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New member needs help

Mables mum

New Kit
Hello everyone, I am in shock and upset. I own 2 rabbits (as well as LOADS of other pets) Fergus is a male dwarf lop about 2 from a rescue centre, we have had him about 9 months he was castrated about 4 weeks ago. Mable is a Giant rabbit, not sure how old she is, but I got her from the pets at home adoption centre (they do that now - unwanted pets can come in and then be adopted back out) about 3 weeks ago.... they are still caged seperately but the aim is for them to be husband and wife - they get on really well out in the garden together....

getting to the point now, this afternoon I went to let the rabbits out and when I looked in Mables cage she had about 12 kits scattered all over the place they looked to be completely new born, some already looked to be dead... i was SHOCKED she has shown no signs of being pregnant (but she did come to me completely over weight) and she had made no attempt at nest building.

I feel so let down, I spent 70 pounds on a castration and I am such a strong believer in rescuing, i would never intentionally breed, she is such a big heavy girl and she was plodding around all over the place.

Since she has had them she has pulled fur, and between the 2 of us we seem to have gotten them all into one place and I managed to pull out one of the dead babies (and buried it poor poppet) so we have a nest of sorts!!

What else can I do? I am pacing around but I know that ultimatley it is upto her.

We also have a foster dog at the minute (as well as our own 2) and the new boy is obsessed with the rabbits (and Guineapigs and just jumps at the cages any opportunity he gets, so now he is going to have to go to the loo on walks - we will be walking alot!!

Oh god I was so not prepared for this and Mable isn't really the maternal type, i hope they survive - but then what do I do? I will obvioulsy insist that they go to responsible homes - oh the irony!!
 
male rabbits are fertile for 8 weeks AFTER castration - did your vet not tell you? If they are playing together then she could easily have got pregnant off him, although if you're sure it's only 3 weeks you've had her not 4? Whatever, she can get pregnant again today if they've been playing together :( As for the exisiting kits like you say, there's not much more you can do except give her a stress free environment, put a glove on and dirty your hands in her litter to check for dead babies, give her extra spring greens or dandelions if she's used to them as they contain lots of calcium, and just hope you find them homes - bit of a nightmare situation and I do hope she's not 'caught' again since giving birth :(
 
male rabbits are fertile for 8 weeks AFTER castration - did your vet not tell you? If they are playing together then she could easily have got pregnant off him, although if you're sure it's only 3 weeks you've had her not 4? Whatever, she can get pregnant again today if they've been playing together :( As for the exisiting kits like you say, there's not much more you can do except give her a stress free environment, put a glove on and dirty your hands in her litter to check for dead babies, give her extra spring greens or dandelions if she's used to them as they contain lots of calcium, and just hope you find them homes - bit of a nightmare situation and I do hope she's not 'caught' again since giving birth :(

From my understanding the female was pregnant when she was adopted from P@H as OP has only had her 3 weeks.
 
Hi there. I am so sorry that you have done everything you could to 'do the right thing' and then this happens to you.

I have no hands on experience with babies so don't want to try and give you any advice, however I did want to comment on the Pets at Home adoption idea.

A very good friend of mine adopted some buns from the rescue where I used to work. She has just moved up to the Nantwich area and yesterday was walking past the front of Pets at Home. She didn't even have to go in but could see from outside that there was a giant being offered up as an adoption. She was on her own in a pen in the centre of the shop being swarmed by loads of humans and had a dirty great big bowl of carrots all to herself. Apparently she looked terrified.

She then went in and spoke to the staff who tried to tell her a load of complete rubbish until she told them not to bother as she knew about rabbits and had worked at a rescue. They didn't have a 'history' for this female giant but said that they thought that she had been bought from them and then returned because the new owner didn't know she was going to get so big. My friend countered that by suggesting that she must have been told (yeah right) when she bought her.

Anyway, the long and the short of it was that my friend felt that she was being lied to and that she was convinced that it was entirely possible she had been at another store and that they couldn't sell her there and just moved her to another branch. She was supposed to be too young to spay and her 'excess' weight was supposed to be the wrong diet and her being overweight.

When we talked about it later, I suggested that it was highly likely that she was pregnant knowing how good P@H are at sexing. It appears that there was actually another giant in the store (believed to be a male) but that he was for sale and not for adoption.

I smell a rat and to be honest, I don't have a very good feeling about the P@H adoption scheme.

I would be interested to know if you felt that you were given 'duff' advice when you adopted your giant.

Anyway, I do hope that you get some good advice from the knowledgeable guys on here and I really wish you well with the new babies. I think we'd all like to see pictures too.

The good thing for this bunny is that you have her now and she is obviously in good hands with you.:D

Helen
 
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Nope he hasn't been near her since she gave birth, when I opened her hutch and saw the babies I obvioulsy didn't let her out.

He has never shown any 'romantic tendencies towards her' I do believe that she was sold to me pregnant.

I am gutted.... she was going to be neutered too.... But I didn't want to put her through the op while she was so overweight :roll: - she has actually been on a diet!! :(

Of course you can see pictures of them :)

this is Fergus
STA72631.jpg

and this is Mable (and me)
STA72552.jpg
 
yes you do :D

they are both fab rabbits, I am just gutted and no the vet didn't tell me about the 8 week thing - the thing is I am no numpty..... I just can't believe it. - That photo was of her when I got her, about 3 weeks ago, how could I not have been able to tell that she was pregnant? I picked her up last night!!
 
I'd love a blue eyed bun....shes gorgeous.....you can't blame yorself,you've done your best to do things right ,lets just hope she gets into motherhood!
 
not really sure about the P@H thing? they told me she was aggressive - but she isn't at all :roll: infact she is very cuddly and super nosey.

Ohh those poor poppets.

Do you think I should get out any dead tonight? or leave her quite over night and do it in the morning?
 
well in my opinion 'about' 3 weeks can be 4 weeks - time flies that fast I just can't believe it - do you have a diary you can check the date you got her?
 
She was definitely pregnant when you got her. Gestation is 4 weeks and you've only had her 3 weeks. If it was me then I'd be going back to P@H and giving them an ear full ;) I know in the past they've supplied extra hutches/paid for neutering when they've miss sexed so it might be worth asking them for any extra you need.

As you say, most of it's up to her now. You did well putting them all in the new nest and removing the dead one - good job. You may find they get knocked out the nest when she feeds them (they latch on and get dragged out accidentally) so you may need to pop one or other of them back in at some point.

Rabbits only feed once a day usually at night so don't worry if you don't see her feeding them. You can have a look at them tomorrow morning and hopefully they'll have plump bellies and you'll be able to see they've fed.

Make sure she has plenty to eat and otherwise treat her as normal. If the house is a bit busy you could put boards over part of the cage to make the nest more sheltered.

They'll need to stay with her until about 8-10 weeks (you may want to ask P@H to give you a play pen if you've got a herd of baby giants). I'd suggest you turn down any offers of rehoming from them. Give it a couple of weeks to see how they do then contact your local rescues. Giants are quite popular so they may even have waiting list for them. You do need to be careful if you rehome yourself as people like the novelty but don't always have the space.

Good luck :D
 
Nope I am looking for her adoption form but can't seem to find it :censored: I guess you could be right but... I can't imagine Fergus being that naughty :oops: he is too cute to be doing rude things :oops:
I will feel even worse if they are his!! I might be able to tell if/when their colouring comes out.

Could you please cross your fingers that they survive.

As if i don't have enough on, I have a foster dog at the mo and I have a 5 yr old stallion being delievered from Budapest on Thursday!!! oh what a week :shock:
 
Nope I am looking for her adoption form but can't seem to find it :censored: I guess you could be right but... I can't imagine Fergus being that naughty :oops: he is too cute to be doing rude things :oops:
I will feel even worse if they are his!! I might be able to tell if/when their colouring comes out.

Could you please cross your fingers that they survive.

As if i don't have enough on, I have a foster dog at the mo and I have a 5 yr old stallion being delievered from Budapest on Thursday!!! oh what a week :shock:

Never rains but it pours does it?.....I'll keep everything crossed that they survive,keep us posted!!
 
I am so sorry that you have all this worry,your rabbits are lovely and I hope that you can speak to someone from head office at pets at home,I hope some of the babies will be ok
 
A herd of Giant rabbits :D - i like the sound of that!
I will go in and talk to Pets at Home about it (when I find her adoption form - it is in the kitchen somewhere).

I guess if I don't know who dad is then I won't know if we are dealing with pure giants or half giants, either way they will be big wabbits.

I will update you in the morning, don't think I will get much sleep - how do rabbit breeders cope with the stress of all this?
 
ooooooh how many living kits are there?!
:love::love::love:
they are adorable adorableeeeee

to my untrained eye, i *think* marble may be a British giant.
if she were a continental or flemish, her ears would be so much bigger.

whatever she is, she is beautiful, and i would love to see more piccies of them! :D:love::love::love:
 
sending loads of vibes for the baby buns and hope they and mum will be ok.
Ive never had any baby buns so i have no advice but there are plenty of ppl on here who will be able to. cant wait for piccies:love::love:
 
:shock: :shock:

A herd of giants!

Lovely but it will be hard work.

My fingers are crossed and I would seriously be asking pets at home what they have to say for themselves :roll: :roll: :roll:
 
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