Baby bunnies

[encorewrc]

my albino lop eared has just had 6 baby bunnies(babettes as my son calls them) and ive got a few question for the moreexperienced rabbit owners( as i haven't kept rabbits for long) when wegot her she was pregnant and wasn't sure how long she had left, daybefore yesterday she had 6 babies(we think) as we have not disturbedher, we've been feeding her, usual food plus more hay and fruit andveg..been told by the vet that is the righ thing to do but forgot toask her some things..

How long is it till i can clean her hutch out? and what happens if oneof the babies seems to be smaller and more neglected than the others,can i feed it nd care for it indoors or just leave nature to take itscourse

Dee x

 

[aurora369]

Hi,

Welcome to RO!

I'm going to do my best to answer your questions for you, and move this to the Rabbitry section so other breeders can see it.

First, have you checked each individual baby? You need totake them out of the nest, make sure there's no hidden dead babies orleft over after births.

Make sure each baby has a round belly. If they all do, thenmom is feeding them and looking after them. Mom will onlyfeed/visit babies once or twice a day.

I would free feed mom, she's gonna need alot of energy to produceenough milk to feed all those babies. You should always freefeed hay too.

I would clean the cage the same as before, just don't clean thenest. But keeping a clean environment is important tokeeping babies healthy.

If a couple babies seem to be smaller, make sure they have roundbellies. If they don't seem to be feeding as much, you cangive them a chance to nurse on their own. Take the big onesout of the nest, leaving the little ones in there. Then takemom, and gently hold her over the nest, making sure she doesn't get toostressed.

Try to keep mom there for about 5 minutes.

Then you can put all the babies back. This will give the little ones a chance to get some extra nutrients.

If you have any more questions, please ask us!!

--Dawn

 

[encorewrc]

aurora369 wrote:

Hi,

Welcome to RO!

I'm going to do my best to answer your questions for you, and move this to the Rabbitry section so other breeders can see it.

First, have you checked each individual baby? You need totake them out of the nest, make sure there's no hidden dead babies orleft over after births.

Make sure each baby has a round belly. If they all do, thenmom is feeding them and looking after them. Mom will onlyfeed/visit babies once or twice a day.

I would free feed mom, she's gonna need alot of energy to produceenough milk to feed all those babies. You should always freefeed hay too.

I would clean the cage the same as before, just don't clean thenest. But keeping a clean environment is important tokeeping babies healthy.

If a couple babies seem to be smaller, make sure they have roundbellies. If they don't seem to be feeding as much, you cangive them a chance to nurse on their own. Take the big onesout of the nest, leaving the little ones in there. Then takemom, and gently hold her over the nest, making sure she doesn't get toostressed.

Try to keep mom there for about 5 minutes.

Then you can put all the babies back. This will give the little ones a chance to get some extra nutrients.

If you have any more questions, please ask us!!

--Dawn

Thank you for your help, we've had a good look at them and there is onein there which seems really skinny andnot a belly on it,going to go and do as you said as we want to give them all a fightingchance.. ive been feeding momreally wellhay, freshveg etc, she is very trusting an lets us check on herbabies,

will give you an update after ive let the tinyone feed

Thank you

dee x

 

[aurora369]

That's good to hear that they are doing well.

What kind of bunnies are they? If they are dwarfs, you mayhave a peanut. A peanut is a baby that has a double dwarfinggene. It is fatal and only a handful have been known tosurvive, and then only for a year or so.

Sometimes babies will just fail to thrive.

We can do our best to help them along, but sometimes there isn't much we can do.

Can you take some pictures for us??

--Dawn

 

[encorewrc]

well mummy's a albino lop eared, and daddy wassuposedly an english rex, i can see the dark markings on the babetteswhich has narrowed it down.. there really big babies as well i thoughtthey'd be tiny but each one is at least 2inches long and very veryactive, just tried the feeding thing but ended up cuddling mummy as sheis very placid and had the tiny baby feed off her that way... she wasvery good about it.. but then again she is very docile rabbit, will dothe same tomorrow night as we put the baby back and he wormed his wayto the bottom of baby pile

I'll try and get some pics up later on



dee x

 

[aurora369]

The bottom of the baby pile is a much covettedspot. It's the lucky baby that gets squished on the bottom asit's the warmest. I always have a giggle when they startfighting for that position.

I'm glad to hear you found a method that works for you.

I hope the little one gains some weight soon.

--Dawn

 

[encorewrc]

aurora369 wrote:

The bottom of the baby pile is a much covettedspot. It's the lucky baby that gets squished on the bottom asit's the warmest. I always have a giggle when they startfighting for that position.

I'm glad to hear you found a method that works for you.

I hope the little one gains some weight soon.

--Dawn

thank you for the help,

i think the tiny one has started to fight back, just wentdown there and he/she has a lovely round belly so been nicely fed, allsnuggled and warm there starting to get a nice downy fur on them nowand they've got quite big in the space of a couple of days i'll postsome pics up in a little while



dee x

 

[aurora369]

Those little guys grow so fast! In notime at all they will be hopping all over and look like a bunniesinstead of little piggies.

Good to hear the little one is doing well! It's always nice to see the ping pong ball bellies.

--Dawn