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Need advice please about Mum and babies........

Snowy

Snowy

Wise Old Thumper
As you know on the 4th of January I took in a Mum (whom we have now called Heidi) and her 4 babies that were more that morning and the beaten up 'Dad' which turned out to be a girl (whom we've called Alice)

My question is: the babies are now 17 days old and out of the nest and doing well, I want to feed Heidi some veggies and when I put the bowl down the babies jump in and start munching, so how do I keep the food seperate.........anyone any ideas please?

By the way Alice is doing well, she has stopped cowering and shaking and her scars are healing
 
I'm a bit relunctant to seperate them in case she gets stressed and she doesn't eat all her veggies in one go, she munches through the night.

Yes, this is my first lot of babies and they are doing very well, it's kinda scary though but rather satisfying, so hopefully they will continue to grow and become yet more beautiful buns needing a good home :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
I know my opinion on this might be a bit controversial but i`ve cared for 2 litters in the past & as soon as they were out the nest they shared mum`s veggies & i never had a problem with upset tums. :D I didn`t give them a massive amount of veg but they did get some every night & it didn`t do them any harm. I don`t know if it`s because they started nibbling on veg as soon as they could eat solids but i`ve never experienced the tummy problems that others have with their young rabbits.

This is just my opinion, good luck with the babies.
Su.x
 
or handfeed the veg and break titbits of for the babies to keep them busy so that mum can eat?
 
cannonwoman said:
I know my opinion on this might be a bit controversial but i`ve cared for 2 litters in the past & as soon as they were out the nest they shared mum`s veggies & i never had a problem with upset tums. :D I didn`t give them a massive amount of veg but they did get some every night & it didn`t do them any harm. I don`t know if it`s because they started nibbling on veg as soon as they could eat solids but i`ve never experienced the tummy problems that others have with their young rabbits.

This is just my opinion, good luck with the babies.
Su.x
Click to expand...

Well Su im with you on this, all the babies ive had to hand rear ive introduced veggies early and with no problems.
I know its a controversial topic though :lol:
So long as its slowly introduced and little and often they should be fine. I would also chop small bits up and scatter them about the living quarters for them to forage which hopefully will give mum time to munch her own! Hide them under hay so they are tempted to munch that too :)
 
I think it's good for Mum to get some space from the kids - could you maybe put a box in their run area only she can jump onto and put the veg up there? I am also in agreement with others that it's ok for the kits to start on veg fairly early.
 
Could you put most of the veg in a hay rack or one of those metal veg balls so that it was out of reach of the babies?
 
Thank you so much for your comments and ideas, I thought it was a definate NO about giving kits veggies but from what you are saying it won't do them any harm?, I may well give it a try obviously not a lot but just a tiny bit, how much would you say is appropriate please per baby per day?

I thought for maybe the next week or two I could put Mum's dish on top of the tris so she can jump up and have hers in peace but I don't suppose it will be long before the kits are jumping up the with her :lol: :lol:

Thanks again for your comments
 
It is okay to let the babies eat the mom's veggies. I know several breeders and foster moms who do that all the time with no problems. Just try to avoid sugary veggies like carrots or gassy veggies like cabbage and broccoli. No need to tempt fate, you know?

How long do you leave the veggies in there? It might be best to only give the mom what she'll eat within a certain time frame so the babies don't gorge on her veggies. For example, if she takes an hour to eat all her veggies then you should reduce it so she can eat it all in 15 minutes or so, then feed her more often if you think she's not getting enough veggies.
 
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