Mom Bunny Attitude Change

[Gloria97]

Hi Everyone,

I posted a few weeks ago that we found/rescued two adult rabbits off the side of the road in our neighborhood. Turned out one was male (we had him neutered) and the other was a pregnant female. She gave birth to 10 babies (1 stillborn) on April 24th. All the babies are doing well and growing fast. They have started nibbling on alfafa hay and drinking water. It seems the Mom only nurses them at night.

Starting last week the Mom's attitude has changed. She used to be relatively friendly, head butting us and wanting to be petted. Now she barely comes near us and seems to always be on edge/anxious. She has also been trying to dig and burrow more.

During the day the adults are free range in our basement. The babies stay in a refrigerator cardboard box, that the Mom can hop into if she wants but has only once or twice. During the day she doesn't show any interest in them.

At night we put her and the babies in a two story hutch. She usually hangs out on the second story and hops down to the first floor where the babies are only to nurse. Some of the babies have now figured out how to get to the second floor, which seems to stress her out.

Is this all normal behavior? I did have a previous poster point out that she may be pregnant again since we didn't separate the adults until the morning we discovered she had given birth. Her first litter will be 4 weeks this Friday.

Thank you for your thoughts/advice!

 

[bunnylove2024]

Rabbits tend to change when they have babies, it can be good or bad. She probably changed for good and now is getting weary of you. You did nothing wrong it just happens, give her time. As for the babies it could be her first litter or mabey it is the biggest litter she has had. Good luck though and let me know how it goes!

 

[zuppa]

Hi Everyone,

I posted a few weeks ago that we found/rescued two adult rabbits off the side of the road in our neighborhood. Turned out one was male (we had him neutered) and the other was a pregnant female. She gave birth to 10 babies (1 stillborn) on April 24th. All the babies are doing well and growing fast. They have started nibbling on alfafa hay and drinking water. It seems the Mom only nurses them at night.

Starting last week the Mom's attitude has changed. She used to be relatively friendly, head butting us and wanting to be petted. Now she barely comes near us and seems to always be on edge/anxious. She has also been trying to dig and burrow more.

During the day the adults are free range in our basement. The babies stay in a refrigerator cardboard box, that the Mom can hop into if she wants but has only once or twice. During the day she doesn't show any interest in them.

At night we put her and the babies in a two story hutch. She usually hangs out on the second story and hops down to the first floor where the babies are only to nurse. Some of the babies have now figured out how to get to the second floor, which seems to stress her out.

Is this all normal behavior? I did have a previous poster point out that she may be pregnant again since we didn't separate the adults until the morning we discovered she had given birth. Her first litter will be 4 weeks this Friday.

Thank you for your thoughts/advice!

Hi, it sounds indeed that she can be close to having her second litter very soon. Also if your male is neutered but you kept them together after neutering he is still fertile for a few weeks after neutering, so it is advised keeping male up to 8 weeks after neutering separately.

Don't worry if she shows no interest in kits during the day this is completely normal. Rabbits are prey animals and they would avoid the nest they don't want to attract predators to it so will only come nursing once or twice usually dusk or/and dawn.

If her 4-week old babies are growing strong and already eat some solid food and hay that's good you might need to separate them from mother after she kindles so she could save her milk for the new ones.

 

[majorv]

It could be one of two things. Now that the kits know where to find her she can’t get away from them, which will stress her out. The other thing is she might be pregnant again. If she kindles you need to remove the older kits to another area. They should be eating mom’s pellets now so they can be weaned.

 

[Gloria97]

Thank you all for the responses.

The vet told us that after the male was fixed to wait 10-14 days before reuniting. We waited 12 days. We did not know that up to 8 weeks he could still be fertile! Should we start separating them again?

And what does kindles mean? Is it when she starts making a nest?

Also, it is OK to wean the babies so young as long as they are eating hay and drinking water?

So far the babies seem to be thriving, all fat and happy I posted a picture of them and their parents (Dad is black and Mum is the calico).

I really appreciate all the guidance/advice. This is our first experience and we want to make sure we are doing things correctly.

Thanks again!

 

[zuppa]

As far as I know male rabbit can still be fertile for about 4 weeks after neutering, they usually kept separately for 6-8 weeks.

Kindling is giving birth in rabbit language, when she will give birth to her new babies in other words.

So you kept male and female separately for about two weeks after neutering, now they are back together and how long ago was he neutered, I understand they are housed together for about 2 weeks now?

It is very likely that she is pregnant again, either she's got pregnant between babies born and they were separated or when they were reunited after 12 days. So, add 31 day to that and she might be kindling very soon just in the next few days or in a couple weeks (this would be better as she could still nurse them for another two weeks until they are 6 weeks so that's when they normally can be weaned anyway). If she gives birth now you will have to separate older babies and offer them some extra food, unlimited junior (high protein 16% and calcium) pellets and unlimited hay, if you feel they are getting skinny you can give them some rolled oats every day, you will see how it goes. I think they have rich menu already since you feed alfalfa hay in addition to their regular timothy or meadow or orchard hay.

This second pregnancy is not very good for her so close because she had no time to recover but hopefully she'll be fine, just keep feeding her unlimited junior pellets and unlimited grass hay, give her some quiet place where she will feel safe and can build her nest, maybe cover it with a blanket to give some privacy.

It is also possible that she's not pregnant, digging and changes in mood could be from stress as above that babies learned how to reach her everywhere and she has no time to sleep properly as they are begging for milk every minute.

Also it can be a false pregnancy maybe your male kept humping her and she's got an impression that she is pregnant. This is also quite common and usually around day 17 she starts nesting but goes back to normal in a few days.

I can't guarantee just giving you a few possible scenarios. You will see but honestly I think she should have more babies either in a few days or in about two weeks from now.

 

[Gloria97]

The morning we found the first litter we immediately separated them. About six days later we got the male neutered. Then kept them separated for another 12 days. So they have been re-united for approximately 3 weeks. We basically just went by the vet's instructions.

The Mum was obviously trying to create a nest yesterday with anything she could find. We put her in the two story hutch for now by herself. She made a nest in there last night. She is not happy being stuck in the hutch though. I feel bad, but I know she needs to stay separated from her first litter if she is going to in fact have a second litter.

I have been feeding the babies some alfafa hay pellets and unlimited hay (mostly alfalfa but with some timothy mixed in). They are acting ravenous though like they just can't get enough to eat. Is that normal? I feel bad weaning them so young.

 

[zuppa]

Until (if) she gives birth to second litter there's no need to separate her from the babies, I don't know your situation is quite uncertain what would I do, just let her be with babies for a few hours a day so she can continue to nurse and teach them, or I would gently hold her over them once or twice a day so they still can have milk.

When (if) new babies arrive I would let her be with them full time until they are 2 weeks at least, then you will see if she gets stressed when they chasing her or not.

I have a girl, when she had babies she was fantastic mom she nursed 4 times a day until babies were 10 weeks, and she was never annoyed with her kits, she always had time for them, educated them, invested so much into them, they all are very well behaved and nice to each other, toilet trained since like 4 weeks of age. They were always fed and happy and never chased her for milk, when it was dinner time she was running between them and like gathering them like saying common dinner is ready it's time. That was fantastic to watch, especially her own mother wasn't that great and was very scared of her 4 kits, she was very stressed and yes she nursed and all but kits were probably hungry and chased her everywhere, when they started hopping around she was so frustrated, I built her a high shelf first and later just let her out for the day so she can relax and sleep and play and put her back in the evening. That worked.

So you will see how it goes. This time she is stressed because of her pregnancy probably. It is also possible that she will have less babies than first time or some babies might be weak/underdeveloped, because she had to nurse and build new bodies inside of her belly same time, at least I believe she had very good food and care from you so I hope she and babies will be fine.

So I would say don't separate them completely until she actually gives birth, new babies can survive without milk first 24-48 hours, so if you check the nest twice a day you will see them and that is when the older babies will have to go on their own.

 

[zuppa]

The morning we found the first litter we immediately separated them. About six days later we got the male neutered. Then kept them separated for another 12 days. So they have been re-united for approximately 3 weeks. We basically just went by the vet's instructions.

The Mum was obviously trying to create a nest yesterday with anything she could find. We put her in the two story hutch for now by herself. She made a nest in there last night. She is not happy being stuck in the hutch though. I feel bad, but I know she needs to stay separated from her first litter if she is going to in fact have a second litter.

I have been feeding the babies some alfafa hay pellets and unlimited hay (mostly alfalfa but with some timothy mixed in). They are acting ravenous though like they just can't get enough to eat. Is that normal? I feel bad weaning them so young.

Don't feel bad, it wasn't your fault, I think you are taking very good care of them and they have good chances to survive and grow strong.

They will start eating more pellets soon, kits are always hungry it's normal, and there I see 8 of them so they share milk anyway. I would offer them rolled oats once or twice a day, they should love them. Just put into their bowl or sprinkle on timothy hay and they will eat some hay that way as well.

If you feed junior pellets they are already alfalfa based so I don't know I never use alfalfa hay at all, but you are good for mixing it with timothy hay so you will have to transfer them to timothy anyway as they will be older. If you see excess of cecotropes around it's probably time to reduce alfalfa hay. Could be around 3-4 months.

 

[Gloria97]

Just wanted to give an update....most of you were right. Mumma bunny gave birth again Monday morning. Luckily the first litter was ok being completely weaned at that point. They are now being kept separate from the Mum and her new litter.

As some people said there was a good chance this litter would be smaller....well not this Mumma. She gave birth to eight this time! All are doing well and have full bellies each morning. I am just shocked she was able to nurse 9 babies while creating 8 more!

We still can't believe that rescuing two abandoned bunnies has resulted into raising and caring for 19 bunnies total!

I thank everyone for all the advice!! It has been helpful and much appreciated!

 

[zuppa]

That's great good to hear thanks for update!
I am very glad to hear that all babies are healthy and the older babies are about 6 week old so they will be fine. Great news!

See, you took a really good care of her and she's got enough of rich food so was able to take care of her first litter and her second litter is healthy as well. Well done!

Now just keep feeding her unlimited pellets for the next 8 weeks while she nurses and then gradually transfer her to adult pellets with lower protein, calcium and phosphorus, also start limiting her portions.

You will already know how it will be with new babies, they don't really need much attention now she will take care of them, now just older babies, they are nearly 6 weeks now?

Just keep feeding them junior pellets unlimited and if they are on alfalfa hay you can start transferring them to grass hays (timothy, meadow etc) by mixing grass and alfalfa hay. Sometimes after alfalfa they don't want eat grass hays so do it slowly increasing grass hay and reducing alfalfa gradually.

When they are 8 weeks old you can try sexing them, because by 10 weeks you will need to separate boys from girls. Check them again every week sometimes it's not easy to sex properly, they are still too small.
By 12 weeks they must be strictly separated. Boys can stay together until maybe 14-16 weeks, sometimes a bit longer, it depends on breed and personal development. When they start circling, humping, spraying each other they will need to be separated immediately, because next they will start fighting and ripping each other ears, eyes and genitals, they will fight for dominance so will need to have each their own cage/enclosure. Best if they cannot see each other or they will keep marking territory and spray urine.

Actually if you are not going to keep all 19 rabbits now is good time to take photos of them and place an advertisement for rehoming older babies, just state that they are ready to go in 2 weeks at 8 weeks old. Try rehoming boys first. Because girls can stay together for a couple months longer, after that they can also become territorial and start fighting, so you will need to separate them as well.

I would like to give more advice on rehoming just my comment is already very long, maybe later if you want. Generally you shouldn't rehome in pairs and don't rehome for free to anybody because there are many people who are using free baby rabbits for bad things, you should ask questions and ask for home check, at least photo of where they will be housed etc. Rehoming to kids is also often no good since they are losing interest after a few months or start experimenting with breeding them. This often ends with dead rabbits.

Great so again, congratulations and please keep us updated, anything you want more info please ask. Good luck with your rabbits

 

[zuppa]

Sexing baby rabbits pictures. Testicles in boys will drop usually between 10 and 20 weeks so if you see testicles that's a boy, if there's no testicles yet here's how to sex them. If you are not sure by 10 weeks you can take a clear photo and post here we will try to help.

Sometimes it is very clear even at 6-8 weeks and sometimes not that easy, babies are often mis sexed so if not sure check every week after 8 weeks until you are sure. Girls can get pregnant at 14 weeks easily, some can at 12 weeks, that would be not good since they are still too young to have babies .

https://www.rabbitsonline.net/threads/sexing-rabbit-pictures.44936/

 

[Gloria97]

Thank you for that advice about sexing!

We luckily have a lot of trusted family referred friends that are interested in homing the babies. One of which currently has/runs a bunny farm (just for leisure) who will take any remaining babies that we can't find homes for. But so far we have

We are going to keep the two adults and two of the babies from the first litter. We plan on fixing the babies if they are male. If they are fixed are you able to keep males together? The adult male was fixed 5 weeks ago.

 

[Gloria97]

I just realized I didn't finish one of my sentences..."But so far we have 11 babies spoken for."