taking babies from mama

[jeniferdwn]

My 2 babies will be 8 weeks on Wednesday. They are very healthy and have been eating the food and hay we give mama rabbit. they drink from the water bottle with no problems. I think they are ready to take them from mama to give all of them more room. Do I take them all at once or slowly? I do not know if she is still feeding them, haven't seen it in a while. When can the babies have fruit and veggies? They are eating pellets and hay right now. thanks!

 

[Azerane]

You can introduce greens at any point but you have to do so very carefully with the tiniest amount. It depends if they were nibbling on greens that their mum had or not as to how well they take to it. If not, they might struggle with it. Thing to do would be to offer up a piece the size of a fingernail and see how they go for a day, and if all is well, offer another piece the next day. If not, wait a week and try again.

You can also take them from their mum now, I'm not sure if there's a right and wrong way to go about it, but they're certainly old enough

 

[majorv]

At this point you should be able to just remove both of them. They were probably weaned some weeks ago. I would keep the two young ones together for a couple weeks before separating them, if you can. Just helps with the transition.

 

[Ivythelionhead]

Mama ppb wont mind if you take them away from her now

 

[Thumperina]

I always thought it was really recommended not to feed veggies until 12 weeks of age

 

[Azerane]

I always thought it was really recommended not to feed veggies until 12 weeks of age

Generally, yes. But I think it really depends on what the mother rabbit has been eating and whether the kits have been nibbling from it or not. Because if you think about it, wild kits get greens from an early age when they start to pinch bits from outside the burrow entrance. Bandit wasn't ready for greens at 12 weeks, but others have been fine with it from early on.