Does A Baby Rabbit Need Water [Find Out How To Know]

Does a baby rabbit need water? Here is the short and sweet answer.

If it is under three weeks old. No. If it is over three weeks old. Then yes. But keep on reading for more details so you can have a better guess at how old your rabbit really is.

Before we get in too deep let me clarify that I am talking about domestic rabbits not wild. They are completely different.

Before you can know if a baby rabbit needs water you have to do your best to figure out its age. Which will help you know if you should try to give it water instead of milk.

Figure Out The Baby Rabbits Age

Baby rabbits are nursing on momma from day one to about 3 weeks old. After that, she is pushing them away and they tend to be willing to try pellets and water. If you catch them seeking out of the next box sooner than the three weeks then let them. It’s totally fine if they want to try the feed early.

So unless you think they are 2.5-3 weeks old they don’t need water they would still be on milk. ( I will share my favorites in a second.

Rabbits don’t have fur when they are born and start to get peach fuz at three days old or so.

Their eyes start to open at 10 days and should be fully open by day 14. Even though they do walk around they are pretty shaky and don’t have the best balance. But still, be careful because they can shoot out of your hand like a rocket. So keep a good handle on them.

These little guys are about 12 days old where their eyes have just opened and are still really wobbly on their feet.

Here is as close to 3 weeks old as I could find of our french lops. Keep in mind size will be different for all breeds.

These babies are 3 almost 4 weeks old and should be fully on food at water. They still might try to sneak in on momma and nurse but its not likely she would put up with it. So make sure they can easily access water.

If The Baby Rabbit Does Need Water Here’s What To Do

If you think your baby rabbit is at or past three weeks old and does need water then find something really small and low so they can reach over the end but fill it high enough so they don’t have to stretch to far to reach the water and fall in.

Have A Younger Rabbit? Here’s What To Do

So you might have a rabbit that is younger then three weeks old hand does not need water. In that case, if nothing has happened to momma and she is doing her job then leave the baby rabbit (kit) with her.

But if you need to have feed a baby rabbit here are my favorite supplies to do that.

Wiskies Kitten Milk Replacer

Flints – these work a lot better than syringes because you can do it more slowly without pushing too much into the baby’s mouth and the ends tend to be smaller.

I also have a full post on how to tell if your doe is feeding her babies and how to hand feed them if she is not…