Novice needs help

[mahiwagangsabon]

My name is Duke Ng and I just rescued a rabbit from one of the nightmarkets here in Taiwan. She was just so adorable and lookedso unhappy that I couldn't help it. I bought her for around$25, got a small cage for her, got some wood shavings (i think), somefoodpellets, water bottle, and this one small green block ofwhat looks like really tightly packed grass.

As it probably seems obvious by now, I don't know the first thing aboutrabbits. I don't know if she's even a rabbit or a hare, or whatnot. That's why I'maskingforyourhelp. She's small, light brown,about 6-8 inches when bunched up and i think almost a foot long whenstretched out. She's got small, semi rounded ears and areally short white tail too.

I've set up the bottom of her cage with wood shavings but left the topopen. (might close it tonight just to avoid her territorialmarkings). She runs all around the room, but shies away whenI draw near.

I'm attaching a photo of her here. Please tell me all theinformation you can about her breed, how to take care of her, and ifyou might know any good veterinarians in taiwan, I'd appreciate thecontacts as well.

I'd really like to take the best care possible of my new found friend.

Thanks very much for your time

Sincerely,

Duke Ng












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[rabbitgirl]

My word! That baby looks no more than 3 weeks old. Those ears are too small and fuzzy to be an older baby...adorable.

It's probably a dwarf. In that case it might be slightly older. Does it eat? Are you sure it's a she?

Try feeding some raw rolled oats in addition. Sometimes tiny babieswill eat those if they can't manage pellets. And give her a little boxto hide in. If she's afraid she will dart in there. With no hidingplace, babies will panic, running blindly all over. And I imagine shestartles at small noises. Often the sound of footsteps set them off. Ihave good luck with babies of that age when I lie on the floor and letthem climb on me. A flat human is less threatening! But it takespatience, because she won't come right away.

When babies are very very young, they have no fear. When they are aboutthe age of yours, they start being very wary. Their senses areconstantly alert and the least thing will frighten them. A few weekslater, they become much bolder. Your baby may start pushing you aroundwith her nose, to show you who's boss.

Very young babies should be with their mother and siblings. They likewarm dark spaces and heartbeats. You have an excellent opportunity tostep in for mother here and establish a very strong bond. Wear a loosejacket, sit down, tuck her inside itagainst your chest.Breathe slow and let her hear your heart beat. Stroke her head and earslightly, starting from the nose and avoiding the tender neck area underthe jaw and right behind the ears. They areoften nervous whenthis area is touched.

At this age, she should go right to sleep there. Do this as much aspossible and you have become a surrogate "mother". This kind of bond isincredible. You become the center of her world. She is alone before theright time and desperately needs someone to bond with.

You may want to consider putting the cage top on so you don't have tochase her to catch her. That could do a lot of harm. If you see herflatten herself to the ground, she's afraid.

It's a sad fact that sellers have rabbits this young for sale. It'scruel, but they sell better at the "cute stage". Bless you for rescuingher.

I wish you the best and hope she settles in.

Rose

 

[mahiwagangsabon]

Thanks for your reply rose.

How did you know she was that young? The guy who sold her tome said she just got there that day. And he was the one whotold me that she was a girl. I have no other means oftelling, so I guess I'll have to take his word on that.

She eats a lot, unless that block of tightly packed grass is a chew toyand not food. Is there a danger of overfeeding her if I justkeep putting pellets on her dish? What might rolled oats looklike? My chinese isn't that good yet, and it may be hard tofind it in a petshop if I can't communicate what it is.

You're absolutely right about her being startled by smallnoises. But other than myself and the noises that I make, itseems that not much else bothers her. Watching her is such anamusing and peaceful exercise. Most of the time she keepscoming back to her opened cage, and so far I haven't had to chase heraround to get a hold of her, coz she gets pretty settled into thatlittle cage when she stays there. She goes around the roomonce in a while. I sleep on a mattress on the floor and shegets up on the mattress and approaches sometimes (as long as I don;tmove). Right now I think she just discovered the little towelthat I placed in the corner of her cage. From what I can see,it looks like she's sleeping and using it as a blanket. Myroom gets kind of cold.

She's been here a little more than 12 hours and I'm already gettingworried. Although she defecated in the box on the way here,she hasn't left any droppings yet ever since. She hasn'turinated either from what I can tell.

If she does, what should i do? Should I take all thewoodshavings from her cage every time and put in some newones?

Thanks again for your reply, and any more help will definitely beappreciated. I'll try your suggestions soon as she wakesup. Right now, she seems more ease in this room than Ido.

 

[2bunmom]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Yourlittle one is so cute. Does your rabbit know how to drinkfrom the water bottle? It is very important that your rabbitdrink water. It bothers me that you have not seenor found evidence that it has gone to the bathroom for quite awhile. Rabbits will usually chose one area in their cage touse as the bathroom area. Some people choose tolitter box train their buns. You may decide to do this at alater date. I am not sure if your rabbit is male orfemale. At such a young age it is often times very difficult,even for breeders to tell what sex a rabbitis.Please do not use Cedar Shavings for bedding orthe litter box. This gives off aromatic odors that areharmful to rabbits. You are better off with pine or aspen anda lot of people go with the aspen. Rolled oats look likeoatmeal. You also could buy the Old fashioned type oatmealthat you can get in the grocery store...... here any way, I do not knowabout there. We have a member on this board whojustleft your area and she can tell you about the vet she used.She is traveling back to Canada at this time soI do not knowif she will be visiting the forum soon. Is your rabbit eatingrabbit pellets? Do not give your bun vegetables or fruits atthis young age. You can do that at around 6 months and thenstart with very limited amounts. Rabbits are sensitive toloud noises. Try to keep your little bun warm and stressfree. Hope some of this helps. Mine were about ayear old when I got them but I have learned a lot from the folks onthis forum as I know you will also. Maybe one of the breederscan give you some advice more specific to a bun so young.Good Luck Beckie

 

[rabbitgirl]

Hey,

why do I think she's young? Her ears have that soft fuzzy unformedlook. By 4 or 5 wks. the ears aren't as "fuzzy" and are more rigid. Herhead is too big for her body. By 5 wks she will look more proportional.You can also tell by her eyes...but it's kind of hard to describe. In acouple weeks you'll understand what I mean--you'll see her whole facechange. But the biggest tipoff is that her coat is so fluffy, not slickand shiny. That's young baby fur. You'll see her adult fur grow in in afew weeks.

I just raised two litters in the past few months and was amazed to seehow fast they change. Your bunny looks like mine did at 2-3 wks.

Have you found any droppings yet? That's a little worrisome.... As faras urinating, if it's in wood shavings you may not be able to tell. Theshavings soak it up quite a bit. You won't need tochangeshavings each time she does--at this ageitmay be a week before it gets dirty enough to change.At leastshe's eating and drinking and running around. She'll be fragile forawhile yet, especially since she was weaned far too soon.

You mentioned her being cold--my babies got cold very easily at thatage. They preferred to sleep in a big bunny pile in the smallestpossible space. You may want to put a small box in, stuff it with hay,and/or put a towel in. She will probably spend a lot of time in there.Her body heat will warm the small space instead of dissipating.

As she is growing, she won't overeat. Her stomach is very small and shewill eat a little each time. Rolled oats are what you might eat forbreakfast--just plain uncooked oatmeal.

I hope she does well. They are so fragile at that age, and being away from mom....

Good luck!

Rose

P.S. here are my babieshttp://www.PictureTrail.com/rabbitgirl1Theyare between 5 and 8 weeks in these pictures, depending on the picture.Notice the ears, eyes, fur,and head shape of these olderbabies compared to yours, keeping mind these are large rabbits of adifferent breed.

 

[mahiwagangsabon]

Thanks becky and rose. I willdefinitely take your suggestions and try them out with my littleone. I've decided to call her Goldie, coz I've got a femalefriend with that same name who eats more than I do, plus she has agoldish coat of fur. Yup she's still eating like mad and Iwonder if I'm overfeeding her or underfeeding her. Is thatpossible?

I left her alone with an open cage yesterday for a few hours just tosee if I could leave her like that while I'm away at work.Amazingly, she kept her droppings in or around her cage area and allher urine inside the cage. Yes, she's been urinating anddefecating, a bit too much if you ask me. I never thoughtsomething so small could be so full of sh*t.

That minor success let me to try out sleeping last night with her cageopen. Somewhere in the night she creeped onto my bed andnestled into the lower part of my blanket then went up to me and thenwent back to her cage. When I sat up to give pet her alittle, I found out that the real purpose of her trip was to urinate onmy blanket.

Needless to say, she spent the rest of the night in her cage, and Isuppose I'll put her back in there while I'm at work. Ireally don't like seeing her in her cage. But is there anyway to potty train them at this age using positivereinforcement? Especially since I can't feed her fruit? Ican't imagine ever punishing her.

Also the posts here about rabbits having digestion problems when theyswallow their hair has begun to worry me. Is there anything Ican do to prevent this from happening to her? I just asked afriend for help here and he told me not to worry, coz rabbits in Taiwandon't really live that long anyway, I'm certainly hoping thisisn't true.

Once again, thanks so much for your help. Goldie and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

 

[rabbitgirl]

wow....you have made progress! I can't believe she came to sleep with you!

Rabbits cock their tails when they are going to pee. When you see that,pop her in the litter box and put all her "accidents" in there too.She'll get the idea eventually. Especially if you catch her "in theact".

Rose

 

[bluebird]

I think shes too young to begin any litter training.I keep food in front of babies at all times.bluebird

 

[mahiwagangsabon]

Thanks again rose and thanks bluebird,

She didn't exactly come to sleep with me, she really just came to takea piss on my bed. But I'll take what I can get.

Other than that she really is an amazingly well behavedbunny. She doesn't seem afraid of much around hereanymore. Just really curious about everything.Today as I was putting more woodshavings in her area, she licked myfinger instead of biting it like the last time.

I tried cradling her again (like rose suggested), but i don't think sheliked it as much this time coz she started avoiding me afterthat. I hope I can make it up to her some othertime.

Thanks so much for all your help. My room looks more like arabbit obstacle course now than a human living space.

I think she might have to agree with bluebird when he/she says thatshe's a bit too young for potty training. Mainly because hertail is so small, and i can hardly see it from around her fat body toknow if she plans to wreak any havoc. As for now though,she's only been urinating in one small corner of her cage.I'll keep her in her cage everytime i go to work for a few weeks ormonths. Maybe she'll be too used to doing her thing in thosesame spots that she won't be interested in others.

Just a few more questions though...how often and how much should i befeeding her, and how often should I be grooming her to prevent her fromswallowing her own fur?

Once agian, thanks so much for all the help.

Here's a picture of her in one of her evil moods. I think she was urinating at this time.

 

[AnnaS]

While she is small, just give her as much food asshe wants. To groom her, you don't necessarily needs to brush her,youcan just wipe her fur with a wet cloth, that leaves the fur on thecloth or your hands. I don't think my bunny likes the brush.

She is very cute and small.