Is it wrong to touch a new born pink rabbit with no fur also are newborn rabbits blind at birth?

Question

Is it wrong to touch a new born pink rabbit with no fur also are newborn rabbits blind at birth?

Answer 1

No, it's not wrong to touch them.  Not at all.  It's an OLD WIVES TALE that mom will abandon, not care for, or eat the babies if you do.  

Good rabbit husbandry calls for checking kits daily and yes, that means touching them, holding them, weighing them, removing dead kits, etc.  Touching newborns....not a problem.

Yes, kits are born with their eyes closed so they can't see (or hear) when born.  They will open their eyes around day 10 or 11.

Good questions.

Answer 2

preferably you should not touch a new born rabbit, this may transfer your sent onto the new born and may encourage the mother to 'destroy' the young. Baby rabbits are born with fused eyelids and are unable to hear.

I have had a few friends whos rabbits young were eaten by the mother after physical contact.

Answer 3

I've bred tons of litters, and it's not a big deal to touch them.  You actually almost need to, to make sure they are all alive in there.  

And yes, newborns cannot open their eyes for about two weeks, so they are blind.

Answer 4

If you touch a newborn rabbit, there is a high possibility that it's mother will reject it. The scent of a human on it's baby tells the mother that it has been handled and it could be a danger to itself and the other little ones.

And, I believe that newborn rabbits are blind at birth (kind of like a kitten).

Answer 5

I've been raising them for 26 years and touch mine all the time and have never lost a baby due to touching them.  Like two other people mentioned, you have to touch them somewhat to remove any dead babies in the nestbox.  The reason their are sometimes dead babies is because the mother often has more babies than she has the ability to milk.  If you leave a dead baby in the nestbox, the rotting smell of the baby may cause the mother to quit milking the entire litter or it can cause flies to lay eggs on the litter, causing a problem called bot fly later on.  You also need to make sure that the babies have bedding under them so they don't get directly on the floor of the nestbox where it is slick.  If so it can cause sproddled leg where one leg sticks out to the side.  And in the  winter it is a good idea to check them in case one moves apart from the group.  They stay warm in the winter by keeping together in a group with the mother's fur over them.  Breeders with marked breeds will often go through the litter weeding out the babies that aren't marked properly if the litter is larger than they know the mother can handle.  This ensures that the babies marked properly for showing don't die for lack of milk.

If the rabbit eats the babies, that is normally due to the diet the person is feeding the doe.  If a doe isn't getting enough protein in her diet, she may try eating the babies in order to gain protein.  Does need plenty of protein when they are milking or they can't produce as much milk as they should.  

There are some areas where you should be concerned about smell regarding the litter, but your smell on the babies isn't one of them:

1. The smell of the bedding for the nestbox.  Use straw that doesn't have a moldy smell.  Wood shavings and hay tend to have a strong odor and the rabbit will tend to scatter the litter if a bedding with a strong smell is used.

2. Ammonia smell.  Make sure the nestbox has small holes for urine to drain out to avoid the build up of urine.  And don't put the nestbox in before the 28th day or otherwise the doe may pee and p**p in it.  A strong ammonia odor can cause the doe to quit milking the babies or to avoid having them in the nestbox.

3. Dead baby or rotten smell.  Remove dead babies within 24 hours or the mother may quit milking the rest of the litter.