My Lionhead being pregnant just after giving birth.

I'm hoping someone can answer some questions l have.

I have a female lionhead and she has given birth to 5 healthy babies 3 days ago. At the moment everything is going well with the babies having nice big belly's. My male lionhead was in the run at the same time my female was in the run (this was a mistake on my part) and they mated before i could separate them. This was in the matter of 36 hours so i'm very sure she will be pregnant which now brings me to my questions as lm worried what the consequences could be.

Does the mothers milk dry up when she continues through her pregnancy?
Should l remove the babies just before she gives birth and hand rear them as i have been told that the mother might not be able to feed them or reject them?
Could l create another nest box for the mother to have the babies in it?

Any help would be much appreciated.

I do take responsibility for what has happened and i had no intention for this to happen and all i want to do is ensure the mother and babies have the best possible chance.

Many thanks

Scott.

Scottwallace said:

I'm hoping someone can answer some questions l have.

I have a female lionhead and she has given birth to 5 healthy babies 3 days ago. At the moment everything is going well with the babies having nice big belly's. My male lionhead was in the run at the same time my female was in the run (this was a mistake on my part) and they mated before i could separate them. This was in the matter of 36 hours so i'm very sure she will be pregnant which now brings me to my questions as lm worried what the consequences could be.

Does the mothers milk dry up when she continues through her pregnancy?
Should l remove the babies just before she gives birth and hand rear them as i have been told that the mother might not be able to feed them or reject them?
Could l create another nest box for the mother to have the babies in it?

Any help would be much appreciated.

I do take responsibility for what has happened and i had no intention for this to happen and all i want to do is ensure the mother and babies have the best possible chance.

Many thanks

Scott.

Click to expand...

Hello

The 1st litter will be 4 weeks old when litter 2 arrives, litter 1 should be eating hay, pellets and any forage/grass/veg that Mum eats by then. So they should be able to manage on their own with no need for you to 'hand rear' them. Giving them a milk substitute at that stage could do more harm than good.

If litter 1 are all self feeding well and gaining weight by the time litter 2 arrives then you can separate litter 1 from Mum and litter 2. Keep litter 1 on exactly the same diet as they were on whilst still with their Mum. Mum Bun's milk will not dry up if she's pregnant again. She will need additional calorie intake though, this can be achieved by slightly increasing her pellet feed rations. Dark leafy greens can help promote milk production, so if she's used to greens then I'd feed a moderate amount of them too.

I'd get the Buck neutered ASAP to avoid any more accidents !

The kits can be vaccinated from the age of 5 weeks and the Bucks and Does need to be separated by about 10 weeks. The Bucks should be ready for neutering by 12-16 weeks, but you may need to keep all Bucks as singletons until they are neutered if they start to show signs of aggression toward each other. This can happen if the Bucks start to mount each other as they approach puberty and the behaviour can cause a fight to kick off.

You may find so more information on here :

http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?327923-Accidental-Litters-and-Taking-on-Babies

Thank you so much, your help and information has really made things clearer and i'm not so worried now.

Thanks again.

Scott

Scottwallace said:

I'm hoping someone can answer some questions l have.

I have a female lionhead and she has given birth to 5 healthy babies 3 days ago. At the moment everything is going well with the babies having nice big belly's. My male lionhead was in the run at the same time my female was in the run (this was a mistake on my part) and they mated before i could separate them. This was in the matter of 36 hours so i'm very sure she will be pregnant which now brings me to my questions as lm worried what the consequences could be.

Does the mothers milk dry up when she continues through her pregnancy?
Should l remove the babies just before she gives birth and hand rear them as i have been told that the mother might not be able to feed them or reject them?
Could l create another nest box for the mother to have the babies in it?

Any help would be much appreciated.

I do take responsibility for what has happened and i had no intention for this to happen and all i want to do is ensure the mother and babies have the best possible chance.

Many thanks

Scott.

Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum :wave:

Scott, just one more thought in addition to the sticky on babies that you've seen ..

The male when neutered will still be fertile for 3/4 weeks post neutering. So another unplanned pregnancy can occur if he and the female have any further contact.

Good luck and please stick around!

Scottwallace said:

Thank you so much, your help and information has really made things clearer and i'm not so worried now.

Thanks again.

Scott

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No problem, good luck with the unexpected arrivals xx

Hello, welcome to the forum :wave: I hope everything goes ok with the babies x

Some great advice given to you there Scott. As you'll already be aware, back to back litters will seriously take it's toll on mum, so you really need to up those calories. How many kits do you have in this first litter? A smaller litter of 4 or 5 will be much easier on her than a larger litter of 8 or 9. Indeed if she's used to greens start upping these slowly over the next few weeks is the best bet. If she's not, up her pellets slowly over the next few weeks. You don't want her getting an upset tum on top of potentially back to back litters so any dietary changes need to be made slowly. I believe a lot of people utilise the ad lib method of pellets for kindling doe's and this would be particularly useful to build up to when and if she does have another litter.

A lot of people may cringe at the idea, but if she is still eating plenty of her hay in addition, then in the short term it will be fine and really help her through this. What we need to remember is that un-spayed doe's and un-neutered bucks have different nutritional requirements to spayed and neutered buns. Add on to the fact she'll be dealing with back to back litters, you may find she'll lose too much weight on rations, even on a slight increase. A bit of background info on your buns diet, litter size etc will help give the advice best suited to your situation. Has she lost much weight after kindling? Hopefully she's had small litters. 2 litters of 8 or 9 would be a strain. BUT as Jane says, she will be fine, so try not to worry too much. All you can do is make her as comfortable as poss, and cross your fingers she's not caught.

Also to echo Jane, you should be fine for removing the kits at 4 weeks old. Each litter is different, so keep a close eye. If you'd had kits before you'll know doe's are very secret about feeding the kits (and very quick) so you may not necessarily know if she's still feeding them or not. It won't do them any harm though, if they're feeding on hay and pellets since even litters which are nursed for longer, aren't nursed longer by much.

Hey guys, thank you again for all the info and its great to get such detailed advice. I starting gradually increasing the doe's food straight away and she hasn't lost any weight thank god She had a litter or 5 and they are doing really great with big tummy's and growing fast. The picture is from today when l had them out for 2 minutes while l was cleaning their nest. Ill keep you all updated and if l have any other queries then l know l can come here for great advice. Scott

Scottwallace said:

Hey guys, thank you again for all the info and its great to get such detailed advice. I starting gradually increasing the doe's food straight away and she hasn't lost any weight thank god She had a litter or 5 and they are doing really great with big tummy's and growing fast. The picture is from today when l had them out for 2 minutes while l was cleaning their nest. Ill keep you all updated and if l have any other queries then l know l can come here for great advice. Scott

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Glad we could be of help :wave:

Lovely photo

Such cute babies.

Awwww too cute.


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