible into the middle of that bedding. An alternative is the soft shredded paper bedding available for small animals like hamsters and gerbils if fur is not available.  Place the babies inside the fur and cover them over. If the babies become wet, you will need to change their nest. Baby rabbits’ eyes usually open between 8-12 days old and they will then become more mobile.

A small cardboard box with a warm nest of fur.	The nursery cage.

Once the babies' eyes are open, it is time to transfer them into a nursery cage.  Put their nest into the back corner of the cage and cover the rest of the cage with hay and straw.  Put in a bowl of pellets or mix as it will not be long before the babies start to adventure out of the nest. Daily put a bottle of fresh Lactol milk on the cage, along with a bottle of water, and the babies will eventually start to drink from these bottles in their own time.

By the age of 3 weeks, the babies will have started to nibble the hay by their nest and eat small amounts of pellets or mix.    I also leave some small bits of carrot for them to nibble on. The babies will need milk until they are at least 8 weeks old.  As soon as you see the babies drinking water from the bottle you can make a note of which ones are using the bottle by referring to the coloured mark in their ear - some may be more advanced then others. 

Ready to bottle-feed

Carry on feeding by hand the ones that can’t manage the bottle.  As soon as they are all drinking milk from the bottle, the hard work is done and you can put the teats away and enjoy your babies.

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