Hello!!

[mpalamar]

Hello! My name is Melissa - I'm 22 years old andI live in Quebec, Canada. This past weekend I decided to go out and buysome rabbits. I've always wanted rabbits for pets but my parents wouldnever allow it. I also have 3 cats and 1 dog.

So on Saturday I went to the local pet store and saw the 2 cutestbunnies sleeping together in a cage. I went there knowing I was comingout of there with a bun - and in the end I ended up coming out withboth buns! They were just too **** cute and they seemed to be veryclose and well associated.

One of them is all white with red eyes, her name is Friskie and theother is beige and white and her name is Poopers. Why these funnynames? Well when I brought them home I let them run loose for a littlewhile so they could become familiar with their surroundings andFriskies right away ran towards my cats food (which happens to be theFriskies brand) and the other one, all she did was walk around and poopeverywhere (nerves or marking her territory?) - so she got the namepoopers. Better than what my 3 year old son wanted.... he wanted tocall them Freddie1 and Freddie2 ... lol.

I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone on the board, and learning more about my 2 new adorable buns!


Sincerely,
Melissa

 

[bat42072]

welcome... congrats on the new bunnies...i liketheirnames...becky:angelandbunny:

 

[aurora369]

Hi and Welcome to RO!!

Your little bun Poopers was most likely marking his/her territory withall those poops. That's how buns claim what is their's, theypoop on it.

Are you keeping your little buns together in the same cage at themoment? I would advise you get a second cage to keep themseparate for now in case you have a boy/girl mix. Rabbits donot have a menstrual cycle, and give no warning when they are sexuallymature. If you have a boy/girl mix, you will 100% end up withmore than just two rabbits, especially since girls can get pregnantimmediately after giving birth.

I would suggest keeping them separate until you can get a rabbit savvyvet to confirm their sexes for you. Then once they are bothspayed/neutered, you can re-bond them so they can live happily together.

One of our members just got a brother/sister pair who are only about 3months old. The girl ended up pregnant, giving birth to adead baby and having to have an emergency spay because the other babygot stuck and she was bleeding.

I would hate to see you go through that with your precious little babies!

If you get the chance, check through our Bunny 101 section, it's gottons of useful information!http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_forum.php?id=17

And we love to see pictures!

--Dawn

 

[mpalamar]

I believe they are of the same sex. They were inthe same cage at the pet store and the owner of the pet store didn'tmention that they were of different gender. And to be completelyhonest, if they are boy/girl - I wouldn't mind... that would mean morebunnies! I would be so happy with that... lol.

Sincerely,
Melissa

 

[aurora369]

Rabbits are notoriously hard to sex properly, even experienced breeders and vets have problems.

Most pet stores keep their rabbits in one cage because it's easier forthem. Less cages to clean and supply withfood/water. They don't even know the sexes most of the time,and don't bother checking because they will be gone before they are oldenough to breed. And if they do breed, then oh well, they canjust sell them.

Rabbits can start breeding as early as 3 months old. It takes28-32 days for them to give birth, then they can become pregnantimmediately after giving birth.

So, lets say you keep your little ones together, in about 6 weeks youhave your first litter and the average size is about 6 babies and notall of them will survive (death by hypothermia is verycommon). She gets pregnant immediately following the birth(assuming no babies get stuck and no life saving operation is needed),so in 4 weeks you have to take her first litter away early and handfeed them till they are about 6-8 weeks old because they lost mom'smilk.

You will then need seperate cages for the boy babies and the girlbabies so they don't breed. Find homes for them and beresponsible for them in the future if someone can no longer care forthem.

The second litter arrives and mom is impregnated again afterbirth. The babies will again have to be hand fed and thenseperated by sex at 8 weeks (which means more cages).

This time mom is too worn out from all the litters and she dies inchild birth. Some of the babies possibly made it, which meansyou have to hand feed them (and hand fed babies have a very highmortality rate). The other babies are dead.

I understand that it's fun to have babies running around as they areever so cute! But are you fully equipped to deal with allproblems that can arise when a bun has babies?

If you really want to have baby bunnies, then I would suggestcontacting a local shelter or rescue and volunteering to foster apregnant or nursing bunny. This time of year there will bemany pregnant girls dropped off at shelters and in most cases if thereare no foster homes available, the mom and babies will be euthanized ifthe shelter is not equipped to deal with them.

If you want to have a go at sexing them yourself, there is informationhere:http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12064&forum_id=17
There are a few good pictures there.

Also, if they are both the same sex, they will most likely startfighting once they reach sexual maturity. Rabbits are veryterritorial and it is very unlikely that two unaltered rabbits willcontinue to live together happily after 6-8 months of age.

For many reasons, it is a good idea to house them separately until they can be spayed or neutered.

If you would like to take some pictures of their genitals and post athread in the Rabbitry, some one may be able to help you figure outwhat sex they are.

--Dawn

 

[TinysMom]

We just had a member on here that wound uphaving a young doe get pregnant...and having to have an emergency spay.It turned out the doe did deliver kits but one was not fully formed andone was stuck and one was dead...or something like that.

Breeding sounds like fun - it really does. I'm a breeder and I know the"fun" side - and the "not so fun" side. A couple of weeks ago, we hadto put down a litter because they were BADLY deformed. No - they werenot a brother/sister breeding (which your kits could be)...

I hope you understand - we're not trying to jump all over you here-we're actually about the most "breeder-friendly" board I know of.

It's just - we're here for the bunnies and we've seen a lot of thingshappen over the last few months. I'd hate for your young children tosee something like a deformed baby or a mama that is having problemsdelivering a kit 'cause she's too young to really have had them.

Please consider having them checked by a vet or a breeder to determinetheir sex (pet stores don't care and they're usually young enough whenthey're there that it doesn't matter)....and then separate them.

It might save you some heartache in the end...and that's really what we're after.

Peg

P.S. By the way- a BIG BIG welcome to the forum! This is a great place to hang out and talk bunnies.

mpalamar wrote:

I believe they are of thesame sex. They were in the same cage at the pet store and the owner ofthe pet store didn't mention that they were of different gender. And tobe completely honest, if they are boy/girl - I wouldn't mind... thatwould mean more bunnies! I would be so happy with that... lol.

Sincerely,
Melissa

 

[mpalamar]

Oh I completelyunderstand, and I have full intentions of finding out the genders, butjust not today... lol. By the end of the month I will bring them(granted I can find a vet that works with rabbits).

Thank you everyone for the big welcome!

Melissa

 

[Michaela]

Welcome to the forum!:wave:

Do you have any pictures?

It really would be best to find out the gender now, there is such a huge problem with overpopulation of domestic rabbits.

Michaela, Ebony:bunny5, Pebble:anotherbun and Maddie:bunny16

 

[Daffy]

Hi and welcome I wouldsecond finding out the sex now. We bought twosupposedly female buns from the pet shop and we now have 10!! They arecute but caused a lot of worry at the time and ongoing. Bythe time we've spayed /neutered (£400) VHD & mixi jabs +boosters ( £750) and sundry vet bills (currently £100 so farthis year) I don't think we'll be going on holiday anytime soonAnd to be honest, after finding this forum and becomingaware of the number of buns awaiting rescue, I'd rather we'd adopted 8than have it happen by accident.

 

[maherwoman]

Hi! Welcome to Rabbits Only!

I can't wait to see pictures of your cuties!

We're so happy to have you! We just look out for the bunnies, that's all.

Hugs!

Rosie & the Herd :bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance: