Babies

[hoppyhop]

Hi All, i'm new here. I have a few questions.

My girl had babies, i didn't even know she was pregnant and today ifound the nest and babies in it. For the last few days she'smade a funny sound when i was with them all and she's been moredistant. I gave her a cuddle and noticed she had blood, sowould that mean she just had the babies? Is this normal?

Also, is it true that you can't touch the babies or the mum will leavethem to die? I had a quick look and we have about 5, oneblack, 2 white with spots and blots and maybe a white one and a greyone? not too sure don't want to touch them just in case.

Thanks.

 

[hellsmistress]

The blood could be that she's just had them andnot had a chance to clean up yet, just keep an eye on her for now andif you get really worried take her to the vet.

As for touching the babies, I often hold my babies within minutes oftheir birth without problems. Open the cage up and pat your doe thenjust slowly move towards the nest, she may lunge and grunt a little bitbut if she doesnt really move from her spot or bite you (i always findlong sleeves a good precaution) you should be fine to touch the babies.The more serious side of it is that you really need to get in there andcheck the nest for any dead babies.

-Chantel

 

[hoppyhop]

Thanks Chantel.

I've read that it's normal for them not to feed the babies for up to 2days after kindling, and every time i've been to see her today, ihaven't seen her in with them, and i was thinking this wasnormal. Is it?

It's my first rabbit litter and i don't want anything to go wrong.

 

[TinysMom]

Most wild rabbits will feed their young once -or at most - twice - per day. It is frequently done during the middleof the night or in the early morning hours.

I have does that will jump in and feed a few times per day - othersthat feed once per day. A lot of it depends upon the doe - how boredshe is, etc.

As soon as I find my does have kits, I am checking them on a dailybasis - and sometimes more often than that. If I have a doe that I amconcerned about (which rarelyhappens) - I put a tiny bit of vanilla(like a drop on my finger that I use) on or just above her nose. By thetime the vanilla scent has worn off - the babies smell fine to her.

If the babies are fed - they will look like they have swallowed a pingpong ball and their stomachs will look really fat. As they go throughthe day and their body processes the food - their tummies will go downin size.

If they look shrunken in the sides and wrinkly...they aren't gettingfed and you need to help mama feed them - we can help walk you throughthat if you need help.

But I would definitely be checking out the nest and making sure there are no dead babies in there (to attract flies, etc).

You might want to give mama a favorite treat to distract her while you check her nest.

Peg

 

[hoppyhop]

Thanks for the help. This is a pic itook today, they all seem alive. Hope the picworks. The more fur i moved the move they jumped around.

I'll go in tomorrow morning, it's night here now, and i'll have a lookat them. I dont' have any vanilla though, maybe put on gloves?

 

[TinysMom]

You don't have to use vanilla - and you probablydon't even have to use gloves...sometimes I feed cilantro (which has astrong enough odor of its own) to mama if she likes it.

Then again - my does are used to me messing with them - and their kits..

By the way - is one of the parents a "broken" (white with anothercolor)? I'm guessing that the one kit I can see really well in thephoto is broken black or broken something else..

Peg

 

[hoppyhop]

Here's another pic

 

[TinysMom]

Oh wow - looks like you got lucky - am I seeing one black and four brokens?

That's a high percentage of brokens in a litter...wow! I don't usually get that lucky (I love brokens).

Peg

 

[hoppyhop]

Ok, that's good to know, fingers crossed she's ok with me, she was fine when i picked her up for a cuddle.

This is mum..... no idea of the breed. Both her parents wereblack and they produced white babies with points - i guess they'recalled points, are in cats :bunnydance: the ears, nose, pawsand tail.

 

[Flashy]

In answer to your question about the mum not going near the babies, this is pretty normal.

In the wild the doe will have the litter and then leave them so as notto attract predators or anything to the hutch, and it seems to be aninstinct with domestic rabbits too. So try not to worry about that.

The babies look beautiful. I love the spotty ones, and am totally jealous because thats what we are currently trying to breed.

 

[hoppyhop]

This is dad, don't know anything about hisbackground. Got him for free and full of knots, poorboy. But he's a sweet and friendly boy. Doesn'tmind a brush either, was so good when i had to get all his knots out.

 

[hoppyhop]

Thanks everyone, the kids and me are so excited about them. I guess they'll be a lot like dad.

That's murphy's law i guess, i'm trying to get a certain color with mybirman cats and just can't get it, got all others but one.

Any ideas on the breed of my rabbits?

 

[clarzoo]

I am glad the mom is taking such good care of the babies. Looks like she made a lovely nest.

I am not sure about the breed on the mom. Where did you get her from,is she supposed to be a certain breed? Most likely she's a mix ofseveral breeds. But the dad is an American Fuzzy Lop (if you are in theUS) or a Cashmere Lop if you are elsewhere. It will be interesting tosee if any of the babies get the dad's long coat.

 

[hoppyhop]

Thanks for that, i thought all of ours were mixed. So it's nice to know dad isn't.

I had a look at the babies today, we have 6!!! 2 are black, one greybody and 3 white and black. They are so lively, so hard tohold them they wriggled so much, i had a quick look and left them, ijust hope mum takes care of them still. I'd hate to loosethem. They seemed to have almost full tummies, so i guessthey're getting fed.

 

[hoppyhop]

Still alive, so i guess mum is feeding them. I just want to cuddle them but i don't....

If mum left them, how quickly could you tell?

 

[aurora369]

You can take the babies out of the nest for a little bit, as long as you keep them warm.

Every time I have foster babies, they have a cuddle on the couch withme in a blanket for a little bit in the evening. It's a goodtime to check them over one by one to make sure they are all fed anddeveloping well.

If the bellies are nice and round then the babies are beingfed. You will most likely not see mom with the babies untilthey are out of the nest.

There are some good pictures of healthy babies in some of the otherrecent threads in the Rabbitry section. You should look at afew threads so you can tell if your babies are healthy.

--Dawn

 

[hoppyhop]

I picked up the babies again yesterday, they'regetting fur, they're so cute. One looks blue, the broken onesare adorable. Well all of them are, it's going to be hard torehome.

It's getting cold here and i don't want to take them away from mum, so i'll try to get some pics soon.