Do Rabbits Carry Baby Bunnies in Their Mouth?

Rabbits don't carry their babies by picking them up in their mouths to move them from place to place or to keep them from crawling outside the nest. Unfortunately if a baby wiggles himself away from his siblings and the nest, he may be a lost cause. The most a mother bunny might do to move a baby is to nudge him back to his brothers and sisters or prod him into place when it's mealtime.

You'll rarely, if ever, see a rabbit carrying her young in her mouth mostly because rabbits' mouths aren't very large. Although not impossible, it would be difficult for a mama rabbit to grasp onto a baby bunny and pack him around. Also, she'd never do it by the scruff of his neck. That particular technique would be painful because, unlike a puppy or a kitten, a baby rabbit's skin is connected to the muscles beneath it. If a bunny of any age were to be picked up by the scruff of her neck, it would tear the skin on her neck loose from the muscles, causing discomfort and pain.

There's always an exception to the rule, and in the rabbit world wild European rabbits have the honor of infrequently breaking the "no-carry" rule. The House Rabbit Society reports that on rare occasions, wild European rabbits move their young. Although it's not revealed exactly how they accomplish this, very young bunnies would have to be carried in the mouth.

If rabbits don't keep their babies safe by occasionally moving their nest to different locations, you might wonder how they protect their young. Mother rabbits keep the nest site secret by staying away from it most of the time. They only visit the babies once a day, early in the morning. Mama Rabbit uses this daily visit to feed and clean the babies, then leaves them to sleep until the following morning.