Until When Can A Dam (Mother Rabbit) Accept New Babies For Adoption?
- Thread starter toptom
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Augustus&HazelGrace
Well-Known Member
How old are the babies you are wanting to "Adopt" to her? And how many babies does she have already? What breed is she? How old are the babies she has now?
A nursing doe will continue to produce milk as long as she nurses and gets plenty of fluids. My best guess and experience, within a week or so of weaning the kits she will dry up.
Imbrium
Jennifer
One month after kindling should be ok. As long as she's still producing milk, the important questions are what Augustus&HazelGrace asked...
Thank you for the reply. I just decided not to do my plan. She is a broken black lionlop doe with only 3 kits. The gap at birth between her kits and the other ones (6 kits) is only 1 week.
That is nice! Will she continue nursing everytime I give her new kits?
good to know that.
Thank you for the reply. I just decided not to do my plan. She is a broken black lionlop doe with only 3 kits. The gap at birth between her kits and the other ones (6 kits) is only 1 week.
That is nice! Will she continue nursing everytime I give her new kits?
good to know that.
Yes, she should continue nursing if you foster kits to her. Keep in mind that nursing is hard on the doe and requires she get extra protein. I wouldn’t keep her nursing more than her litter plus another one back to back without giving her a break afterward.
I just canceled my plan. The new kits I planned for adoption are dying one by one. No idea what is happening. The mother is a first timer. They are 20 day olds already today. I noticed they are small for their size. Problem just started yesterday, one kit had tilted head and then died. Another 2 died today. No tilted head but I can notice weakness and inability to stand. From 6, now they are down to three and will be 2 by tomorrow as the other one is showing the same signs. What could this be?
You could take a kit that just died to a vet for necropsy. If you planned for this doe to have any more litters then that would be advisable.
These are NZlop breeds. My Holland lop doe with kits kindled just 5 days earlier than these kits have way bigger sizes and weight. Considering this has NZ blood... compared to holland lop....
At their 20th day? Ive checked it and didnt observe any swelling. Ive been comparing with my other doe thou with 1 month old kits with pinkish nipples, hers is whitish. Does that imply something, may be she isnt producing milk anymore.
Might cost a lot while I can just buy plenty of bunnies with a vet's price. You have any guess for this?
How old is the doe? How many litters has she had? We need a little more information to make a guess. Is the buck proven and if so, has he had healthy litters?
It could be any number of things but if all kits are affected I’d guess there may a problem with either the doe, or buck, or possibly it’s not a good pairing. Without a necropsy the only way to know is to do another breeding of that pair.
We had several necropsies done over the years, when we were breeding. If it’s done by a vet (who is rabbit savvy) then it isn’t very expensive, but if sent off to a vet school it’s more thorough and costs more.
It could be any number of things but if all kits are affected I’d guess there may a problem with either the doe, or buck, or possibly it’s not a good pairing. Without a necropsy the only way to know is to do another breeding of that pair.
We had several necropsies done over the years, when we were breeding. If it’s done by a vet (who is rabbit savvy) then it isn’t very expensive, but if sent off to a vet school it’s more thorough and costs more.
1 last. I have observed them from one day and I noticed they wasn't able to nibble on their hay. The mother always drink their water until empty instead of drinking from her nipple drinker. One last bunny remaining and it likes pellets and eats a lot of it. What I did now is I put partition for the whole day and just remove it in the afternoon til morning. So that the kit can consume food and water in the day while the mother can nurse from the afternoon til morning. Maybe she wasnt producing much milk, as implied but their sizes.
Could others have dies from starvation? I hope I'm doing right this time.
Could others have dies from starvation? I hope I'm doing right this time.
If they lasted 20 days before starting to die then I tend to think they were getting enough milk. It’s not unusual to maybe lose 1 in a litter but to lose that many is not normal.
Right. No death today. One last. It looks strong - eating and drinking a lot. It likes small pellets. I hope Im doing and learning the right thing for new Dams.
