Baby Bunnies·6 min read
Welcoming a baby rabbit and watching it grow: the golden rules
From birth in the nest to the first steps after weaning: how to support a young kit with calm, patience and safety.
Updated on 11 November 2026
The essentials
- A kit must never leave its mother and littermates before the minimum age of 8 full weeks.
- The first 48 hours in a new home are devoted to calm, gentle exploration and unlimited hay.
- Socialising with its mum during its first two months shapes a balanced, confident rabbit.
1. Why the first 8 weeks with mum are irreplaceable
In the nest, the doe nurses her kits only once or twice every 24 hours (often at dawn or dusk), thanks to extremely rich milk. From 3 weeks, the little ones open their eyes wide, venture out to explore and start nibbling the same strands of hay as their mother.
Between 4 and 8 weeks, weaning happens both digestively and behaviourally: alongside its mother and siblings, the kit stabilises its gut flora and learns the social codes that keep it calm.
2. Getting through the first 72 hours without stress
On arrival, set up its enclosure in a quiet spot away from the bustle, with a hut that has two entrances (rabbits hate feeling trapped in a dead end), a large litter tray filled with hay and the exact food it was used to.
Resist the urge to pick it up in the first few days! Speak to it in a calm voice and simply rest your hand on the floor with a strand of hay: its natural curiosity will do the rest within days.
3. Preventive health: vaccines and a vet check-up
Even for a rabbit living in a private garden or indoors with access to greens picked outside, book an appointment with a vet experienced with rabbits and exotic pets for a first growth check-up and the annual combined vaccination against myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHDV1 and RHDV2), which are spread by biting insects and forage.