At what age can/should/might kits...

[neejchee]

Hi all, I have a few questions that I'm hoping you can help me with regarding 'normal' milestones for kits. As I had not intended to breed I have no idea what to expects, and my kits are starting to do all sorts of adult-like things! It's absolutely gorgeous, but also a tad concerning sometimes, just because I don't know if it's 'right' or not. They will be 4 weeks old in 2 days.

Since just before three weeks, all have been eating hay and pellets (they're total gutses!) and happily drink from the water bottles. I know they're supposed to nibble the food, but I wasn't sure when they're supposed to start drinking themselves. They have proper, long drinks just like the adults. That made me wonder if they weren't getting enough fluid from Mum anymore? They are still thriving though, and if anything are a little fat, so she must still be feeding them. Is this a normal age to drink lots of water?

Last night I watched one of them eat her own cecals. It was adorably unco - she almost fell over twice while trying to coordinate the bend under the get them - but she succeeded for multiple mouthfuls. I haven't seen the others do it though. Is it expected at this age? Should I be keeping an eye out to make sure the others are managing it?

They have learned to do their pee in the litter tray! Yay! At what point are they likely to start pooping in there too? The tiny little poops add up quickly when there's 5 of them!

At what age do pointed kits get their point colour? I believe the father was a seal point, and so far we have two solid sooty fawns/black torts, one broken, and two that appear to be REW. I know seal points have the ruby eyes, but I don't know when the colour comes in on the ears etc. Should I expect these guys to end up with colour, or assume they will stay REW?

Now the big one that is concerning me: I have read multiple times that rabbits shouldn't be fed greens until they're 6 months old. My problem is, my bunnies are little pigs and LOOOOOVE food. When Miranda and Sammy are having their greens the babies rush in and start scoffing them too. I've been trying to put them up on the scratching post levels where the kits can't get to them, but both Miranda and Sammy are a little TOO good at parenting, and immediately pass some down to the babies before staying up top to eat the rest themselves! Do I actually have to take the babies away whenever I give greens, or can their little tummies cope as long as they're still feeding from Mummy?

Thanks all!

 

[Azerane]

I don't know whether your white bunnies will end up with points, but I do believe that with pointed rabbits, I think the colour takes time to develop, and it also won't develop as much in warmer temperatures compared to colder temps.

I'm not too sure on the other issues. Many people say not to feed greens until about 6 months, but some people have success with it early on, after all in the wild they snatch grass from an early age. That being said, keep a close eye on them. If you're seeing ill effects from it in their behaviour or pooping habits, it might be worth restricting the greens to the adults only.

 

[JBun]

Eating and drinking is all normal. It all helps balance the nursing from mom. Growing baby buns need lots of food, and it would be hard for a momma bun to be the sole supplier of nutrition as they get older and bigger. Eating and drinking on their own also prepares them for weaning time.

You really shouldn't have to worry at all about the cecals. They should all figure it out as it's a natural instinct for them.

The greens are a tricky one. Sometimes when they've grown up eating them with mom, they are fine and don't have issues. And sometimes when baby buns are introduced to greens, especially when done incorrectly and given too much too fast, they can have problems. I would say that if they have already caught a snack on mom's greens and not had any digestive upset or mushy poop, then you are probably fine continuing the way you have been doing it where they are just catching little bits of mom's and gradually getting used to them. Then as they are getting older, they can gradually get more. Key is gradual introduction and watching for signs of upset. I have a bun that I got as a young baby, that the people I got her from pretty much weaned her(too early) on green leaf lettuce and she didn't even know how to eat hay or pellets when she came to me. So that's pretty much all she ate for several days until I could get her eating normal food. Caused all sorts of issues for me trying to figure out how to get her eating other foods, but she did just fine eating it at the time.

It's hard to know if they'll ever poop in the litter box. You're lucky they're peeing in there. My babies usually just peed where ever until they got older. On occasion they would hop in, but they didn't seem to catch on to what it was mom was doing in there.

I don't know much about points, but I would think at this age if they were pointed, you would at least see some sort of indication.

They're precious little things Makes me miss having baby buns around.

 

[majorv]

It takes awhile for the points to appear, but they should at least have a smudge or a little darker colored hair by now if they're going to have them. I'm basing this off the Himalayans and Californians we used to raise, which have points.