Hi, I hope someone here can give me a little advice about raising baby wild rabbits! I work at an SPCA animal shelter and we got in a litter of 7 baby cottontail rabbits on Sunday. Our rehabbers are all full, and despite me having very little wildlife experience, our vet techs asked me to care for the bunnies. I have a lot of kitten raising experience but it's not the same by a long shot! I've done a lot of research and it seems like there's only a 5% survival rate for captive-raised orphan wild bunnies So I want to do all I can to give them a chance. This is a pic of them that I took about an hour ago to help estimate their age & physical condition:



Their eyes opened on Sunday night (all except for the smallest one, whose eyes opened yesterday night). Their ears are just starting to pop up and they are very interested in exploring and beginning to hop around today. I have them eating a mix of 1 small bottle of kitten milk replacer (Nutri-Cal brand) and about 8 T. heavy cream. They have definitely grown quite a bit in the past 2 days and typically eat well, although sometimes they put up a fight. Just today I noticed one of the largest ones nibbling on some grasses that I placed in their carrier. I ordered Bene-Bac for small animals to give them some healthy probiotics/bacteria, and am in the process of trying to obtain cecotropes for them to eat. So far I haven't gotten any Has anyone successfully raised babies w/o giving them cecotropes? Their eyes were closed when I got them so I think that means they do need the cecotropes as they wouldn't have gotten any from their mom yet- at least from some research I did. I am worried that the Bene-Bac won't be enough.

I'm also wondering when is an appropriate age to wean them. To be honest I have no idea how old they are! Some sources say eyes open at 5 days, others say 2 weeks...I am worried about weaning them too soon and causing diarrhea, and I'm also thinking they should be getting probiotics for at least a few days before I begin giving them solid foods. Like I said, one of them was nibbling a little grass, but the others haven't shown interest yet. I do plan on slowly introducing high-quality rabbit pellets along with wild greens and alfalfa hay when they are ready to be weaned.

I'm so sorry this is such a long post! I would greatly appreciate any advice

sorry I can offer no help- But Devildogz would no doubt be able to help you on this one! send her a pm
DT

Cant see pic and have no info on raising them as my does have all done it themselves and obviously not wild but i can say that all my youngsters have opened there eyes between 10-14 days old some maybe before but never the whole litter.

Could you find a breeder for the cecotropes? My babies normally start to nibble on food/hay about 3 weeks old.
Sorry i cant help anymore but good luck and well done x

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Thanks DoubleTrouble, I will PM Devildogz!

Frags, that's a good idea about finding a breeder- I think all they'd have to do is put a soft e-collar on an adult bunny overnight and I could go get the cecotropes in the morning. Your dogs are adorable! Sorry I can't get the picture to work

Flipping heck! uve done brilliant if there coming along well! I dont have any advise as you seem to know what ur on about well done for raising them so far! pictures wud be lovely xx

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