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Babies! Advice please- UPDATE

cshippard

Young Bun
Hi Everyone

If you read my thread nearly on month ago you will remember the heart breaking loss of my rabbit Peter. I got him a lady friend and was waiting until she was one year old before I had them both neutered (she is 8 months now) and introduced them. They had seen each other through their runs in the garden and Peter used to run around freely in the house and garden...but I had never introduced them.

In his darkest hours (and mine) I wanted him to have his friend near him and I popped Jessy with him. Peter showed some interest and as quickly as he made an advance towards her my husband and I removed her.... it was within seconds. We then realised perhaps Peter was better off recovering on his own.

Sadly Peter died a few days later leaving me devastated.

However, Jessy started to make a nest last week and today she has had babies....I am delighted!!!!!!:D I am soooo happy! It's like a dream come true. Such a suprise and i cannot believe he made her pregnant after the one second encounter.

I am not touching then nest as I know she may chose to reject them if I did and she has been acting very aggressively the last week.

I want to give her the best chance to be a great mum so please let me know what I can do. She has:
-Hay
-Greens (Organic Kale, etc)
-Pellets (Excel Junior)
-Grass
-Carrots
- 2 carrot drops (treats) per day
etc

What else can I give her? What else can I do? She has made the most wonderful nest over the last week and homing the rabbits will be no problem whatsoever- close friends and me!

Any advice would be great.
Many thanks
Catherine
 
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I would offer her a probiotic and vitamin supplement in her water.

Also increase he pellet intake and make sure she has lots of access to healthy fresh foods and a really good quality hay.
 
has she always ate the excel junior or have you just given this to her after she'd given birth? sometimes its not really a good idea to change a does diet after birth so i would just continue feeding her what you did before she had the babies except you will need to increase her pellets.

so sorry to hear about Peter im sure you will be deffinatly keeping one of the babies in memory of him.
 
I have not changed anything- I am trying to remain normal...although I am very excited. She has been on the junior excel since I got her- It was recommended and after one yr I was told to move onto the adult excel.

I will most certainly be keeping at least one of them!!!!
 
:wave: That is such a sad but sweet story - you will have to post some pics of them, and Peter, when the babies are older.:)
 
arh sorry for your loss,this could be peters goodbye gift to you.ive always heard that spring greens helps with milk production.someone correct me if im wrong.do you have any pics of peter?x
 
Awww so sorry for your loss but so pleased he fathered a litter. I am thinking you will be keeping one. You could give mum lactol, it increases her milk and gives her nutrients. Also as the kits wean it helps them along to. other than than give her a bit more food plenty hay and loads of warter nursing mums drink loads.

Good luck cannot wait to see pics. Yes you did the right thing by not being so nosey even though it is tempting. With this being her first litter she could be a little aggressive. When they are around 7-10 days you should be able to handle them ok just give mum a rub to get her scent. Also although not touching the nest make sure there are no dead as they can cause infection. Some wriggle down to the bottom of the nest and don't get fed so die very quickly. if one finds itself out of the nest quickly get some of mums scent on you (best rubbing your hands in her wee) and pop the baby straight back in the nest as mum won't do it she will leave it there.

how many did she have?
 
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Wow, I can't believe that all its takes is a second :shock: You sound so pleased about the babies :D I don't have any advice, but I wish you soo much luck and hope the babies all grow up happy and healthy :wave: Oh and piccies when they are older please! Of babies and mum and dad :)
 
Hi everyone- I have not touched the nest but I can see two babies! They are cuddled up together and wiggle around when I look as they don't like the light. They seem to be fat and healthy so I guess that's a good sign and mum is still being very protective.

I will be very happy to keep the babies so there's no problem there.

Mum is also not that interested in her pellets still- she has only eaten a small handful but she is eating lots of veg. I have also bought her some fresh greens, more kale and basil...I read that rabbits like herbs and she has herbs from my garden and seems to like them.
Please let me know if I should only give her limited Basil.

Oh and she's not really eating much hay but I guess she wants to eat the greens and veg for her milk and will eat more fibre in the next few days?
 
Nursing females are often going down in the qauntity of hay.
They now that it takes more from there body than they can take on that moment.
Look out with large amounts of green especially if she is not used to it.
It is inmportend after birth to check the nest and remove the dead ones if there ther and check the living babies.
To do so you have to remove the female out and give her something to eat to distract her.
Than go with your hand trough her pooh so that you smell like her.
Than you can carefully check the nest and she wont reject it.
 
UPDATE:

So Jessica is turning out to be a fantastic mum. She had 3 babies and is looking after them well. On day 5 we had a little disaster because somehow one of the babies has managed to get out the the house and make it's was up the run in the cold (it was late evening). When I found him/her it was stiff but I have no choice but to rub my hands in mums' poo and warm the little fella up. The after 5 mins it came around and started making a noise so I popped it back in the nest- all is well and she has been nursing them all ever since. Panic over! Mum had tried to pull more of her fur out to protect him in the cold but he would have died if I did not intervene. Its the really lively one and I think he may have kept hanging on while feeding or something.

So they are 10 days old today! Hoping their eyes will open soon. I think one is Orange like it's mum but not sure on the other two. I am not handling them of course and just leaving them well alone. Mum is being spoilt to bits and have every green, grass, hay, food she could wish for.

I will send photo's through when they get a bit older......
Thanks
Catherine
 
UPdate

Just wanted to update you all on the babies and mum. After everything we had been through with poor Peter, and the delight to find the babies, we have a dreadful occurance two weeks ago. The babies were 11 days old and they live with their mum in a fox proof dome and run (see www.omlet.co.uk). every evening we lock them into the bed for the night. My husband and I went to a wedding celebration and we asked a family member to lock them up one evening as we would not be back until late but they did not shut the door to the bed properly so mum pushed her way out and was in the run all night as the door closed behind her.

The foxes attacked her cage all night whilst we were asleep in the house thinking she was safe. At 7am I went to let her out to find she had been separated from the babies all night and whilst the foxes did not get her they managed to RIP OFF HER TAIL!

She went into the bed, fed her babies immediatly and we rushed her off to the Sunday Emergency vets. £400 later, 3 stiches and a head collar to stop her picking at her stiches we were told to hand rear the babies and give her antibiotics for 5 days.

My experience of antibiotics and rabbits is very poor and reading about it concerned me even further. Also hand rearing has limited success. So I decided to move mum and babies inside, take off the head collar and not give her antibiotics- she was not infected and I felt antibiotics were a dangerous precaution to take. I know she needed her babies, she was looking for them.

So sorry to say but I felt it best to introduce the babies back (even though I had to pick them up and move the nest indoors). She took to them instantly, cheered up and when the horrid cone was off her head she was much happier and she did not touch her stiches!

Good news is they are 4 weeks old on Tuesday, stiches have now been removed and mum and 3 babies all doing really well!!

Photos to follow after this weekend.

Here's to trusting in your rabbits maternal instinct- I really believe without them she would have died (suprised she did not die of shock?!) and we are delighted!
 
Oh poor you. What a horrible experience. Glad mum and babies are ok.

Hope they carry on doing well.

Rebec
 
Oh my god she's an amazing mum, despite everything she is caring for those bunns amazingly!:D

You've obviously had allot of upset recently lets hope now that all the bunns grow healthy and strong. I hope that jessica is okay too. Animals and rabbits especially never cease to amaze me!!!
 
Wow, I can't believe that all its takes is a second :shock:


Unfortunatately that is all it takes, many rabbits are born as a result of people just putting them together for a couple of seconds to meet their potential friend. Sadly rabbits are very fertile.
 
Just wanted to update you all on the babies and mum. After everything we had been through with poor Peter, and the delight to find the babies, we have a dreadful occurance two weeks ago. The babies were 11 days old and they live with their mum in a fox proof dome and run (see www.omlet.co.uk). every evening we lock them into the bed for the night. My husband and I went to a wedding celebration and we asked a family member to lock them up one evening as we would not be back until late but they did not shut the door to the bed properly so mum pushed her way out and was in the run all night as the door closed behind her.

The foxes attacked her cage all night whilst we were asleep in the house thinking she was safe. At 7am I went to let her out to find she had been separated from the babies all night and whilst the foxes did not get her they managed to RIP OFF HER TAIL!

She went into the bed, fed her babies immediatly and we rushed her off to the Sunday Emergency vets. £400 later, 3 stiches and a head collar to stop her picking at her stiches we were told to hand rear the babies and give her antibiotics for 5 days.

My experience of antibiotics and rabbits is very poor and reading about it concerned me even further. Also hand rearing has limited success. So I decided to move mum and babies inside, take off the head collar and not give her antibiotics- she was not infected and I felt antibiotics were a dangerous precaution to take. I know she needed her babies, she was looking for them.

So sorry to say but I felt it best to introduce the babies back (even though I had to pick them up and move the nest indoors). She took to them instantly, cheered up and when the horrid cone was off her head she was much happier and she did not touch her stiches!

Good news is they are 4 weeks old on Tuesday, stiches have now been removed and mum and 3 babies all doing really well!!

Photos to follow after this weekend.

Here's to trusting in your rabbits maternal instinct- I really believe without them she would have died (suprised she did not die of shock?!) and we are delighted!

So sorry to hear about your experience with this type of accomodation, Unfortunately a number of people have thought that these were fox proof but have learnt the hard way that the occupants of these are not as safe as they though. There are a couple of threads recently started by people asking for recomendations for this type of accomodation who might appreciate your experience as a user of one of these.http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=105269&highlight=eglu http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=105319&highlight=eglu http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=106755&highlight=eglu

Would love to see your piccies.
 
please can someone tell me how to attach pics on here as there does not appear to be an option to paste or attached files?
Thanks!
 
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