sweet_buns
Annette
So i have this naughty "little" English Angora buck who thinks he's a stud and is always at the girls hutches when he's let out, trying to put the moves on the ladies. He doesn't have a bunk mate yet so he's always at the other hutches, trying to impress the females.
One day we decided that his hutch wasn't big enough and he needed new living quarters, so we decided to use pet fencing to create an enclosure (we used fencing for the roof too) and a small wooden kennel for him to use as his hidey hole when he wants to. It looked great and he now had so much room to walk around and stand up etc.
We tested to make sure it was secure and he wouldn't be able to escape. It felt strong and secure, or so we thought... until one day when it was time to check up on Merry, whose turn it was to run around for part of the day, i found Gimli mating with her! He had managed to pull a corner of the enclosure apart (which was bound by wire i might add, strong little bugger) and squeezed through so he could get it on with Merry.
Merry was never supposed to have babies and i did everything i could to keep them all separated (except for the bonded ones, some of which are desexed) but we underestimated the strength that English Angoras apparently have and as a result, we now have some babies!
Babies are normally a happy affair, and don't get me wrong, i am excited about the babies on the one hand, but on the other hand the pregnancy was unplanned and I didn't want Merry having any babies. 1 because i already have 5 rabbits and was not ready to look after babies, and 2 because she's 2yrs old now and has never had any.
I've been putting off getting her desexed because things just kept popping up and the money was going elsewhere, but after this experience I'm going to book her in ASAP because i don't want anymore accidental pregnancies. >.< Well, it wasn't so accidental as far as Gimli was concerned. lol
In all honesty, i thought that fertilization didn't happen because it has been about 2 months since the incident (im aware that gestation is normally 30 days but im 99% sure it had been well more than 30 days when she gave birth. I probably have lost count of the time that's really passed since their encounter, but it feels like more time has passed), but when i went to do the usual morning feed, water, clean litter trays and let whoevers turn it is out to play, i noticed something moving in the nest. I thought the nest was just a false pregnancy because she bunks with a desexed male and since it was 2 months since she mated, i never expected to see any babies from her. But when i approached the hutch, i could see something moving in the hay through the little opening in the nest box. I was terrified and excited at the same time, because i realised she'd had babies...
She allowed me to open the door and look inside. I didn't touch the nest or anything, just peeked inside to see if i could see anything without disturbing her or the babies but they were buried under hay and fur, so i left them alone until i got a chance to have a look after she left the room.
I moved aside the fur and saw all these different coloured, bald little things wriggling around. I counted 7 altogether, including 1 that i found near the entrance of the nest, exposed to the cold and away from the others. He was lifeless when i found him. So 6 remained, alive and somewhat healthy. I saw somewhat because there is a smaller and skinnier one who didn't seem to be getting much, if any milk. He wasn't as active as the others either.
One day we decided that his hutch wasn't big enough and he needed new living quarters, so we decided to use pet fencing to create an enclosure (we used fencing for the roof too) and a small wooden kennel for him to use as his hidey hole when he wants to. It looked great and he now had so much room to walk around and stand up etc.
We tested to make sure it was secure and he wouldn't be able to escape. It felt strong and secure, or so we thought... until one day when it was time to check up on Merry, whose turn it was to run around for part of the day, i found Gimli mating with her! He had managed to pull a corner of the enclosure apart (which was bound by wire i might add, strong little bugger) and squeezed through so he could get it on with Merry.
Merry was never supposed to have babies and i did everything i could to keep them all separated (except for the bonded ones, some of which are desexed) but we underestimated the strength that English Angoras apparently have and as a result, we now have some babies!
Babies are normally a happy affair, and don't get me wrong, i am excited about the babies on the one hand, but on the other hand the pregnancy was unplanned and I didn't want Merry having any babies. 1 because i already have 5 rabbits and was not ready to look after babies, and 2 because she's 2yrs old now and has never had any.
I've been putting off getting her desexed because things just kept popping up and the money was going elsewhere, but after this experience I'm going to book her in ASAP because i don't want anymore accidental pregnancies. >.< Well, it wasn't so accidental as far as Gimli was concerned. lol
In all honesty, i thought that fertilization didn't happen because it has been about 2 months since the incident (im aware that gestation is normally 30 days but im 99% sure it had been well more than 30 days when she gave birth. I probably have lost count of the time that's really passed since their encounter, but it feels like more time has passed), but when i went to do the usual morning feed, water, clean litter trays and let whoevers turn it is out to play, i noticed something moving in the nest. I thought the nest was just a false pregnancy because she bunks with a desexed male and since it was 2 months since she mated, i never expected to see any babies from her. But when i approached the hutch, i could see something moving in the hay through the little opening in the nest box. I was terrified and excited at the same time, because i realised she'd had babies...
She allowed me to open the door and look inside. I didn't touch the nest or anything, just peeked inside to see if i could see anything without disturbing her or the babies but they were buried under hay and fur, so i left them alone until i got a chance to have a look after she left the room.
I moved aside the fur and saw all these different coloured, bald little things wriggling around. I counted 7 altogether, including 1 that i found near the entrance of the nest, exposed to the cold and away from the others. He was lifeless when i found him. So 6 remained, alive and somewhat healthy. I saw somewhat because there is a smaller and skinnier one who didn't seem to be getting much, if any milk. He wasn't as active as the others either.
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