My three mini-Tanks

[ilovetegocalderon]

As most of you know, the person watching myrabbits while I was away let Marshy and Tank "play" together eventhough I strictly said not to do this. Well, not I have threebabies. They are 2 weeks old now and their eyes are open andthey are running around. I love all of them and am keepingthem all. (Marshy is also getting spayed). To seepics, go to "Tank - I give up" thread in the general section.Jordiwes is going to post them for me as I emailed them to her so itmay take a couple hoursfrom the time I postthis.

Anyways, can anyone give me some advice....any advice.....they seem tobe doing good but i just want to make sure that im not forgetting to doanything. I help Marshy with nursing them because she doesntseem to know how to do it on her own. She's a good mom whopulled her hair out for them and licks them and plays with them now butshe never nurses. I wake up several times in the night to getit done. How long before they can start eating regular foodand alfalfa hay. any advice would be greatlyappreciated. Thanks!

 

[naturestee]

Are you sure that you're just not seeing her nurse? They usually only nurse once a day.
And I can't wait for pics!

 

[gentle giants]

Yeah, they don't usually let you see them nurse.Also, they don't lie down like cats and dogs do, a mother rabbit standsover her kits and they look up to nurse. I would think they would getcricks in their little necks, but it seems to work for them! LOL Checktheir bellies, if they look nice and round then they are getting fed.Also, Naturstee is right, they only nurse once a day, so you don't needto wake up in the night to help, even if she isn't feeding them.

 

[ilovetegocalderon]

Really? Because one night when i didntwake up to feed them i found them all spread out walking around blind,like they were trying to find the mom so they can feed. Wheni gathered them all together and prepared the mom for feeding theyseemed frantic to nurse. It had only been about 8hours. Well i guess that's good to know if its true that theyonly feed once a day because i start my new job tomorrow and i wantedto get a full night's rest!

edit - and thanks to jordiwes the pics are up!

 

[ilovetegocalderon]

Oh, and does anyone know how long before they start eating hay and pellets?

 

[Bramble Briar86]

They should start nibbling on hay and pellets if not a little bit now, then in a few more days up to another week.

-Ellie

 

[flemishr2cool]

LOL I'm not laughing at you but I love it when Iget emails from people saying that the mom isn't feeding the kits. Kitsonly need to eat once a day. I usually write back, if mom wasn'tfeeding them, they would of died a day or two after birth. They starteating pellets around 3 weeks, soon after their eyes open. Now thatthey can get to mom they will probably be asking to feed all the timeand you will see her get rough with them and push them around but thatis normal. make sure there is always a full bowl of pellets in thecage. And if you feed mom vegies try to take her out of the cage to eatthem, the kits should not be eating vegies as it is easy for them topick up some bad bacteria and sick kits die very fast.

When kits stop sleeping in the nest box I usually take it out,otherwise they end up pooping and peeing in it. You can wean the kitsfrom mom at 6-8 weeks. I like to wait until 8-12 weeks, sometimes mombunny will let you know its time for kits to moved out, lol. At 12weeks you can seperate all the bucks from eachother, but the does canstill live together okay for awhile.

Julia

 

[aurora369]

I would try giving mom a day to feed babes onher own. Check to see how baby bellies are doing, make surethey are nice and round.

And now that their eyes are open, they are going to chase mom all thetime to get more milk! I don't think you'll have a problemwith feeding anymore.

I always allow the babes to eat whatever the mom is eating. Ihaven't experienced an problems with veggies and babies. Thatbeing said, I don't feed alot of veggies, and always wait a day or twoafter a new veggy to make sure no one gets loose poop, but so far noone has.

Make sure the pellets and hay are easily accesible to the babies, Ilower my food dish to baby height. I always make sure there'ssome hay in the nest box, and I'll see them nibbling on hay as soon astwo weeks, pellets normally takes about three weeks.

Sounds like you are doing a great job! And don't forget to take more pictures!

--Dawn

 

[ilovetegocalderon]

thanks all for the advice, ill keep you posted.

 

[JAK Rabbitry]

Bunnies are supposed to be weaned in 6-8 weeks.I usually let them go the full 8 weeks. I try not ot introduce fruitsand veggies until their digeestive systems and stomachs have fullydeveloped at around 5-6 months. Even though the babiesmay be eatingsolid food before they are 6-8 weeks old, they still need mopther'smilk. Weaning them too early can send them itno a shock and theirdigestive systems may not fully develope, causing serious problems inthe future.

-JAK

 

[TinysMom]

Since my does don't get vegetables on a daily basis - when they have kits, I do not introduce vegetables for quite a while.

However, I do know of other breeders who regularly feed their doesgreens and stuff and the babies handle it just fine since they got itin mama's milk I guess.

Peg