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introoder

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I woke up this morning, looked over and saw a small mass laying on the wire in Beatrix's cage. I rushed over, picked it up, and it was still alive. Yaaay. I pulled out the nest box, only to find three more in there. For a Netherland Dwarf's first litter? Not bad, I've heard.

No worries. Pics as soon as I can find my camera. Anywho. No one's been fed yet. Can you feel the milk when it's in? Her instincts are seeming pretty strong. (She nests like a bat-outta-hell while I was sleeping last night. She even broke out of her cage, and used a scarf she found. No worries, I took it back, though.) How long should I wait before intervining with feeding? I have rabbit milk replacer on hand. (Go clearance sale at petsmart!)

Also. She's stepping on the babies some, and their squeeling when she does. How can I help with that/do I need to?

I'm very happy. My first litter born, and I already have two more on the way. Fweee with happiness.
 
She may not feed them for the first 24 hours, and that is okay. When they have been fed they will plump out and have nice round bellies.

She will feed them by standing over them, so perhaps that is what she is doing when the babies are squeaking? They do squeak when being fed and when they want to be fed.

Before trying hand feeding if the babies have not been fed by tomorrow, I would help mom feed them first. You do this by gently holding her in place over the babies in the nest. Move back the fur and stand her over top of the babies distracting her with some treats or pets. Let the babies suckle for about 5 minutes. The suckling will stimulate her to produce more milk (which equals more pressure for her to release so she's more likely to nurse on her own) and the babies should get enough milk to sustain them until the next feeding. Help her to feed twice a day for a couple of days, and she should get the idea pretty quickly.

However, seeing as her nest is so awesome, it sounds like her mothering instincts are strong and that she is probably feeding them.

There are some very well fed babies in this thread:
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=54134&forum_id=8
You're babies should look similar to those ones if they are well fed.

-Dawn
 
Nope. No one's been fed yet. All wrinkly, but very definitely active. I had them out to look at them an hour ago, and they seem to be wanting food. I'll hold off helping until tomorrow, though.

I'm also very interested in what colors there are. I can't tell if the lightest ones are siamese sables, or sable points. I've been hoping that Beatrix carries a little e, but I'm not sure. There's three light ones, and one very dark one. I'd assume the dark one would be seal, if the light ones are siamese sables. I dunno though. I wanna take pictures, but I think the camera's in the work truck. grr. >.>;
 
4 am head check: 4 still alive. Don't look to be recently fed. But earlier in the day, I accidentally interuptted a feeding, but she's at least got the idea down. I think I'm going to lose the little dark one. Not only is he tiny, (i don't think peanut, though) but he's just not... Doing well it seems. Dunno how to describe it.
 
Often times you end up with a "fader" in the litter. There is normally something wrong internally that can't be seen. Perhaps they can't digest the milk properly or heart/lungs aren't developed properly.

If you want to try and give the little one an extra nursing with mom, that could help him if he's not able to compete with siblings for milk. You can take the others out of the nest, and then try to get momma to feed just the little baby. Or take the little baby out and take momma to the little baby.

-Dawn
 
Yaaay Pictures!

So. Day 2!

Mama's Nest. Sooo much fur. o.o; And no hay. LOL.
mamasnest.jpg


And this is Beatrix, the mother. She's going through her uglies right now. This was a semi-planned breeding, that accidentally happened a month or so early. She's 4 months old, one weeks ago.
beatrix.jpg


Mama's second pic. The dark saddle is where the adult fur is in, and the middle light color is where it's growing in. She looks so ugly right now. XDDD
beatrix2.jpg


And now for the babies! Three (Siamese sables?) and one (seal?). Can anyone help with color identification. If the light ones are Siamese sables, then that's so sad about her not carrying a little e. I was really hoping for a sable point. XD
groupshot2.jpg


Group Shot 2. Work it babies!
groupshot.jpg


Baby Number 1. This guy's my favorite, but the weakest of them all.
sealbaby.jpg


S/he's too cute to just ignore. XDD
seal.jpg


Baby 4. I guess the other two wouldn't upload. Oh well. Too many pics anyways. LOL. He's my little fat one.
baby3.jpg


Weird Spot? Just noticed this. A little funky patch. Just different coloring, or what?
weirdspot.jpg


Beatrix Feeding. Yaaay! Babies were looking not fed, and were sounding out for food, so I figured Bea could sit still enough for one small feeding. (The little seal really needed it.)
mamafeeding.jpg


Action Shot. LOL. Clean, clean, clean, clean.
feedingtime.jpg


Bellies all full. Ready to sleeps.
wellfed.jpg


Bed time. Yaaay. fwee. sleep in peace, little babies.
wellfed2.jpg





Alrighty. So. Me not being experienced.. See any peanuts? That's what I'm most concerned with. Also, color indentification help would rock.

Umn. Veeery happy. =D
 
what happen to all the fur that was in the box.. The last 2 photos it looks not so full of fur
 
Sad, yet good find today: Two more babies born across the room. Turns out when Beatrix escaped her cage to grab nesting stuff, she gave birth to two more babies across the room, under/in a hat. I never heard them, or saw them, obviously. I found them today while cleaning my room before someone came over.

It's completely my fault that I didn't find them. Really sad, too. They seemed really healthy. Niced size. Right in the middle between my big one, and my middle ones. At the same time. Day 9 palpating told me 4 babies. Day 14+ told me 3. How should I have known 6? Not to mention, when I found the fourth on the wire, I thought THAT was the surprise.

In this comes a blessing, though. Beatrix never would have been able to feed six. And I really don't want to jepordize the whole litter by adding in two more.

My only thing is. Six babies? WTH? Purebred Netherland Dwarfs on both sides. She was only 3 months old when Kiddo got her. How could such a little body handle so many kits?

Day 4 pictures coming later tonight...
 
o_O; Looking at other baby pictures, I'm now thinking that I have three sable points and one siamese sable. If so, that's crazy. The genetics are not match up at all. yaaay weird percentages. LOL.
 
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