Surprise Litter, Hope I Did The Right Thing?

[KeltonB]

Hi everyone,

Long story short, I re-homed three lionhead bunnies (one male, two female) on Sunday, March 3. I originally went just for the male, but between all of them being so darn cute and the conditions they were living in, I knew I had to bring them home. None of them were spayed/neutered, but the owner assured me neither of the females was pregnant and they all had been kept in separate cages.

I called my regular vet on Monday morning to schedule spays/neuters and got them scheduled for March 12 (male) and March 13 (females). I have kept them all in separate NIC pens pending their fixes.

Last night, I hear one of the females going to town shredding paper, but thought nothing of it except she was entertaining herself. This morning however, I discovered she had built a nest with the paper and fur,and that she had delivered overnight.

I left everything as was when I dropped the male off for his neuter this morning and went to work. I spoke to the vet when I picked him up this afternoon (his procedure went well) about the new babies, and she gave me some advice of checking for color, texture, plumpness, etc.

I did some research this evening on Rabbits Online and found a link in the library forum:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/surpriselitter.html

I built a box and moved the babies over. I really hope I did the right thing, but now I’m worried I should have just left well-enough alone. I’d appreciate it if y’all would take a look at the pictures at this link and let me know what you think. If I screwed up, is it too late to fix it?

http://www.iwant2believe.com/buns/buns.html

The photos show how things were, what I did, and the results.

Thanks for your time!

Kelton

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

I think the nest box looks good but I am no expert with caring for babies.

It is good that she has been separated from the males as they can breed again right after and you end up with another litter in about a month.

As the babies get older, you may need to replace the box as cardboard won't stand up well to pee and a litter of babies. Also, once they are coming out of the nest, you will need to baby proof the cage. They will be able to get through the bars, so those need to be covered. I would not do it right yet as you don't want to disturb the mom too much, but it will need to be done in the next week or so.

Since the one female was pregnant, the other could be as well. You can still get her spayed tomorrow, but it can mean aborting babies if she is pregnant. Rabbits are only pregnant for about 31 days, so you can wait to see if she does give birth. If there are no babies by about April 4, then she should not be pregnant and can be spayed. It is your choice, but is something you may need to consider.

 

[LakeCondo]

I'm glad you got them away in time from someone who surely would have done the wrong things, as he or she had been that way already.

 

[minmelethuireb]

It looks good to me. It's good to have sides to their nest because otherwise the babies could wander off and get cold, which is not good.

I had a rabbit give surprise babies before (someone gave her to me and I had no idea she was pregnant), and this was NOT GOOD because when I found the babies they were on wire with only a bit of fur protecting them. Fortunately I caught them early and put the nest in a wood box my dad had from when he bred rabbits. The mom was fine with this. Just check the babies tomorrow to make sure they have nice round bellies.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Can't wait to see more pics.