new babies

[newmommyhelper]

I bought three male Holland Dwarf Lopsfrom a pet store, however, they look a little bigger than what Ithought dwarfs would be. Anyway, one of them turned out to bea girl and we got seven little surprizes today. It was sothrilling. I don't know what I need to do to help mommy outthough. She's in a medium size cage now since we had toseparate her from the males. She has pine litter and beddingfluff put in the corner where her babies have burrowed down intoit.I saw mommy lick one of the babies one time, butshe hasn't seemed to pay any attention to them since that.She's only approx. 6 months old and this is her first litter.I'm afraid she won't feed them. Could someone please give mesome advise? :shock:

 

[HankHanky]

Hello Mommy helper,

if you have a nestbox in with the Dam [Mother rabbit] you have nothingto worry about. Mother rabbits are not like Cats or Dogs. They do notstay with the nest. They only go there to feed usualy once aday inearly morning or late evening. This is a protective instinct to keeppredators from locating the nest. Sometimes they are not fedimmediately. To check if they've been fed take the kits out and see ifthey have a round belly. then they have been fed. If they are wrinklyand shriveled they have not. You will have to check in the morning andthe evening to find out when she feeds them. She is a veryyoung mother. Just another reason one should purchase their rabbitsfrom a reputable Breeder. NOT a Petshop! JMPO.

Dennis,C.V.R.

 

[DaisyNBuster]

onyour new kits!! Yes as HankHanky saidDoes feed once at nightor morning so chances are you wont see her doing it - I never got theprivilege of seeing Daisy . Check for warm fat tummys.Don't worry about handling them either - the more the better, to getthem used to it and to give them a proper once over! If she isn'tfeeding the kits or a particular kit, take the kits and put them to her- they should suckle fine then. If no luck with that then someone willbe able to give you more help if you need it - just ask, we have somebunny experts here!

We had thesame problem, we bought 2 'polishdwarffemales' - turned out we had one female, one male and they aren'tdwarfs at all . Most pet stores say that a rabbit is a dwarf becausethe rabbit is small and they are just guessing.

Just wondering - Did you separate the bucks from the Doe straight aftershe had the kits? I didn't as I didn't know she was pregnant and shehad another litter 31 days later.

Hope they are doing ok - keep us posted. Love to see pics if you are able to!

Oh yes - Welcome to the board!

Vickie

PS HankHanky - Love those kits - how sweet. I went on your homepage too- you have lots of lovely bunnies, I just love that chinchilla rabbit.

 

[newmommyhelper]

DaisyNBuster, thanks foryour reply. It doesn't look like she's fed them yet and shehad them around 5:30 p.m. yesterday (Sunday) central time.She's not hurting them, but when I try to put them up to her she jumpsaway. Maybe she just isn't wanting to feed them aroundme.I had separated her before she had the babies,because I had noticed that she was getting really fat and eating a lotextra. Prior to this, I hadalso decided to checkfor testicles again on all of the rabbits, because we couldn't tellwhen we first got them, but it was obvious on the first two and thethird had none, so we knew we had afemale. It hadbeen awhile since she had been fat, so I thought that maybe she wasn'tpregnant and was just getting fat. We were surprized when wecame back from a movie yesterday and therewere a bunch ofbabies in the cage.I had just put in an ice bottlewith her right before we left for the movie and there were nobabies.We live in the city and she's now in ourgarage with the front door partially opened and the side door all ofthe way opened. They also have a fan, so I hope this will besufficient to cool them until we move to the country, which will beshortly. I will wait until tonight to check again for roundbellies. Then, I will have to ask for advice aboutdropper feeding. I don't know very much aboutrabbits. I also didn't know that she had to have anestbox. I just put bed fluff in the corner of her cage,because she hadn't been pulling any of her hair. I'll have toget her one. Thank you for the advice. p.s.-I'm notsure I attached the pics right.

 

[newmommyhelper]

HankHanky, I hope that you can read the replythat I just sent to DaisyNBuster. I appreciate yourreply. I tried to attach two pics, but it doesn't look likethey actually attached. I guess I don't know how to attachthem on this site.p.s.-I loved the pic of your bunniesalso-very cute!

 

[CuddlesMom]

Now now dont be harsh on her if she gother bun from a pet store...its not the buns fault it was brought to apet store to be sold! Maybe there should be a law no more breeding tillall of the other rabbits in shelters and pet stores etc are soldhuh???!! That would be in a "perfect" world

 

[newmommyhelper]

Thank you CuddlesMom, but Ididn't takemuch offense from the remark. I'm almost37 yrs. old now and have finally learned to let the little things slideoff me like oilon vinegar. HankHanky was probablyjust trying to educate me a little bit. l'm a city girl fromWichita, KS and I've never heard of anyrabbit breeders aroundhere. We just wanted a little pet for each of our kids andthey love them and take them outside everyday toexercise.

 

[DaisyNBuster]

When Daisy had her kits I didn't know about anestbox either! It's just good to have one to stop the babies fromwondering and getting lost - bless them

I think by the time it is night time where you are I will be long gonein bed LOL - I will be awaiting to hear if they have fat, warm belliesthough.I take it they haven't at the moment?

Can anyone with a little bit more experience help with dropper feedingas it seems putting the babies to the Doe isn't working and the littleones will need something? Carolyn - You gave some good advice on a postI read before about dropper feeding - I can't seem to find it.

Vickie

 

[DaisyNBuster]

I did find this on the internet. It is advice onhow to feed babies yourself if they are orphaned or the Doe hasneglected them. Hope it helps should you need it!:

"What To Feed The Babies

Baby (infant) rabbits should be fed Kitten Milk Replacer (KMR),which you can buy at your veterinarian's office. Unless you arefamiliar with and skilled at tube feeding babies, use an eye dropper orsterile syringe. Small 1 cc syringes to start with and larger sizes asthe babies grow.

Feed baby rabbits no more than twice a day. Baby rabbits normallyfeed only ONCE a day, however the KMR is not as caloric as rabbitmilk---so if baby does not take in the total amount quoted below in onefeeding, you may split the feedings in half, AM/PM - but no morefrequently as it can cause severe gastrointestinal distress.Overfeeding is a leading cause of death in infant rabbits.

Following is a guideline for the daily amount to feed a domestic ORwild rabbit approximately 5 pounds as an adult (average rabbit size).You can increase the amounts as needed for larger breeds. Remember, ifthe rabbit does not eat the full amount listed, feed the remainderlater - but do not feed more than twice a day.

For the BEST results, go to your local health food store and get abottle of ACIDOPHILUS. Ask for the capsules that have the "grainystuff" inside (they are easier to mix than the “powdery stuff”)--andadd it to the KMR at each feeding. ONE ACIDOPHILUS CAPSULE = 1cc.

Using acidophilus will GREATLY increase the baby rabbit's chance ofsurvival, because it helps keep the GI bacteria in balance.

Newborn
5 cc KMR plus 1/2cc acidophilus

1 week old
10-15 cc KMR plus 1/2cc acidophilus

2 week old
26-30 cc KMR Plus 1 acidophilus

3 AND 4 weeks old until weaned
30 cc KMR plus 1cc acidophilus (You may wean at 4 weeks of age)

Baby bunnies will start eating solids around 3 weeks of age. If youfind a furry baby bunny out hopping around this bunny willlikely already be eating solids and may well be completely weaned.

Baby rabbits feed from their mothers while lying on their backs. Youmay loosely wrap baby in a soft face cloth or hand towel and lay it onyour lap or in the crook of your arm. If bunny will NOT eat this way,of course, do the best you can. It is ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL to let thebaby eat at it's own pace---especially if it is not suckling from anipple (i.e. if you are using a dropper or syringe to feed it...). Ifyou squirt the liquid in too quickly it can get into the lung causingaspiration pneumonia and death.

After each feeding it is important to make the bunny defecate andurinate to keep the intestinal tract and urinary system runningsmoothly. Use a soft cloth or a cotton ball moistened with warm waterand gently stroke from between the bunny's front legs all the way downover the anal area until the bunny starts producing stool and urine,and keep stroking until the bunny stops. You are replicating thebehavior of the mother rabbit who would lick her young to stimulatethem to go to the bathroom (as well as to keep the nest clean). Thestool will be soft and may be varying shades of green and yellow. Besure to clean baby's mouth with a damp cloth or paper towel, so that nomilk dries in the hair.

Baby rabbit eyes open at about 10 days of age. You may startintroducing them to hay and pellets at this point, but no veggies orfruits yet. Just leave some hay and pellets in a corner of the boxwhere the babies can easily get to them. Make sure it the pellets areplain, high fiber and fresh, with no added "goodies" such as driedbanana chips or seeds. Don't ever leave a deep water dish in which ababy could drown; instead, use something shallow and rinse and fill itfrequently."

Like I said this is only what I found on the net - not my knowlege - Ifanyone else thinks this is wrong or has more to add, please do!

Vickie

 

[newmommyhelper]

Vickie, thank you somuch! I have pretty good news. I kept checking thekits throughout the day and still no round bellies and they werebeginning to bounce around and were squeaking. I triedputting them by mommy again and she didn't roll over for them to feed,but she did stand up a little bit so that they could get underher. I noticed the kits rolling over, but thought they werejust being clumsy. Now I know why they turned over.This evening,two kits were still tiny and skinny, so I putthem by mommy and she laid there and let themnurse.I haven't seen her licking them and I don'tsee any yellowish or greenish fecal matter. They lookclean. Maybe I should try the wet warm cotton ball onthem. Thank you again for all of your info. Itlooks like it's going to be a good outcome for them.

 

[mhiszxpinay]

aww congratulations on your new kits! I wanna see them!Your Kitssound soo CUTE!!!

 

[newmommyhelper]

Well, I've already tried toattach two pics of them from My Documents-My Pictures, but I can't getthem to attach. I'll try again and will you please let meknow if you get them. It takes awhile to send the reply, soit seems like they're attaching, but Idon't see them on theforum list like other people's pics. I can attach to aregular e-mail, but not on this forum. I don't know what I'mdoing wrong-sorry.

 

[Delphinum]

Aww baby bunnies are such a lovely thing... but extremely worrying too!

When my first bunny had kits, we didn't have a nest box... it was 1992,we didn't have the internet to find out so many things, so Rosie hadjust made up her own nest in the warmest place in the hutch in all thehay. She'd plucked out her fur and the babbies weresurrounded by her fur and hay. This didn't seem any problem.

We thought, why interfere with nature when Rosie was doing so wellherself. We only lost the 2 smallest kits, the other 4survived.

 

[DaisyNBuster]

newmommyhelper wrote:

This evening,two kits were still tiny and skinny,so I put them by mommy and she laid there and let themnurse.I haven't seen her licking them and I don'tsee any yellowish or greenish fecal matter. They lookclean. Maybe I should try the wet warm cotton ball onthem. Thank you again for all of your info. Itlooks like it's going to be a good outcome for them.

Hello newmommyhelper.Sounds like you are doing a great job!Well done on putting the 2 little ones onher .Just keep an eye on these two and if needs bekeep puttingthem to her once a day if their bellies are still skinny.

I wouldn't matter too much about her not licking them. Chances are shewill be - that I posted was for orphaned kits. As long as they areclean!

I'm not sure why your pictures aren't showing up on here. They do notexceed102400 bytes do they? Did you say they are jpgs? Thefile should be for example, abcd.jpg, no capitals or anything in jpg.If all else fails put the pics on a homepage and send us thelink. I look forward to seeing them along with your other threebunnies. What are the names of yourthree anyway?

Vickie

 

[Carolyn]

My Oh My, DaisyNBuster!!

You're such a huge help! You've obviously been paying close attentionand have 'done your homework' in your past couple of litters.


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Cuddlesmom,

I agree with you. There should be some stricter laws.

Perhaps if there were more investigations, you wouldn't have the bunnymills that you have, hence the pet stores wouldn't be able to sell theanimals at the young ages and conditions they do. (Same is true forother animals.)


* * * * * * * * * * * *

Newmommyhelper,

I hope all is well with the babies. Sounds like you're doing a great job!


-Carolyn

 

[DaisyNBuster]

Newmommyhelper - How are your babies doing today? Hope all is well .

Vickie

 

[newmommyhelper]

They are doinggood! Princess is the mommy's name and she has turned out tobe a good parent after all. Sorry I haven't had time tocreate a homepage, so that you all could see the lucky littlebabies. If you remember, I couldn't get the pics toattach. Thanks again for you help!!!

 

[DaisyNBuster]

Iknew she could do it!Princess your doing us proud!

Keep us posted on thier progress and don't worry about the homepage - just when you have the time.

Best wishes

Vickie

 

[trekcip5]

Congratulations on your litter. Glad to see theyare doing well. We had six rew polish last night, first timemom, had a big fight with her as she was building her nest in thecorner of the cage instead of the nest box. I would put thehay and fur in and she would take it out into the corneragain. Solved the problem by putting in another nest box.With two in there, no corners or room to do any thing but have them ina box. She did have them in the origional box. But1 was dead, she hadn't even eather the afterbirth. Later thisafternoon, we lost two more. They looked really strange withlike bruises all over them. Will be checking again on theremaining 3 shortly. Am also worried about her feedingthem. I have another doe due right now as well and I amhoping she has her litter soon as I thnk I am going to foster these toher. Mini-rexes are known to be heavy milkers, so itshouldn't be a problem, if they can hold out that long.

Just a comment about these pet stores. I am really tired ofpeople saying they were sold a "dwarf" this and "dwarf" that. There isonly one breed that is truly a dwarf and has dwarf in itsname. Those are netherland dwarfs, the smallest rabbitbreed. many other breeds do carry a dwarf gene, but are notrefered to as dwarfs. Holland Lops, do carry the dwarf gene,however, they are only "dwarf" in size when compared to the other lopbreeds. Holland lops will be about 5 1/2 lbs.Netherlands are 2 1/2, polish(which are not dwarfs) 3 1/2 and mini-rex4 1/2 lbs. Does do tend to weigh more than these top weights.I feel so bad when these poor, unsuspecting people buy a "dwarf" rabbitthat grows to be anything but a dwarf. SO jsut a word to thewise and some advice. Research what breed you want, then finda reputable breeder and buy from them. That way you knowexactly what you are getting and where it came from. Also,you can be sure it was properly raised, weaned at the right time and ishealthy. Donna