Last Updated on March 17, 2022

To get the seriousness of the condition of baby rabbits, then you must know the symptoms first. If you are confused about whether your baby rabbits are alive or not, you need to read the post about “how to tell if baby rabbits are dead.” 

In this article, we give you the reasons to find out if the baby rabbits are dead or not. Also, we will explain the symptoms of death, and some tips to control the situation if they are not dead yet. Baby rabbits are delicate. So, to avoid the situation, you need to be careful from the very beginning.

Also learn; How To Tell If Your Mother Rabbit Is Feeding Her Babies

See the explanation to know more about it!

Why Are Baby Rabbits Easy to Die?

There can be a lot of reasons why baby rabbits die easily. These are some of the reasons you should know that baby rabbits die easily.

Why Are Baby Rabbits Easy to Die?

Unable to Live Outdoors

Baby rabbits are sensitive right after birth. So, it is dangerous for them to live outdoors. You should be careful of this situation before bringing the baby rabbit outdoors. The sun and fresh environment make your bunny strong by boosting its immunity. If you make sure that the outdoor experience of a baby rabbit is equal to indoors, then you can take it outdoors.

Existing Health Condition

You should be careful about the existing health condition of your baby rabbit. If not, it may bring some serious issues like death. This condition is an inborn problem. If the condition becomes severe, you cannot do anything about it. It’s a sad thing but your bunny will be dying if it cannot breathe properly.

Heart Attack

This is the basic reason for the sudden death of a baby rabbit. This can be caused by the fear that can trigger the bunny so much that it can cause a heart attack and later on death.

Swallowing Sharp Objects

The baby rabbit’s body’s delicate. So, any sharp object can be dangerous for its health. The body of a baby rabbit is not as mature as adult rabbits. If there is anything sharp in the cage that your little bunny swallows, it may lead to a serious health condition and even death.

Reasons Your Baby Rabbit Might Be Dead

When rabbits are born, the body is delicate and sensitive. Mommy rabbits don’t always do things right. Sometimes it is your responsibility to take care of the little rabbits. There are various reasons why baby rabbits might be dead. See the reasons to be careful enough.

Not Be Getting Fed

The major reason is to not give the baby rabbits enough food. They must be taken care of properly. Otherwise, they may have started getting wrinkles across the back. The stomach starts to look fat and the kit becomes skinny day by day.

This is dangerous for their health. It only takes 3 days for the baby to die. So, you must be careful of these things because you will still have the time to fix this.

Got Stepped On

If the baby rabbit has been stepped on, it may have some serious damage physically. They are often outside of the nest. And as they are extremely sensitive at this point, being stepped on can be a reason because of its death. You may also see some discoloration on the body. That is because of internal bleeding.

Got Cold

The basic reason is baby rabbits’ death is when they get cold. When the kit gets cold, it looks dead. Check the condition because sometimes it is resuscitable. It looks stiff and doesn’t move at all. If it is the situation, we are sorry to say that it’s too late. But if it’s not, you immediately should warm the baby kit.

How Cold Can They Handle?

If it’s about the newborn rabbits, they can handle 45 degrees or above at night. They should be under the fur. But if they get out of the nest, you have to find them immediately within half an hour. Otherwise, they will die. Further, if it gets below 30 degrees, you must bring them into a warmer place.

General Tips To Keep Them Warm

The best place to keep them warm is mommy’s fur. If mommy hasn’t pulled fur, you can encourage her to do so by plucking fur from her dewlap and belly.

Pool of Blood

Another thing that you should notice is whether there is a pool of blood or not. It may be seen on the toenails of your bunny. You can also see blood on other parts of the body. You should check the babies as soon as possible so that you can take immediate action if there is any bad situation happens.

What to Do with Dead Baby Rabbit? 

If any little bunny is dead, you cannot just throw them away in the bin. It is inhuman and it can create bacteria as well. And that bacteria can harm your family later on. So, what you can do is to call a local sanitation unit to get some information from them about how you can clean it.

Besides, you can also call the nearest garbage service in your area to do the process. It will be extremely unethical and disrespectful to them to just throw away the little bunny. Make sure you call the right person to respectfully dispose of that little body.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can you revive a dead baby rabbit?

Luckily, you can resuscitate baby rabbits. If a baby is out of the nest box, the bunny may get cold. You need to keep them warm to rescue them.

2. What do dead rabbits look like?

You can recognize dead rabbits by their dark and big eyes, brown, white, or gray fur, and long ears.

3. How long does it take for a dead rabbit to go stiff?

It takes around 10 minutes to 3 hours to go stiff after death. And it can last as long as 72 hours.

4. What are the symptoms of a rabbit in shock?

When a rabbit goes into shock, their bodies get still. They don’t move much. The heart rate of them will also get slow and become difficult to identify. They also have cold ears and pale white gums.

Wrap Up

Dying baby rabbits don’t feel good at all. But it’s the natural thing just like others. We cannot change it. But what we can do is try to rescue them. If you know the details about “how to tell if baby rabbits are dead” from this article, you can develop the situation accordingly.

So, check the tips we have given to you then take care of the newborn babies according to that.

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