caring for a 4 or 5 week old mini lop

[momto1]

Ok so I was talking to a woman about buying a baby rabbit she had from an upcoming litter. I said we just wanted a boy, color didn't matter to us.

Anyways when I first contacted the woman she said she had some babies ready to go in about 4 weeks, some mini lops, so I said we wanted a boy. She said that they were 4 weeks old when I first talked to her. Well after a couple emails back and forth she said they'd be ready in about 1-2 weeks that they were eating pellets and hay and drinking from a bottle.

Now I checked her online ad and it said they were ready NOW (which was like 2 days ago) so I emailed her and asked and she said they were old enough and were able to go. So we picked up our boy yesterday. Now when we picked him up she said his birthday was either June or July 5th but when I emailed her she said it was July 10th (which would have literally put him atone monthwhen we picked him up).

I know he is eating his hay and drinking out of his bottle. We couldn't get timothy so we got Oxbow orchard grass (the only other option was the Kaytee alfalfa but I don't like Kaytee and I don't like feeding alfalfa hay). She said she feeds the purina show rabbit formula so we got some of that too.

Anyways I have been doing a little reading and most people say their lop's ears don't getfloppy earsuntil they are about 12 weeks but his are completely flopped down. So I don't know if maybe he's older than what she said.

I am worried if our little boy is actually 4 or 5 weeks if he's going to be ok by himself now. Is there something that I need to do for him to help him? I know I shouldn't feed him any fruits or veggies and just keep him on his regular pellets and hay.

We are first time rabbit owners so are worried about him but are willing to do whatever it takes. Also at what age are you able to tell what sex the bunny is? The breeder said he was a boy but at this age he could be a she.

 

[Luvr of Wabbits and Polar Bears]

I have just wanted to say feeding Alfalfa hay is ok to young rabbits. Orchard grass is a good hay as well.

Sorry can't help with anything else.
momto1 wrote:

I know he is eating his hay and drinking out of his bottle. We couldn't get timothy so we got Oxbow orchard grass (the only other option was the Kaytee alfalfa but I don't like Kaytee and I don't like feeding alfalfa hay). She said she feeds the purina show rabbit formula so we got some of that too.

 

[TinysMom]

I use alfalfa and/or coastal hay with my babies...I like to start them on alfalfa when they're young like that and then mix it with the coastal as they hit 3 months or so...but that's just me.

I'm going to move this to the rabbitry so that you can hear more from breeders on working with a baby this age...

 

[murph72]

Somehow I missed this post until now...sorry.

With a mini lop, they will lop pretty early, so it's usual to see a 4 week old (or even younger) that has lopped ears. So it is possible that he is that young and is lopped already. Their ears are longer than a Holland lops, so they tend to fall much earlier.

The breeder you got him from sounds obviously shady. Most reputable breeders keep a book that shows the birth days of their babies. Many will even put the birth date on the care sheet they send home with the baby. I think one of the issues with mini lops is that many people don't realize how large a mini lop actually gets. A mini lop at 4 weeks is comparable to a Holland lop in size at maybe 7 weeks. By the time a mini lop is 8 weeks it has really lengthened quite a bit. This breeder may be trying to get rid of the young while they are still very small in the fear that when they're bigger she won't have as much placing them in new homes. That's just my guess...for what it's worth.

I raise both Hollands and Mini Lops. I love the personalities of both. The minis can get to be around 6 to 7 pounds as an adult, but they really are gentle giants.

As far as taking care of you new little one, I'd stick to primarily hays. I'd give him limited amounts of pellets. If he has too many pellets all at once after switching over from mom's milk, he can develop GI problems that can be fatal. The more hay he eats at this age, the better for his digestive system. I'd stay away from fruits and veggies right now because you don't know if he and his mom had them when he was little. If they didn't and you feed them now it could also cause GI problems...most likely the runs and gas, which are treatable but you'd rather avoid in a little one. If you want to give him a small treat, I do use Cheerios. I give a few to my babies every night as I am giving them to the other bunnies. You don't want to give too many, but a couple of them will be fine. If he does develop lose stools, you can give him old fashioned oats....they love them and they work wonders at fixing the problem.

As far as his sex, you can tell it at four weeks pretty easily if you know what you're doing....which this breeder may or may not from the sounds of her business practices. Here's a web site that shows you how to sex them: http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/sexing.shtml There are links to follow for a boy and a girl at the bottom of the page. You'd be looking at a bunny that would look more like the pictures at the bottom of the page since yours is a baby and won't have testicles for awhile yet. I don't know why you wanted a boy, but I've had female Mini lops as pets prior to breeding...they really do make excellent pets, regardless of their gender. Of course, if you name him something girlie he may have gender identity issues. :biggrin2: Just kidding!

 

[momto1]

murph72 wrote:

Somehow I missed this post until now...sorry.

With a mini lop, they will lop pretty early, so it's usual to see a 4 week old (or even younger) that has lopped ears. So it is possible that he is that young and is lopped already. Their ears are longer than a Holland lops, so they tend to fall much earlier.

The breeder you got him from sounds obviously shady. Most reputable breeders keep a book that shows the birth days of their babies. Many will even put the birth date on the care sheet they send home with the baby. I think one of the issues with mini lops is that many people don't realize how large a mini lop actually gets. A mini lop at 4 weeks is comparable to a Holland lop in size at maybe 7 weeks. By the time a mini lop is 8 weeks it has really lengthened quite a bit. This breeder may be trying to get rid of the young while they are still very small in the fear that when they're bigger she won't have as much placing them in new homes. That's just my guess...for what it's worth.

I raise both Hollands and Mini Lops. I love the personalities of both. The minis can get to be around 6 to 7 pounds as an adult, but they really are gentle giants.

As far as taking care of you new little one, I'd stick to primarily hays. I'd give him limited amounts of pellets. If he has too many pellets all at once after switching over from mom's milk, he can develop GI problems that can be fatal. The more hay he eats at this age, the better for his digestive system. I'd stay away from fruits and veggies right now because you don't know if he and his mom had them when he was little. If they didn't and you feed them now it could also cause GI problems...most likely the runs and gas, which are treatable but you'd rather avoid in a little one. If you want to give him a small treat, I do use Cheerios. I give a few to my babies every night as I am giving them to the other bunnies. You don't want to give too many, but a couple of them will be fine. If he does develop lose stools, you can give him old fashioned oats....they love them and they work wonders at fixing the problem.

As far as his sex, you can tell it at four weeks pretty easily if you know what you're doing....which this breeder may or may not from the sounds of her business practices. Here's a web site that shows you how to sex them: http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/sexing.shtml There are links to follow for a boy and a girl at the bottom of the page. You'd be looking at a bunny that would look more like the pictures at the bottom of the page since yours is a baby and won't have testicles for awhile yet. I don't know why you wanted a boy, but I've had female Mini lops as pets prior to breeding...they really do make excellent pets, regardless of their gender. Of course, if you name him something girlie he may have gender identity issues. :biggrin2: Just kidding!

Thank you! We just wanted a boy just because we have good luck with boy animals. Usually boys are last to be picked too so we feel bad for the boys.

Well we give him as much hay as he can eat but he seems to have slowed down on hay now and opts for his pellets:?. Which is wierd because before he ate his hay nonstop before. I wonder if the pellets I was feeding him were a little on the not fresh side, even our chins were starting to snub them a little. I offer him loose orchard grass but I also have the cubes of timothy hay laying around for him as well. He's at about 1/4 cup of pellets a day of purina advanced nutrition and probably and heaping handful of orchard grass and some slight nibbling on his timothy cubes.

We aren't offering him any treats now because he's so young I just want him eating the pellets and hay for awhile in a few months we'll add a little veggies here and there but we read not until 6 months.

He's still very active and happy he's actually starting to hop into my lap and let me pet him sometimes when I have him out for playtime. He knows when it's time to eat too because he's waiting forme to feed him He's always standing by his dishes when I get up in the morning and right after I lay the kids down he's always waiting there patiently, if I walk past he hops over to the far end of his cage with this look on his face like "EXCUSE ME?".

 

[murph72]

It is safe not to give him veggies until 6 months because you don't know if he had them when he was younger or if the mom had them when she was pregnant. So, what you read is correct.

If you can get some timothy hay that is fresh, I have some bunnies that really prefer that to the alfalfa or anything in cubes. Some bunnies really aren't big on eating hay, but if your little guy was eating hay he should continue to do so. As he gets a bit older I'd switch him from the alfalfa to all timothy. The alfalfa is OK when they're younger but not great for them when older. The timothy will work great for his digestion.

I wouldn't worry about giving him a couple of Cheerios. I use them as a daily snack and it's something the buns really love. There's not really anything in them that's going to be bad for his digestion. Now, I do give about maybe six to a bun that size, not a bowl or anything like that. He'll most likely become addicted to them, but it's a cool way to get him to learn to stand up and take them from your hand, or to just bond with him by giving him something he'll love as a small treat. Some of the treats they make have far too much sugar in it, but the Cheerios are pretty low in sugar and they're made from oats, which I give my bunnies anyway. The like the Cheerios better than the oats though.

Just keep an eye on his "outtake." If you see a decrease in production or unusual looking poos, then you should investigate the cause. Otherwise, if it's going in and coming out OK, your little one should be fine.