parsnipbun
Wise Old Thumper
Anyone have any experience of this?
A leveret found at the side of a main road (so NOT just left safely to wait for mum to come back) has been entrusted to us by another RU person for us to try and raise.
We are really just doing it as we did Pippin (our wild rabbit) - but have already spotted some differences in hare behaviour - instead of having a nice long nap after each feed this one wants to wander around a bit at intervals during feeding sessions.
He (or she) is also younger that Pippin was when we got him. Pippin was 9-10 days old - this little one was only c1 or 2 days when found on Thursday eve. A slight mark on his back suggests something may have found him or maybe he did not get safely to a 'form' (nest) spot.
At present he is housed in 3ft indoor ferplast guinea pig cage stuffed full of soft hay (2nd cut - very fine grass hay) and my OH Steve feeds him every 3 hours with double strength puppy milk (made up from powder double strength) plus a ml of Avipro each day as of yesterday.
It is so cold at present we simply can't do the 'keep at arms length and house outdoors away from humans except at feed time' - it was minus 4 here last night at least and he is very tiny so please dont suggest it.
I am concerned over the future feed and weaning process in that our Pippin weaned himself pretty much having started to nibble at hay and small fragments pellets and very small pieces forage which we started to leave in his hay from the age of about 2-3 weeks. However I wonder if hares start experimenting earlier than rabbits? and whether their forage is different?
A friend of mine says she managed to raise a baby leveret to 3 weeks old and then when it had its first grass it developed bloat and died - heartbreaking. But another website suggests you should let them graze from very early on.
Anyone had any other experience?
A leveret found at the side of a main road (so NOT just left safely to wait for mum to come back) has been entrusted to us by another RU person for us to try and raise.
We are really just doing it as we did Pippin (our wild rabbit) - but have already spotted some differences in hare behaviour - instead of having a nice long nap after each feed this one wants to wander around a bit at intervals during feeding sessions.
He (or she) is also younger that Pippin was when we got him. Pippin was 9-10 days old - this little one was only c1 or 2 days when found on Thursday eve. A slight mark on his back suggests something may have found him or maybe he did not get safely to a 'form' (nest) spot.
At present he is housed in 3ft indoor ferplast guinea pig cage stuffed full of soft hay (2nd cut - very fine grass hay) and my OH Steve feeds him every 3 hours with double strength puppy milk (made up from powder double strength) plus a ml of Avipro each day as of yesterday.
It is so cold at present we simply can't do the 'keep at arms length and house outdoors away from humans except at feed time' - it was minus 4 here last night at least and he is very tiny so please dont suggest it.
I am concerned over the future feed and weaning process in that our Pippin weaned himself pretty much having started to nibble at hay and small fragments pellets and very small pieces forage which we started to leave in his hay from the age of about 2-3 weeks. However I wonder if hares start experimenting earlier than rabbits? and whether their forage is different?
A friend of mine says she managed to raise a baby leveret to 3 weeks old and then when it had its first grass it developed bloat and died - heartbreaking. But another website suggests you should let them graze from very early on.
Anyone had any other experience?
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