my rabbit just had a baby

hi im new here, i have 4 rabbits which i was told are deffo all girls only to find yesterday that flopsy was makin a nest, so i took clover out of the hutch and put her in with sherbert and have also put lollipop ( sorry about the names my daughter named them lol) on his own as he is the boy, my worry is that i could have 3 preg girls as lollipop has got flopsy pregnant but lived with sherbert. anyway this morn flopsy has had one baby not sure if they are anymore to come. i am also worried as they are all sisters lollipop being there brother, will the baby/babies be ok? i am cross about it as i am a very responcable owner and had i known i would have never put lollipop with any of the girls

melly said:

hi im new here, i have 4 rabbits which i was told are deffo all girls only to find yesterday that flopsy was makin a nest, so i took clover out of the hutch and put her in with sherbert and have also put lollipop ( sorry about the names my daughter named them lol) on his own as he is the boy, my worry is that i could have 3 preg girls as lollipop has got flopsy pregnant but lived with sherbert. anyway this morn flopsy has had one baby not sure if they are anymore to come. i am also worried as they are all sisters lollipop being there brother, will the baby/babies be ok? i am very cross about it as i am a very responcable owner and had i known i would have never put lollipop with any of the girls but was told they had all been checked by someone who knows and are deffo girls.

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The first thing I would do is split them all untill you can be sure of the sex of each 100%. Take them to a vet to have them sexed, obviously not mommy and baby. If they are pregnant theres probably not a lot you can do but wait. If they were in early prgancy the girls could have an emergency spray but thats not likely if ones already given birth, chances are they would to be quite far along. You should now take the male to be castrated to avoid more babies and he can also be bonded back with his sisters this way at a later date. The girls will also need spaying once you can be sure they are not pregnant. I am not sure the complications of siblings mating and the health effects to babies so lets keep fingers crossed for the baby and anymore should that be the case. Hopefully someone with more bunny breeding knowledge will be able to help you. Also Mommy will need extra vitamins while feeding so up her veg intake.

melly said:

hi im new here, i have 4 rabbits which i was told are deffo all girls only to find yesterday that flopsy was makin a nest, so i took clover out of the hutch and put her in with sherbert and have also put lollipop ( sorry about the names my daughter named them lol) on his own as he is the boy, my worry is that i could have 3 preg girls as lollipop has got flopsy pregnant but lived with sherbert. anyway this morn flopsy has had one baby not sure if they are anymore to come. i am also worried as they are all sisters lollipop being there brother, will the baby/babies be ok? i am very cross about it as i am a very responcable owner and had i known i would have never put lollipop with any of the girls but was told they had all been checked by someone who knows and are deffo girls.

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How do you know which one is the male? :?
How old are they?
And...Erm, did you buy them from Pets at Home? :lol:

Hi melly

this really is quiet a common miss hap and its very possible that you could have 3 litters although each rabbit could mature at a different rate
best bet is to separate them all so if the other girls do give birth then the mum can do her best by herself.

I know of inbred rabbits from the same sister brother situation who are healthy touch wood! so touch wood they will be well and so selling them shouldn't be too much of a problem, you should provide the new owner with a care sheet of info and if ur new to buns get the babies vet checked before selling to confirm sex although some vets get this wrong too.

read up as much as u can on rabbit litters, the nets much better than any book could be.

get ur male bunny done asap as he will be fertile for 6 weeks after, this will make him a much nicer bunny, and easier to rebond

also its sooooo important to get ur females done as they nearly always get nasty cancers down there, I think 10 weeks minimum after giving birth for the mum rabbit should be ok although it would be stress full for her, and it would be worth having ur other 2 girls checked and either spayed now or after their litters. I know the whole spaying early pregnancies thing is rank but, these baby bunnies could potentially have teeth problems and other problems causing them unhappy lives. I really hope they are not pregnant.

Hope ur litter are doing well, i'm sure ur quiet excited, would love to see some photos when their bigger

hi ty all so much for gettin back to me, i found out that lollipop was the dad as my friend who breeds lion head rabbits came round and looked at them all apart from mum as we knew she was deffo a girl lol, im goin to ring the vet and get lollipop sorted asap as he looks all sad on his own. all the rabbits apart from sherbert are 6 months, sherbert is 4/5 weeks younger as the mum got preg straight away. nope i didnt get them from pets at home lol they where from a friend lol. as far as i no there is still only one baby but mum has pulled more fur out and covered it up so i didnt want to poke about to see if there are more as i thought she mite get upset, i will check in mornin when i feed her. looks like im goin back to the pet shop to get yet another hutch just incase lol. fingers crossed everything is ok, im really worried as ive never done anything like this before

All the above advice is brilliant. Only thing I can add is to try (maybe in a few days once you have an idea of how many babies you are potentially dealing with) ringing round a few local rescues and getting on their lists in case you have more babies you can deal with. The sooner they know you need help the sooner something can be done.

Good luck :wave:. You're not the first and won't be the last to find yourself in this position.

the rabbit at the front is flopsy that mum, and clover is in the background

this is daddy lollipop

this in front is sherbert
sorry i dont no how to make the pics smaller

hi just thought i wud update went to feed her this morn and now they are four :shock: lol hope thats it now lol

Have you taken the others to the vet to get them sexed properly/ checked for pregnancy/booked in for neutering?
The male can be done now but will still be fertile for up to 6 weeks afterwards and it only takes a second to do the deed! The vet might want to wait until the girls are 5-6 months before spaying but some will operate earlier.
As for the mum and babies, hopefully they will be just fine. Plenty of grass will help with milk production and she may want a few more pellets that normal.
Try not to disturb the nest for a while yet or she may reject the babies or take your finger off!

I'm really sorry this happened (although worse things could happen). I just hope the babies are ok...keep us posted! You've been given really good advice so have nothing to add...actually...can't remember if this has been said...Mummy bun will need extra nutrition, but you shouldn't really change her food now, so make sure she has lots of veggies. When the babies are out of the nest and being weaned you should make sure they don't nom the veggies, as they have a very sensitive digestive system.

Good luck with babies! Are the other two girls ok?!

hi just thought i would update i woke up this morn and found one of the babies had died, not sure why byut one was born a full day before the others so maybe that had something to do with it

sorry.