Cyclopia (Cyclops) deformity in rabbit kit.

[TexasCharm]

My pair of rabbits, Bunnie and Clyde, just had a "litter" of bunnies.
Actually there are only two live babies and when I was examining them and the box, I discovered a dead baby.
Not unusual, many times you find a dead baby in a litter, so I picked it up to give it a quick look to see if I could see any anomaly.
Oh boy, did I ever.
One eye in the center of it's face, no nostrils and the snout was tapered and not well formed.
But the weirdest thing was the fleshy protrusion over it's eye.. really bizarre.
My bff and I both called it a cyclops.
After researching, I found the following:

Cyclopia is a rare birth defect that can occur in baby rabbits, causing a single large eye in the center of the face and other abnormalities:

Features: A single large eye in the center of the face, a proboscis above the eye, and a smaller than normal head with no openings for the ears, mouth, or nose

Cause: A failure of the embryonic prosencephalon to properly divide the orbits of the eye into two cavities

Incidence: 1 in 16,000 in born animals and 1 in 200 in miscarried fetuses

Survival: Most cases are not viable

I have pictures.
I find it educational. Some people find it offensive.
Should I post?

 

[Neb]

My pair of rabbits, Bunnie and Clyde, just had a "litter" of bunnies.
Actually there are only two live babies and when I was examining them and the box, I discovered a dead baby.
Not unusual, many times you find a dead baby in a litter, so I picked it up to give it a quick look to see if I could see any anomaly.
Oh boy, did I ever.
One eye in the center of it's face, no nostrils and the snout was tapered and not well formed.
But the weirdest thing was the fleshy protrusion over it's eye.. really bizarre.
My bff and I both called it a cyclops.
After researching, I found the following:

Cyclopia is a rare birth defect that can occur in baby rabbits, causing a single large eye in the center of the face and other abnormalities:

Features: A single large eye in the center of the face, a proboscis above the eye, and a smaller than normal head with no openings for the ears, mouth, or nose

Cause: A failure of the embryonic prosencephalon to properly divide the orbits of the eye into two cavities

Incidence: 1 in 16,000 in born animals and 1 in 200 in miscarried fetuses

Survival: Most cases are not viable

I have pictures.
I find it educational. Some people find it offensive.
Should I post?

I think you painted a vivid enough picture in your words. I am sure Google would more than happy to share images.

Thank you

Ben

 

[Patchouli]

I don't mind if you post it but maybe send it to me in p.m. if you'd prefer. @TexasCharm

 

[Peanut]

Interesting... I've never seen or heard of it.

 

[Patchouli]

I guess I'm not digging enough but i can't find a photo online, descriptions, yes. I think if it were to come down to it and I had to raise rabbits for food, maybe be something i should know about.
Sorry to hear there weren't so many bunnies in that litter, @TexasCharm
Do you raise rabbits for food?

 

[Amish Heart]

Ugh. I've not seen that.

 

[TexasCharm]

I used to raise rabbits to show, which usually leads to having too many rabbits with the logical end being that you can eat them.
This pair I did get with the intent to get back into rabbits primarily for food.
Had not intended to breed them until after we got back from "vaca" but I left them together too long and they took care of it. I'm not at all upset that there are only two babies at this time. I will breed her again when these wean.

I did find a couple photos online, but not ones exactly like mine.
I'll see if I can send you a pic, @Patchouli

 

[Snowman]

Enter AT Your Own Risk...!!!

https://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Congenital/Cyclopia/Cyclopia_nouveau_en.pdf

 

[Peanut]

Watch out for fireants!!!! I had fire ants kill an entire litter of bunnies. My cages were suspended from rafters of a side shed of my pole barn.

The ants climbed a pole, crossed a rafter then went down aircraft cables my cages were attached to.

Can't really see the cables in this pic, it was dark and poke sallet bush sort of hides them. But you can see the cages and the distance the fireants climbed. Went up one morning to find a freaked out rabbit and dead babies she had during the night.

 

[TexasCharm]

Figure 6 in the link above provided by Snowman is the closest to what I got.

 

[TexasCharm]

Fire ants are CRAZY.. they sure do find a way, don't they.
Because I wasn't prepared, my cages aren't snake proof either.
If we get through tonight, we should be safe from snakes as a cold front is coming through tomorrow.

 

[Peanut]

I suspended my cages thinking they'd be safe from critters and snakes. I never imagined ants would be a problem. Needless to say, I declared war on ants!

 

[TexasCharm]

They are so bad right now here also. Mr. TC is constantly battling them.

 

[Sourdough]

My mother had eyes in the back of her head. I suspect that is not uncommon feature for mothers.

 

[Caribou]

Run your cables through the centre of shallow cups and put grease in the cups. They mount bee hives on a central pillar and heavily grease a few inches of the pillar near the top.