Key Management for Raising Baby Rabbits

1 Key Management for Baby Rabbits

1. Exercise to Build Strength

Baby rabbits grow fast and love activity and sun, so ensure daily exercise. In spring and autumn, let them out in the morning and back at night; in winter, at noon; in summer, at dawn and back after sunrise. The area should get sunlight to prevent damp-driven mange, but also have shade against heatstroke. House rabbits of similar size together and separate large from small to cut fighting.

2. Enough Water

Some think rabbits need no water, but they do. Shortage cuts appetite and blocks digestion and slows growth; dry membranes lower disease resistance, and over 20 percent water loss can be fatal. Give constant access to clean water, about 0.2 to 0.4 kg per kg of body weight daily; if you feed watery greens, you can reduce that.

3. Salt for Appetite

Salt is essential, especially after weaning; a kit needs about 0.3 to 1.5 g a day. Too little drops appetite and resistance and slows growth, even causing death. Keep salt at 0.4 to 0.6 percent of the feed.

4. Feed Wisely

Newly weaned kits switch to junior pellets, but their guts are weak; hard or indigestible food can bloat and kill them. They teethe, eat eagerly, and can’t self-regulate, so feed set amounts on a schedule. Use clean, fresh, digestible, nutritious feed; serve concentrate as cooked food, twice daily, with greens three times, little and often, to avoid overfeeding.