Rabbits make excellent pets. They’re relatively inexpensive to care for, can be affectionate to their owners, and are fascinating to watch when they’re free to explore and run. However, some of their actions can be concerning. Many rabbit owners are surprised that a mother rabbit will eat her kits since rabbits are herbivores. While this happens rarely, it’s still something you have to know about to prevent.
Maternal cannibalism can oftentimes be prevented, but even with excellent care, some first-time or overly stressed mother rabbits may still harm their kits due to hormonal imbalances or instinctual responses. It’s not always possible to fully control maternal behavior, but careful husbandry and close, non-invasive monitoring can greatly reduce the risk. Below, we’ll discuss the most common reasons why a mother rabbit sometimes eats her young, along with some tips to avoid this.
Why Do Rabbits Eat Their Babies?
While mother rabbits have been known to eat their young, under human care, this is usually preventable. happens rarely and is usually caused by mothers who are undernourished, stressed, or have an illness. If she thinks she can’t properly care for her kits, she will eat them.
Here are a few other reasons that a mother rabbit will eat her young:
Dietary deficiencies
Survival instinct
The kits are weak
Stillbirth
Stress and anxiety
Escape predation
Hormonal imbalances
Can You Stop A Rabbit From Eating Her Babies?
No, you cannot always stop a rabbit from eating her kits, even with excellent care. This behavior can happen when the mother is scared, stressed, or unsure how to care for her babies, especially if it’s her first litter. Good nutrition and a quiet, safe space helps reduce the risk, but sometimes natural instincts or hormone changes still cause her to harm the kits. You can lower the chances, but it’s not something you can fully control.
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The 6 Ways to Prevent a Rabbit From Eating Her Babies
Now that you know why mother rabbits sometimes eat their young, we’ll give you a few tips for trying to prevent it from happening.
1. Give Her a Protein and Nutrient-Rich Diet
One of the best ways to keep your rabbit from eating her kits is to ensure she has a protein and nutrient-rich diet during her pregnancy. Feeding the mother more during the last few weeks of pregnancy is also essential.
Ensure the mother rabbit’s diet consists of plenty of alfalfa hay including some alfalfa hay, specialized pellets with a higher protein content (around 16–18% and formulated for pregnant or lactating does), and leafy greens. The pregnancy and delivery will be hard on the rabbit, so you want to increase her portions during the last weeks. Of course, you should always have fresh, clean water in the hutch.
2. Provide Security and a Calm Environment
As with human females, the mother rabbit will go through quite a few hormonal changes when they are expecting. Providing a calm, reassuring, secure environment for the doe is essential so she’s not stressed.
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3. Keep a Close Eye on the Mother After She Delivers
You can expect your mother rabbit to eat the placenta after she gives birth. Rabbits do this because the scent of the placenta will attract predators. If the mother is inexperienced or too young, she may think that one of her kits is the placenta as well and cannibalize the baby. Make sure you watch her closely and stop her if she eats one of the babies instead of the placenta.
4. Take Advantage of Technology
Remotely monitoring a rabbit and her litter with cameras is a useful strategy to observe the doe’s behavior without risking nest disturbance. Rabbit maternal behavior is very sensitive to stress, and even short interruptions can have severe consequences, such as the doe eating her young. Remote observation allows caretakers to maintain a calm, secure, and consistent nesting environment, which is crucial for supporting the doe’s natural maternal instincts and minimizing stress-related problems. This method is particularly advantageous for first-time mothers, who are more susceptible to environmental stress factors.
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5. Refrain From Breeding Young Rabbits
The best way to prevent your rabbit from eating her young is never to breed rabbits that haven’t matured. While there’s no guarantee that your mature rabbit won’t eat her babies, you stand a greater chance of it not happening if the rabbit is mature. However, when a doe is mature enough to mate varies by breed, so you might want to consult your vet.
6. Separate the Mother From the Kits
If none of the steps above work for keeping your rabbit from eating her young, it’s time to separate the doe from the kits. Ensure the kits are placed in a warm, quiet, and secure nesting area. Closely monitor them for any indications of dehydration. You can try reintroducing the rabbit to her young after 24 hours; if the behavior persists, you might need to raise the kits to adulthood on your own. You can put her in the cage to feed the kits once a day, but be there to supervise the feeding.
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Final Thoughts
While mother rabbits rarely eat their young, it can happen, so it’s something you must be aware of because the behavior is preventable. A rabbit will eat her young for several reasons, including stress, unhealthy kits, and dietary problems.
If the methods above fail to work to keep your rabbit from cannibalizing her babies, you need to separate her from her kits. You can contact your vet to find out how to take care of the babies on your own until they are adults. Until then, keep a close eye on your rabbits and try the steps above to keep the babies safe.
Patricia is an experienced pet writer and lifelong animal lover. When she isn’t writing, Patricia enjoys spending time with her pets, cats Binx and Link and dog, Mystery. Mystery and Link have been with her since birth. Binx was found under her house as a kitten and promptly welcomed into the family. Patricia enjoys volunteering at her local rescue shelter and sharing her extensive knowledge of pets.
