Nature is wondrous and ebbs with a primal elegance that can inspire utter bliss and, at times, sheer terror. While you might think that rabbits are herbivores and would never eat their babies, you would be assuming a hare too much (yes, I did just that). More to the point, why do rabbits eat their babies, and what should we do about it?
When rabbits eat their young, there is typically a driving reason. Whether it is due to stress, malnutrition, or purely on accident, there are a handful of valid reasons, and we will go over each.
Before diving into why your rabbit may or may not have done this, it’s essential to know that if you are positive that your rabbit has eaten its baby, there is nothing you can do about it now. You certainly shouldn’t go on a limb and attempt to punish your rabbit, as in the grand scheme of nature, it hasn’t technically done anything wrong, regardless of how it looks from our perspective.
It is imperative to move forward from a place of understanding and patience, as anything less could lead you to feel distant or slightly disturbed around your bun. In such a trying time, your rabbit may need all the support it can get, so just bear that in mind.
What Is the Reasoning Behind Rabbits Eating Their Babies?
The larger overarching reasoning behind a rabbit eating its own young can roughly be summarized into three unique categories: malnutrition, meaning your rabbit’s dietary needs are not met. Your rabbit may also be inexperienced, indicating your rabbit doesn’t know what to do and may have done something accidentally. Finally, your girl rabbit may be stressed out, which can make anyone and anything act irrationally on occasion.
Regardless of which branch your rabbit has fallen under (or for those looking more towards preventative measures), you can arm yourself enough to either be there to the best of your ability to help curb these chances or stem them at the very least.
1. There Are Not Enough Resources
Being a new mother opens an entirely different set of rules. It needs in anyone’s daily life, be it how you need to walk to accommodate the additional weight or how much you need to eat to satiate your own needs and ensure that the growing babies inside also get enough nutritional value to grow at a normal pace.
Ensuring the mother and her new babies aren’t at risk is another unique possibility that could play out in the mother’s mind. If she feels that she is too exposed or that her and X number of newborns could be drawing too much attention, she may eat one to accommodate them.
Such a perspective may sound incredibly grim and somewhat disturbing, but just remember that much of what happens in nature isn’t viewed on a spectrum of what is right or wrong, merely what grants you the highest chance of survival.
2. Poor Dietary Protein
Unfortunately, both resources and protein can have the same dark outcome should either be lacking. While resources could be broken down into something as simple as there isn’t enough room to keep them all in one spot safely, protein is an undeniable need for newborns and mama. The mother needs protein to recover from the birthing process and produce more milk.
Should your rabbit find itself with slim pickings, it might convince itself that it has to take the lesser of two evils and eat one of its babies to acquire enough nutrition to keep mama and, by association, the others in the brood alive.
Thankfully, you can solve this issue or jump ahead of it by simply double-checking the nutritional values of the pellets, feed, or hay that your rabbit is eating. Scale it up according to your rabbit’s weight, bearing in mind what species it is, and perhaps do a bit of research and converse with experienced breeders.
3. The Mother Is Inexperienced
Rome was not built in a day, and no mother was an expert from the very beginning. Still, unfortunately enough, in nature, inexperience can often prove dangerous and, at times, even fatal. In the act of grooming, the mother may accidentally bite off pieces of her young, occasionally a bit of ear, but in more concerning situations, entire limbs may be lost.
Once again, this does sound horrible, but it isn’t the rabbit’s fault and shouldn’t be viewed as such. The more important aspect is to do what you can to ensure it doesn’t happen again by keeping the mother well-fed and monitoring groom sessions to the best of your ability.
It makes sense that not everyone can put their life on hold to watch over some newborn buns. Still, the effort can be broken down into shifts, assuming you have friends, family, or anyone else you trust to keep an eye on them for a bit. The rabbit knows the individual and would be comfortable with said person being near them.
4. Territorial Instincts
In the animal kingdom, the rules of nature reign supreme. Whether it be in their own species or other animals in the general vicinity, rabbits can occasionally eat their young in a panic, or other animals/rabbits might get to them, attempting to keep the area to themselves and stop a crowding they see arising.
For these reasons and more, you’ll want to isolate pregnant rabbits to their own area away from other buns and pets to ensure they have the best chance of survival and the least possibility of being interrupted or potentially harassed.
5. The Mother Is Stressed Out
As we noted above, stress takes a lot out of you and can make you even more delusional at times. These states of dysphoria can strike your rabbit, and often in quantities that would put ours to shame. A stressed mama rabbit may take any slight noise or movement nearby as a threat and lash out violently.
While these fits of rage or hysteria can be as simple as jumping away and being a little more flighty than usual, they can also cause rabbits to ravage their babies, which is sad but again, a distinct possibility. So, making the area calm and ensuring that the mother feels safe is just another way to keep things civilized and safe.
If you aren’t sure what situations could cause a rabbit to get stressed out, consider anything louder than a casual conversation too much for the rabbit. Try your best to keep the area free of any excessive movements or sudden intrusions. Doors getting slammed can be a very obvious point of contention that might cause panic in your rabbit.
6. Stillborn Babies or Birth Defects
Even if a mother does manage to make it up to the point of giving birth, there are occasionally stillborn little ones who never get the chance to have a proper life. In these situations, the mother may opt to eat the baby to protect herself and the others around her.
You may find yourself asking, how precisely would that manage to protect her? To answer that question, we lean back on the understanding of survival logic. If a rabbit is stillborn to a predator, it is simply meat, and as it decays, this meat would attract them to the location of an easy meal, and thus, the mother and her babies.
Unlike larger animals like dogs and cats, rabbits lack the innate ability to move their young. As unpleasant as it may be, cannibalism is the only way she believes she has of disposing of the baby that didn’t make it while also making the most of its existence.
Buns that come out with similar congenital disabilities, such as being runts, misshapen, breathing issues, missing limbs, and other clear signs that they aren’t likely to survive, may cause the mother to again eat them, partially to get protein back and partially to ensure there is more milk left for the healthy babies.
Are Rabbits Considered Cannibals?
Rabbits are not innately considered cannibals, no, but under certain pretenses, as noted above, they may display “Cannibalistic tendencies,” which are usually done solely for survival or grasping at the attempt to make it more likely.
The entire act of cannibalism amongst rabbits is only based on a need not being met or another factor occurring that necessitates it for the good of the mother and other surviving babies. If it isn’t the mother herself cannibalizing, then it could be different “pen mates” that do not like the thought of a new generation, and they are simply trying to protect their territory.
Do Male Rabbits Eat Their Offspring?
It is incredibly rare for a male rabbit to eat or even injure its own offspring. Truthfully, in most cases, the male rabbits are extremely gentle and mindful of where they are going and how they are moving to guarantee they themselves aren’t causing the young any harm.
However, it’s worth noting that the presence of the male can cause the mother to once again become stressed out, which can then lead to her potentially eating the babies, which would lead people who did not witness the incident to believe it may have been the father’s doing.
How Can You Prevent Your Rabbit From Eating Her Babies?
Not entirely no, but you can provide for the mother rabbit and ensure all of her essential needs are met, and guarantee that she has a suitable location to give birth, free from potential threats, distractions, and other variables that might lead her to feel unsafe, and acting irrationally.
In short, take care of her dietary needs, keep the mother on a steady supply of food, water, and space, and you’ll be doing everything within your power to prevent such a sad act from happening.
Do Rabbits Eat Their Young if You Touch Them?
No, interacting with the babies will not cause the mother to disown them or injure them in any way. This legend spread amongst knowledgeable pet owners who made blind claims without doing research when it was usually one of the other factors at play that caused the incidents to occur.
Why Do Rabbits Stomp Their Babies?
Rabbits typically do not stomp their babies on purpose. If you observe your rabbit doing so, it is more than likely an accident. Either the rabbit does not have enough room to maneuver away from the babies safely, or it’s simply clumsy and falls on them.
Another possible iteration of this interaction is the iconic “Thump“ that rabbits do when they are feeling nervous, agitated, or scared, and in doing this display, they just so happen to be too close to a baby. It endures the full wrath of said thump, a tragic accident, to say the least.
What to Do if the Mother Rabbit Is Stepping on Her Young?
If the mother rabbit is stepping on her young, you’ll need to re-access the situation and the spot she is currently keeping them on, whether or not she has enough room to move, and, more importantly, if she views the area as safe to have them.
The mother rabbit could very well be in a state of panic, trying to see where a safer spot would be or on edge, attempting to view potential sources of danger. Regardless of the reasoning, one of your best options may be to relocate the mother rabbit and find a more reasonable location, gauging her reaction and interactions with the babies and moving forward.
Should You Separate Mother Rabbits From Their Young?
Ideally, no, but there are circumstances where you’ll have no choice but to do so. A genuine lack of resources, lack of room and multiple litters, or a mother that has become too ill or too aggressive to appropriately look after her babies can all be valid reasons why you might need to separate a mother rabbit from her young.
Final Thoughts
While it is a genuinely disheartening thought that a mother rabbit might eat her babies, perhaps this has given you a better glimpse into why they might be keen on doing so, and more importantly if your rabbit is about to give birth, you are more aptly prepared to keep yours from harming her little ones.
