Reasons why a female rabbit eats her little rabbits
Okrol is a joyous event in the activities of a breeder, farmer or ordinary owner of a domestic rabbit. One of the most famous problems associated with the birth of rabbits is considered to be eating and injuring offspring by their own mother. Why does the bunny eat her bunnies? There can be many reasons.
Why does the bunny eat her bunnies
The bunny eats the baby bunnies due to stress, lack of water after childbirth, or the lost instinct of motherhood. It is important to remember that domestic rabbits are different from their wild counterparts. Very often the roots of the reason why the rabbit eats the rabbits lie in the primal instincts of the animal.
In the wild
In the forest, the eared eared cannot afford to raise defective offspring, therefore, at the slightest hint of this, the female stops feeding and destroys the rabbits. The same thing happens if the litter is too large. Cubs in this case are born smaller and weaker.
For a rodent, this serves as a signal for the poor vitality of the rabbits, and the female kills them without a shadow of a doubt. We propose to consider in more detail the reasons why the bunny eats her bunnies, as well as ways to avoid this trouble.
The reason for the harm to rabbits by a female
In fact, there are many reasons for a rabbit to eat babies. Sometimes it's about the age of the female. The first mating in a rodent can occur at 5 months of age, but it's worth the hurry. A young female does not have the necessary experience to do everything right. There is an opinion that the rabbit eats her cubs immediately after giving birth or even during this process. But such cases are extremely rare. Most often, offspring suffers in the first week from the actions of a young mother.
After okrol, you should carefully examine the rabbits. The bitten belly of the cubs indicates the female's inexperience in trying to gnaw through the umbilical cord. If the legs and ears were crippled, the baby could not get out, and his mother tried to help him. The rabbit can accidentally injure the cub's head while trying to remove the film from it. Rabbits have extremely sharp teeth, and sometimes pets cannot calculate the bite strength. Usually, such incidents disappear by the second or third birth, but if the rabbit continues to maim the offspring at the birth stage, she is unfit for divorce.
Sometimes a young rodent does not even understand what happened to him and therefore tries to destroy the source of stress - rabbits. For the first few days, it is important to closely monitor the behavior of the young mother: if the rabbit ignores her cubs or, on the contrary, is overly active, then perhaps her maternal instinct has disappeared. In this case, the young rabbits are usually transplanted to another female.
When instinct fails
The maternal instinct is a set of behavioral norms based on the desire to protect and preserve the offspring. Thanks to this, animals are able to survive and reproduce in the wild.However, very often more than half of the offspring do not survive in natural conditions. That is why the frequency of okrol is 4-5 times a year.
Why does maternal instinct disappear in females at home?
A common reason for this is the reduced risk of hazard. A rabbit raised on a farm does not feel the threat from the outside world as well as in the wild, and therefore is less interested in protecting her cubs. There are other possible reasons for the loss of instinct:
- stress after childbirth, especially after the first;
- cramped, muddy or poorly equipped nest;
- too many people;
- foreign smells and loud sounds;
- bustling surroundings;
- the presence of domestic predators (cats, dogs).
In any case, it is impossible to establish the exact cause of the loss of the maternal instinct. This happens individually for each individual, the answer to the question "what to do?" is also individual.
The rabbit can stop feeding and destroy defective individuals.
Sometimes the cub can be eaten if the female accidentally crushed him. It is also one of the primary instincts. The corpse of a bunny can attract the smell of a predator to the nest. By the way, dead rabbits can be eaten not only by the rabbit, sometimes rats or birds of prey do it.
In addition to the loss of the maternal instinct, the reason for eating the offspring can be a lack of water. The animal's body is severely dehydrated during childbirth, so you need to make sure that the pet has access to water during the birth, otherwise the rabbit will look for a way to replenish the lack of body fluids herself, and the easiest way out will be to decide to eat the baby bunnies.
Very often, rabbits can harm their cubs due to increased aggression. Its reason is the desire to protect the rabbits from possible danger. It is not necessary to touch the cubs and the female during feeding, it is important to surround them with a calm environment. The rabbit must feel completely safe, otherwise she often rushes to the aid of the offspring and often crushes him. Sometimes rabbits begin to eat cubs if more than 6 of them were born in the litter. Such babies are usually weaker and the female considers them unfit for life.
Methods to combat cannibalism in rabbits
In fact, with a properly equipped nest and good nutrition, rabbits rarely eat their cubs. It is important to remember that pregnancy and childbirth are exhausting processes for the animal body. The body cannot produce most of the nutrients on its own. During pregnancy, a lot of vitamins and minerals should be added to the rabbit's complementary foods. For this, ordinary nettle scalded with boiling water is suitable. It is also recommended to give other types of greens: plantain, sorrel, carrot tops. It will not be superfluous to mix bone meal and chalk into complementary foods: the body of the expectant mother may not have enough calcium. Before contact with a pregnant female, do not splash perfume and smoke: rabbits react sharply to pungent odors.
Special attention should be paid to a special place for the first days of the life of rabbits. A properly equipped rabbit nest can guarantee the calm of the female. After deciding to make a nest yourself, you should adhere to simple rules:
- it is advisable to use a closed wooden box and natural bedding (straw or hay);
- the location of the nest should be quiet and calm, without drafts and strong odors;
- in winter, the box should be insulated; ordinary bottles with warm water are suitable for this;
- the nest must be out of reach of other pets and birds.
A number of these precautions will help you avoid many of the hassles during the petting. It is important that the rabbit feels as calm, protected and well-fed as possible.
It is extremely important to pay attention to how the mother is feeling after the birth.If the female is breathing heavily, if her eyes are watery, and her body temperature is high, then the okrol was not very successful. In this case, the female is removed from the offspring, and the babies are transferred to another female.
Refusal of a female from cubs and harming them: what to do?
The refusal of the female from the cubs is visible almost immediately: she scatters the rabbits, rushes about, sometimes crushes them. In this case, the babies should be placed next to another rabbit, and this should be done quickly and accurately. The mother, who has abandoned the offspring, is deposited in another enclosure, and the rabbits are put in to the recently given birth to the female. In order for the other rabbit to perceive the refuseniks normally, you can process the cubs and your own hands with wormwood. It is harmless to newborns and obstructs human odor. After a few minutes, you need to check: if the female did not start scattering the rabbits, then the adoption was successful.
Sometimes the reason for the refusal can be the poor lactation of the rabbit. In this case, it is worth checking the female for mastitis. Breast massage can also help.
From all of the above, we can conclude: the rabbit is able to eat her little rabbits for many reasons. It could be natural instincts, an inappropriate breeding site, or postpartum stress. With proper preparation for the litter process, the risk of eating the litter is extremely low. It is also extremely important for humans to control the process of birth and feeding of rabbits. Rabbits are not carnivores and the female will not eat her offspring for no reason.