boothebunny
New Kit
I'm not sure if this is where this belongs or how useful it will be as I'm very new to the forum, but I am an experienced hand rearer of many little critters and as rabbits are one of the hardest mamals I've come accross for this I thought I'd put a little info up.
Firstly,where ever possible as you all know, you should try to avoid needing to hand rear, even if this means keeping kit and mum separate apart from feeding times and holding mum (gently) down. How ever, somethimes the only thing to be done is to hand feed.
DO NOT GIVE COWS MILK! This is a mistake anyone could make but it can be fatal. I find the best mixture to use
1 scoop (4.3g) of a soy based baby formular
a small splodge (about 5 mm) of a high cal paste such as Nurish Um for cats
a pinch of pro/pre biotic mix such as pro-c or similar
15 ml water.
depending on the age of the kit this could last all day or just a few hours.
because this mixture is still not as rich as rabbit milk bunnies will need to be fed this mixture between 4-6 times a day, as much as they can manage at a time. Newborn kits can often only manage 2 or 3 ml at one go.
I use lactol nursing bottles for all my baby mamals but a seringe can be just as good as long as you don't 'squirt' lots of milk in at once as this can cause the kit to asparate and can cause pnumonia.
gently roll the kit onto it's back and work the teet into the side of the mouth. allow a drop of milk to fall into it's mouth before continuing to feed. The rabbit should start lapping enthusiasticly at the bottle. IF IT DOESN't DON'T WORRY! Bunnies who aren't used to a bottle may resist at first and struggle slightly. Only stop trying if the animal seems to be in distress. it may take a while for the kit to become used to it. My Boo took 3 days before it would feed from the bottle, but this way it is not frightened fo the food. The rabbit will let you know when it is full.
Always have solid foor and hay avaliable as they eat what mum eats from about 9 days.
hope this has been useful, sory if i'm teaching you to suck eggs but i couldn't find this info anywhere when I first needed it 7 years ago
Firstly,where ever possible as you all know, you should try to avoid needing to hand rear, even if this means keeping kit and mum separate apart from feeding times and holding mum (gently) down. How ever, somethimes the only thing to be done is to hand feed.
DO NOT GIVE COWS MILK! This is a mistake anyone could make but it can be fatal. I find the best mixture to use
1 scoop (4.3g) of a soy based baby formular
a small splodge (about 5 mm) of a high cal paste such as Nurish Um for cats
a pinch of pro/pre biotic mix such as pro-c or similar
15 ml water.
depending on the age of the kit this could last all day or just a few hours.
because this mixture is still not as rich as rabbit milk bunnies will need to be fed this mixture between 4-6 times a day, as much as they can manage at a time. Newborn kits can often only manage 2 or 3 ml at one go.
I use lactol nursing bottles for all my baby mamals but a seringe can be just as good as long as you don't 'squirt' lots of milk in at once as this can cause the kit to asparate and can cause pnumonia.
gently roll the kit onto it's back and work the teet into the side of the mouth. allow a drop of milk to fall into it's mouth before continuing to feed. The rabbit should start lapping enthusiasticly at the bottle. IF IT DOESN't DON'T WORRY! Bunnies who aren't used to a bottle may resist at first and struggle slightly. Only stop trying if the animal seems to be in distress. it may take a while for the kit to become used to it. My Boo took 3 days before it would feed from the bottle, but this way it is not frightened fo the food. The rabbit will let you know when it is full.
Always have solid foor and hay avaliable as they eat what mum eats from about 9 days.
hope this has been useful, sory if i'm teaching you to suck eggs but i couldn't find this info anywhere when I first needed it 7 years ago
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