When Do Baby Rabbits Leave the Nest Box?

In case you are new to pet a rabbit, you may face many difficulties and may think of lots of questions regarding rabbits. These questions will come to your mind, especially when you are petting a baby rabbit.

First and foremost, you would probably intend to know when do baby rabbits leave the nest box? Baby rabbits usually come out of their nest when their ages are between six to eight weeks. At this age, bunnies can freely move around and jump out of the nest.

You should not be worried about when they leave the nest as their mother takes care of these bunnies until they grow strong enough to run around. To know more about rabbit’s nesting, you may continue reading the article thoroughly.

Handy Hint: To read more about rabbits, visit our other article about rabbits as pet’s pros and cons [Click here] and how long does it take to litter train a rabbit? [Click here]

Understanding Nesting Process

Usually, rabbits dig holes in the grounds, and they choose the open leafy grounds. Female rabbits make holes for the nest and bury them with leaves, grass, or stick. Bunnies don’t reach their nest until nightfall. They do it because they don’t want the wild animals to notice the nest.

That being said, your pet rabbit will do the same; it will dig a hole in your backyard or ground and cover it with grass and its fur. You can prevent your rabbit from nesting by providing it a readymade nest. By doing this, you can protect the rabbit’s babies and your backyard.

Generally, rabbits start nesting from the 28th day of their pregnancy. The delivery occurs on the 31st day of pregnancy. For your information, some rabbits can be pregnant for 33 or 35 days. If the pregnancy duration exceeds thirty-five days, you should take the rabbit to the vet. In such cases, each rabbit gives birth to four or five babies.

Providing Plenty of Food and Water

You should always be cautious that your rabbit never runs out of food and water. As the female rabbit will feed baby rabbits, she needs adequate food and water to make plenty of milk. Alongside the doe, you need to take care of baby rabbits as well. You should visit those bunnies regularly. Plus, ensure that they are healthy and well-fed.

Preventing Little Bunnies from Getting Isolated

If your rabbits give birth to three or four babies, there might be a chance of all babies not being fed properly. Some baby rabbits may stay down in the burrow, while others stay in the corner of the nest. As a result, the doe only feed rabbits, staying in the burrow, and she forgets to feed others.

Thus, if you find any bunny separated, you should put all the babies together in the burrow. Plus, make that all rabbits stay warm. And to ensure maximum hygiene, you need to clean the nest regularly. Otherwise, the nest might be full of urine and feces.

When the female rabbit gets out of the nest for five to ten minutes, you need to clean the nest at that time.

Cleaning the Nest Box

First, take the dry fur from the old nest and toss it into the new one. After lining the new burrow, you should put the baby bunnies there. Now get the nest out of the rabbit’s cage. If you notice that the nest is wet with urine, try to scoop out the damp shavings.

Then, smoothen the bedding and place some more hay or straw into the box. Now put back the nest into the rabbit’s cage, and bring the baby rabbits into the old nest. Besides keeping the nest clean, you should properly take care of baby bunnies.

Caring Baby Bunnies

Firstly, you shouldn’t be afraid to take care of baby rabbits every day. When the baby rabbits are twelve to eighteen years old, you should bring the nest box out of the cage. After certain days, a bunny may hop out of the next box.

Most baby bunnies require six to eight weeks to leave the nest box. Some baby rabbits even take a little less time, such as twelve days. However, when you see bunnies come out of the nest, first, ensure that they stay warm.

For that, you can put a cardboard box with a few shavings, straw, or hay. In case it is winter and bunnies are too young, a problem might arise. So, to avert problems, you should put those babies back into the burrow.

If your baby bunnies stay inside the burrow for more than eight weeks, you should bring them out. If you don’t, they may suffer from nest box eyes, a rabbit disease. The nest box eye, is in essence, an eye infection.

You can do several things to withstand rabbits from catching eye infections. Before putting the baby bunnies in the nest box, you should clean it thoroughly. You can use a pump sprayer to kill pathogens.

Anyway, if your kits and their mother are well, you still have to do plenty of things to ensure their good health and growth. You need to keep them happy, make their environment remain hygienic.

Newborn bunnies are prone to illness and disease. Thus, you must ensure superior care. Every day you need to do the following:

Remove their bedding and towel.
Wipe down the box with a dry tissue or piece of clean cloth.
Replace their towel, hay, or straw with fresh related materials
Replace their bedding with a fresh bedding
When need, change the nest box

You should continue doing this as long as they are moderately grown and leave the nest box. After that, you should support those bunnies in adapting their diet.

You can introduce them to pellets. In this way, your baby bunnies will slowly grow, and soon you will have more full-grown rabbits to play with.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. When should I remove my rabbits nesting box?

You should remove your rabbits from the nesting box when they’re 2 weeks old in summer and 3 weeks old in winter. To make them accustomed to the different environment, you can put a large piece of hay in their cage so that the rabbits can snuggle into it.

2. Do baby bunnies leave the nest at different times?

The female rabbits don’t abandon the baby bunnies. They nurse them at least twice a day–once in the morning and once again in the evening–to protect them from predators. When the young are nearly 3 weeks old, they are ready to leave the nest without informing their mother.

3. What age can you pick up baby rabbits?

Newborn baby rabbits are usually weak. They cannot be accustomed to human touch too often. So, if you are willing to pick up baby rabbits, you should wait until they reach 3 weeks of age. Once 3 weeks have passed, they are capable of interacting with you a bit more. At this age, you can pet baby rabbits as you wish.

Conclusion

You should follow those points mentioned above if you are petting rabbits and welcoming new little bunnies to your home. These steps aren’t challenging to follow; any pet enthusiasts can easily abide by these.

We hope you will also keep good care of your rabbit and follow our guidelines if your rabbit is about to birth new bunnies. Anyway, if you found the article quite helpful, send us your valuable comments below.