Mother pulling out another's female fur

[Yubin]

Hello, one of my female bunny (small bunbun) recently had babies (yesterday) so I put her with another mother of 3 of her own children.



The mother I put her in with does not feed her child, but after small bunbun had babies and pulled her fur out and covered the babies the other mother started pulling out small bunbun's fur and her child's fur (which is like 2.5 weeks old) and not her own fur.

She was literally plucking fur from small bunbun (at first she lets her...) and when small bunbun runs away she chases her (not aggressively) and then humps her with fur in her mouth. (She;s carrying the fur she plucked in her mouth, something like false pregnancy)

She also tries plucking fur from her children and their feet is lift up from the ground. There is no aggression at all towards her children at all.

I have separated them, she also does not feed her babies (she basically hides on the second floor)...so the babies who are 2.5 weeks and are eating oxbow pellets and eating hay. It was my mistake that I couldn;t buy kitten milk sooner.


What should I do? Why did the mother have that behaviour? (In my mind..kind of seems like she was helping, but she doesn't pluck her own fur, very strange)

When I first put small bunbun in the cage, they were grooming each other but it changed when small bunbun gave birth. Is the other mother trying to chase small bunbun away by plucking small bunbuns fur and holding her fur in its mouth?

Small bunbun is a very caring bunny, she snuggles and doesn't hide from the other mother's babies. She;s with them - unlike the original mother. Is it some hormonal changes?

 

[April LD]

Some take to mothering better than others. I had two moms with litters almost 2 weeks apart, they nursed each others babies as they got older - the babies would go from one cage to the other. At one point one of the mom's got through the barrier and they were fine for almost 24 hours then they fought...both moms still accepted the others' babies to come and nurse.

Could be a territory thing - she was ok until the other babies were born - she might be ripping out small bun (what's her name?) fur and humping her to show dominance since she was there with her littler first.

Not sure why she would rip out the babies fur...other than to keep the small of her and her babies more relevant in the cage. She might be overly stressed...

 

[Yubin]

Some take to mothering better than others. I had two moms with litters almost 2 weeks apart, they nursed each others babies as they got older - the babies would go from one cage to the other. At one point one of the mom's got through the barrier and they were fine for almost 24 hours then they fought...both moms still accepted the others' babies to come and nurse.

Could be a territory thing - she was ok until the other babies were born - she might be ripping out small bun (what's her name?) fur and humping her to show dominance since she was there with her littler first.

Not sure why she would rip out the babies fur...other than to keep the small of her and her babies more relevant in the cage. She might be overly stressed...

Don't they have new litter every 30 days? Her children aren;t even a month old, they're like only 2.5 weeks old or so.
This mother had litter basically 2 weeks apart from her previous birth, I was assuming it was some sort of premature birth?
The other mom (small bunbun) she basically accepts the children by grooming and sleeping with them, the other mother (original) is hiding.

Well, when small bunbun was pregnant the other mother groomed her, only AFTER she gave birth the other mother was plucking her fur and chasing to pluck her fur to build her "nest". She was hanging onto the fur like she was pregnant.

I removed her from the babies. She;s in her own pen, she seems fine by herself. But when I put her original babies that are 2.5 weeks, she starts plucking their fur. I'm not sure what's wrong with her. I was in the same pen with her babies and myself, after she tried plucking the babies fur she started to pluck my shirt. I'm not sure why.
She might be stressed but i'm not sure.

I'm not sure what to do either. I don';t want to put the babies in small bunbun';s cage since she had a new litter and the babies were trying to get milk from her. While putting the babies with their original mother, they ran away instead.

So i'm keeping the babies in a separate place for now. Is that okay?

 

[April LD]

Yubin,

I did not understand that the first mother (names would be helpful in cases such as this) had two litters 2 weeks apart. It is not necessarily a premature birth - rabbits have 2 horns (basically two uteri) and can have two separate litters; which sounds like what happened.

I am sure she is stressed, hence the ripping of the hair and what not. You my need to give her bedding/nesting material for the new litter. I can't figure out if the first mother, who had 2 litters, is feeding either of the litters? If you can, have the one of the litters (whichever litter is closer to the small buns litter birth date) and put them with her - IF THERE ARE NOT TOO MANY - see if she will accept them as her own. (If you need you can sometimes use some of the fur from small buns box and rub on the new babies so they smell like her - rabbits when first born do not have a scent and the fur from mom smells like mom so mom takes care of them). In the wild rabbits leave their young between 3 and 4 weeks to fend for themselves - maybe mom is not sure what to do - is this her first litters? Did you mean to breed them?

You really need to be careful if there are more than 8 baby rabbits. Each baby needs a tit to suckle and rabbits have 8. Baby rabbits should suckle at a minimum of 4 weeks to get good gut flora; they will begin to munch hay around 2 1/2 - 3 weeks and you can provide pellets (DO NOT provide any pellet mixes with "treats" this can make the babies very sick) but still need their mother's milk until 6 - 7 weeks if possible.

You will also need to provide Alfalfa hay and Alfalfa pellets to the nursing mom's and babies - this is high in calories and is soft for the babies to munch; nursing mom's and babies need the extra calories as the babies grow VERY fast in the first 6 months and nursing mom's need more calories while nursing.

If you are going to leave the babies away from their mom then they should try to be with another mother nursing - if possible. If not, be sure to have a box/blanket etc for the babies to keep warm they can't regulate their body temp until closer to 4 weeks appx. Watch them closely that they are drinking and eating well - you may want to try kitten formula and bottle feed - once a day at the end of the day and give them only 1 - 2 cc at this time - research this online and get an idea of how much to give them. They will need to be drinking water since they are not nursing, you may have to force this if they are not on their own...watch their poop - if dry and crumbly they don't have enough water in their system. Their poop should be almost small pea size at this time...2 1/2 weeks ish....if not they are not eating enough. You may also want to check into kitten formula and mix it with Critical Care and give to the babies - you can try to make it and put in a small dish with a wide opening or on a plate and see if they eat this on their own...it may help to keep them eating and hydrated and getting the calories they need.

hope things go well - keep me updated please

 

[Yubin]

Yubin,

I did not understand that the first mother (names would be helpful in cases such as this) had two litters 2 weeks apart. It is not necessarily a premature birth - rabbits have 2 horns (basically two uteri) and can have two separate litters; which sounds like what happened.

I am sure she is stressed, hence the ripping of the hair and what not. You my need to give her bedding/nesting material for the new litter. I can't figure out if the first mother, who had 2 litters, is feeding either of the litters? If you can, have the one of the litters (whichever litter is closer to the small buns litter birth date) and put them with her - IF THERE ARE NOT TOO MANY - see if she will accept them as her own. (If you need you can sometimes use some of the fur from small buns box and rub on the new babies so they smell like her - rabbits when first born do not have a scent and the fur from mom smells like mom so mom takes care of them). In the wild rabbits leave their young between 3 and 4 weeks to fend for themselves - maybe mom is not sure what to do - is this her first litters? Did you mean to breed them?

You really need to be careful if there are more than 8 baby rabbits. Each baby needs a tit to suckle and rabbits have 8. Baby rabbits should suckle at a minimum of 4 weeks to get good gut flora; they will begin to munch hay around 2 1/2 - 3 weeks and you can provide pellets (DO NOT provide any pellet mixes with "treats" this can make the babies very sick) but still need their mother's milk until 6 - 7 weeks if possible.

You will also need to provide Alfalfa hay and Alfalfa pellets to the nursing mom's and babies - this is high in calories and is soft for the babies to munch; nursing mom's and babies need the extra calories as the babies grow VERY fast in the first 6 months and nursing mom's need more calories while nursing.

If you are going to leave the babies away from their mom then they should try to be with another mother nursing - if possible. If not, be sure to have a box/blanket etc for the babies to keep warm they can't regulate their body temp until closer to 4 weeks appx. Watch them closely that they are drinking and eating well - you may want to try kitten formula and bottle feed - once a day at the end of the day and give them only 1 - 2 cc at this time - research this online and get an idea of how much to give them. They will need to be drinking water since they are not nursing, you may have to force this if they are not on their own...watch their poop - if dry and crumbly they don't have enough water in their system. Their poop should be almost small pea size at this time...2 1/2 weeks ish....if not they are not eating enough. You may also want to check into kitten formula and mix it with Critical Care and give to the babies - you can try to make it and put in a small dish with a wide opening or on a plate and see if they eat this on their own...it may help to keep them eating and hydrated and getting the calories they need.

hope things go well - keep me updated please

So sorry about the confusion! So the mother who hides from her children and plucks another mother's fur is named momo. She didn't have any litter after I separated them. Her babies are 2.5 weeks old and whenever I put them in her pen with her, she starts plucking their fur and the babies ended up running away.

Here let me clarify: Momo is the mother that doesn't give attention to her children much and she hides. Small bunbun is another mother who recently gave birth in the same cage. But they were grooming each other and such BEFORE her litter. But it seems like AFTER small bunbun's litter, momo was plucking small bunbun';s fur and her children's fur (as in pregnancy symptoms rather than aggressive). She chases them to pluck their fur and she has their fur in her mouth (even after we separated them). She doesn't rip her own fur though.

I ended up putting momo in another pen for now and she's fine, not even plucking her fur. I also gave her newspaper and bedding material, she goes in there to do her business and doesn't do anything with them.
Small bunbun only had 2 litter. But momo's children are 2.5 weeks old (not sure if they still need milk).

Is is possible to have a new litter not even 30 days after? Since her children are 2.5 weeks and if shes pregnant, she can have another litter? Many sites say it's 30 days apart.

Yes! I have put the babies in a small box where they can run around freely for now. I don't want to disrupt small bunbun;s nursing with her own litter. They have been eating fine and drinking water fine! It seems like they like the box more since they flops a lot in there!

All of them are seemingly healthy. Eating well, pooping well.
I actually increased the dosage for alfalfa pellets for the mothers. They are used to eating Timothy hay pellets, so I slowly put the alfalfa pellets in to mix it.
But now it worries me that they don't really touch their food.
Momo touches her hay more than her pellets. Small bunbun touches her pellets more than hay.
I guess it might take time.

After removing momo into a pen and she's not plucking anyone's fur - it does seem like she was stress and/or some hormonal changes. I'm not sure if small bunbun;s litter or smell got to momo's babies that's why she ended up plucking her own babies fur?

Everyone seems fine right now! Thank you! I will try those thing you said as well!