# Still born babies, :( How do i care for mom?



## Shocka311 (Apr 11, 2017)

I have a fairly young female rabbit that just had two still born babies. We thought it may be possible that she was pregnant but didn't know for sure, and today I went to check on her to find that she had pulled out a lot of her hair and had two babies back in her nest. Neither were alive, but I would have expected more than two so I want to make sure that there are not more, and she is not in danger.
Is there anything special I should do to care for her right now, and any thoughts as to why her babies would have not survived? I believe based on the identification section here that they are English Spots. 
These bunnies showed up in my garden several months ago and I caught a female and male with the intent to give them to a rescue but they have become quite adored by the family.
They were for sure breeder rabbits because they have tattoos on their ears. I live by a big field and have seen other prints out there so I believe some breeder just came and dumped their extras out here.

Any advice on how to care for the female at this time would be appreciated.


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## Shanan (Apr 12, 2017)

I am so sorry.  I just had a litter from a back to back pregnancy and out of the three babies, two were eaten alive by red ants and I could not do anything. 

There can be plenty of reasons why this happened. Was it a surprise litter? Did she get hurt by any chance during the pregnancy? How many days did the pregnancy last? Did the momma accidentally hurt the babies while kindling? Was she nutritionally deficient?

What you can do now is feed the momma bun a protein rich diet and water and give her plenty of exercise. After a few days, you can switch to her regular diet. Please seperate the momma from the buck. The doe can get pregnant again within a few minutes after kindling. If you want to breed, you should not do that before 3 months at least. If you do not want to breed, get the buck nuetered and then they can be together.


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## Shocka311 (Apr 12, 2017)

Yes it was kind of a surprise, I thought it may be possible but also thought we have more of a sign, and that we were past the time she should have had them.
That's easy sad about yours!
Thank you for the advice, we may try to breed&#8203; her later but will certainly wait for a while.
She seems to be fine now. Is there a temperature to keep her habitat at that could have affected the babies?


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## Shanan (Apr 12, 2017)

You have to keep the babies at a temperature approx. 28-30 celsius. That should be keeping the babies fine.

And, about the habitat. While the momma is pregnant, there's no temperature to be maintained. The above mentioned temperature range is when the babies are born. But make sure the momma doesn't feel cold. It might not harm the kits that much, but it will certainly harm the momma.


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## majorv (Apr 12, 2017)

It's hard to say but with young first time moms it's not unusual to lose the first litter. It sounds like she did all the right things when she kindled though. Does typically bounce back pretty quick after kindling. Since she doesn't have to nurse, you can feed her what she normally eats, plus push hay to her. Newborns, until they have a coat of hair, are very susceptible to cold and can be easily chilled, and die. If they were surrounded by mom's hair they should've been fine though. It's a great insulator.


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## Shocka311 (Apr 17, 2017)

Thanks for the advice. Mom seems to be doing fine now so that's a relief. Maybe we'll try again at some point but with 2 dogs, 2 cats and 2 bunnies we are quite crowded already.


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## ladysown (Apr 18, 2017)

You do not have to do anything special for the doe, in fact doing anything different feed wise for the doe could actually compromise her health.

As to why the babies were born dead... first litter, she could be built narrow, birth could have taken too long, 

If she ever has another litter it may turn out just fine...or they could also be born dead. We can't see your rabbit to judge her quality or condition.


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