Bunny has had unexpected babies, what to do?

[badger]

I can put mum in with the older babies daily, how long would you suggest for? And what to do? Take mum out of the hutch and leave the newborns but put them in the run which is right by the hutch, or bring mum away from the hutch and into the utility room?

Once a day or more? And for how long each time? Will she know to go back to the newborn babies? I suppose she will if you think of them in the wild.

Sorry to ask all these questions but I really havent a clue I will ask the vet again in the morning to see what they think.

 

[badger]

These are the 4 baby buns, tonight in the utility room with their box and hay.

2 black ones, like mum and dad, a black and white one and a multicoloured one - sort of orange and grey/blue.

 

[Fairy13]

You may find this thread helpful:
http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?t=126002

To be honest the 1st litter you have taken away from mum, I would try and rear them as Julia123 is doing in the thread above/
Mum will need all her resources to feed her new litter. I wouldmake sure you up her pellet and hay and everything else intake so she has the extra energy for producing milk for such a long period of time.

forgive me if somone has said already, but, male rabbits are fertile for up to 6 weeks after a neuter so he must stay separate from any fertile females for that time.

As someone has already said, boys are fertile from 12 weeks, so ideally your baby boys should be separated from their sisters about 6 weeks and then neutered asap (from about 12 weeks ls I think most vets will neuter)

I personally wouldn't introduce dad to any of his babies until they are all neutered and you are ready to bond everybun back together. He won't recognise them as his babies and rabbit skin is very fragile esp. a young bun and he could easily do them some damage.

I think you could definitely do with some extra hutches and runs being built as you will have quite a circus of separating various buns of different ages and sexes!

Also I don't know how large the hutch is that your mumbun is currently staying in but she could also do with some exercise out of her hutch on her own for a few hours a day. Babies should be left in their nest, they'll be fine without her during the day for a little while as rabbits only feed their young once or twice a day. So an extra run for her to use alone for now would be good.

Good luck with them all. When you come to bonding them all back together there are certain preparations you should make for this too to help things run as smoothly as possible. If you do a search here it will bring alot up or just post again.

Good luck with all your furry bundles! I hope they all thrive for you x x

 

[badger]

Thanks for that link, I have had a read and may post on there too, to see if the op can offer me any advice.

We upped her pellet and filled the whole hutch with hay immediately, she is fed on junior excel.

Dad will be made an appointment tomorrow so when these babies are weaned in about 8 weeks he should be ok to go back with mum. They have seen each other and been together supervised by me to try and keep the bond there.

I thought dad might be a bit funny with the babies so he has only seen them through the hutch and not "met" up with them.

Hubby is in the middle of building another hutch and run set up for the babies, just not quite quick enough, although it will be ready in a couple of weeks. I will be buying an indoor hutch for now for these 4 because I worry they will get too cold outside without mum for security and comfort.

This is our current hutch set up:

 

[Julia123]

Hi I've posted a reply to you on my thread but just found this! Sounds like you have the food, hay etc all sorted anyway.

Here was my post...

Hi Sorry Only just seen this.

Oh my you are in the same situ as the lady who gave me the 5wk olds.

If you haven't been to the vet yet then cancel it. There is no need to worry about the sex of the babies yet and it may cause them stress. Wait until 6 - 8 weeks.

Well done for taking dad out and for separating the 4wk olds. Its far from ideal but will give mum a better chance of looking after the others.

Bio Lapsis is a probiotic which should help with the little ones tummies, they naturally get it from Mum's milk. If these lovely people on here send me some them I'll send some on to you - PM your address to me.

Meanwhile feed Mum & babies on Excell Junior - as much as they want. Make sure they all have lots of fresh water, my babies are drinking a whole bottle a day ! Make sure the babies are warm, out of drafts and any loud noises. Also make sure they have loads and loads of hay - they should be eating this now. Give mum lots of extra Greens - add some broccoli to her greens this will help with milk production.

Finally, interact with the babies, pick them up and stroke them it will make them easier to re-home and make them feel more secure.

GOOD LUCK ! x

Hope its all going well x

 

[oscarbunny]

Hi

You sound like a very responsible bunny owner . I know it will be tough on mum, but i dont think it is a good idea for mum and dad to spend time together even under strict supervision. Bunnies are quick and can mount each other in no time... then you will end up with more babies. It really isnt worth it, as long as they can see each other through their runs, they should be ok.

They will most likely rebond once dad is neutered, dont worry too much. One of the babies looks like a dutch bunny. Do you know the breed of mum and dad, i would love to see pics of them. The babies are lovely too.

 

[badger]

Thank you for all your advice.

I've been down to Pets at Home and bought an indoor hutch and a pet carrier (had to borrow next doors).

The hutch has the part where they can go underneath a small bit and on the top for food and water. Well I have been monitoring them all day and they havent gone onto the top for any food or water. They have been underneath the hidey place though. I know they can jump up there because they have tunnels in the run and easily jump on there.

Anyway, me panicking, I have now taken out the hidey place and put the food on their level, they are now eating it fine (junior excel which they have only ever known anyway because thats what mum has). I couldnt get them to drink which I was really worried about but have now shown each of them where it is, I bought an extra water bottle from PAH so they now have 2 on the hutch. I put each one under the water bottle thingy and they managed to drink it, I know they can I have seen them do it in the hutch with mum. I then let them go obviously and monitored them and they now know where it is but not with the hidey hole thingy in.

I took them to the vets and she thinks they are 3 girls and 1 boy, but I have to go back in 2 weeks. They said they are absolutely fine and told me to weigh them every couple of days to make sure they are gaining weight and if they are not to give them a ring. I didnt see your message early enough not to go, the appt was 11.30.

The bunnies mum was a netherland dwarf and their dad was a lionhead, so my babies are cross between the 2. When we chose the initial 2 all the babies were black and the mum was grey. So I havent a clue why one looks like a dutch and one is all sorts of colours!

I wont let mum and dad see each other again then, I just wanted them to know that they are both ok, I will let them see each other through the run in future.

When I went in PAH earlier and told the man in there what was what, he said if I had a word with the manager they would probably take them for me! I nearly bit his head off, no way.

I will take another photograph in the daylight, they are all so beautiful. I will put photos up of mum and dad, she just looks like a netherland dwarf and so does dad but dad has some fluffy round his neck.

Should I leave the hidey thingy out for a while? Or will this just cause more confusion?

This is mum but not a very good picture (taken by my son a couple of weeks ago!).

 

[badger]

Just an update to say the babies are absolutely great, took them back to the vets today to be sexed again and it turns out they're all girls.

One of them has been rehomed, they wanted her as a house rabbit (the 18 yr old) and wouldnt take 2 in the end. I was a bit upset about this to be honest but I am sure she'll be OK. She has just gone about 1/2 hour ago. I feel really upset actually, like they have taken one of my babies. I know this is silly but I cant help feeling like this.

We are keeping the other 3 and the hutch is nearly ready for them to go outside in but at the minute they are still inside. We also have some ducklings and they all go out together in the run, its really sweet.

The new 6 babies are doing great too, there are 3 black ones, 2 multicoloured ones and 1 black and white. They are walking around and we are now handling them. I dont think we will be keeping any of these new ones because of the room but my mum and dad will have at least 2, depending on the sex of them maybe more, we dont want any more surprise packages!

The dad is going in on Monday to be neutered and I am really worried about this, although I know its for the best but they gave me a leaflet on it and tbh its enough to put you off doing it, I am doing it though because I dont like him on his own when all the others are with others.

Anyway enough of my ramblings

Julia123 - if you are reading this how are your babies now????

 

[FudgeMallow]

Hey

Hey
I just found this site last night and joined and found you story 2day.
I went through something similar! I had bought 2 rabbits (from separate breeders) an agouti coloured boy and a black and white girl, and kept them 2gether just because i was told that my female rabbit had already been neutered (which is the only reason i got her as my male was lonely),

Anyway 7 months down the line i woke up 2 find 5 little pink babies in a nest, i was so shocked but extremely happy. Well at 7 days old 2 of them past away, i found them at the other end of the cage away from their nest. It was the most sad day of my life, i cried all day because i thought if only i had gotten up during the night i would have been able to save them and even still i blame myself.

The other three babies (2 of whom looked identical to their dad and the other their mum), they grew up well and i loved every stage of their lives. When they were just four weeks old their mum started bullying them and pulling their fur out, so i separated them and gave them their very own cage (the biggest that i could find). The next night i was getting ready for bed i heard a strange noise from mummys cage (mums cage and babies cage kept in my room to supervise) i walked over to witness her giving birth. It was such an amazing thing to see and i thank her greatly to have them while i was their. Anyway she had one pink baby and then another pink baby and then last out came this tiny tiny black baby.

As i had read up on as much information as possible about rabbits and their babies and knowing my rabbit was such a gentle girl i had opened her cage to check on them. the 2 pink babies were big and warm and so full of life and them the black baby was half the size of the other 2 and lay on my hand still.

to be continued.......... not much more to tell sorry for rambling

 

[FudgeMallow]

Continued..............

I thought the worst so i put the baby back in his nest and woke up every hour just to make sure the poor little thing was alive. when i woke the next morning mum was feeding them so after she was done i checked them and noticed a small drop of blood on my hand after i had picked up the black baby (called Blackie) so i check all over and noticed the tip of his tail had been bitten of by his mum.

There wasnt much blood at all but i could see the bone of his tail. I thought that after this he will not survive the night. Well i put warm water in a bowl and added a pinch of salt and dabbed it on his tail to stop infections.

Well Blackie did survive and each day he got bigger and bigger and his tail healed well. Then at 4 weeks old Blackie and his brother had gotten eye infections so i had taken them to my vet and got eye drops. I put them in twice a day for 3weeks and his brother(Sky) had cleared the infection so i took blackie back then i got stronger eye drops and still after 3 weeks nothing o he had to go into the vets to get sedated and get his tear ducts flushed, well when i went to pick him up the vet was a bit confused because when he was squirting the liquid into his eye instead of the liquid coming out of his nose it just kept coming back up out of his eye! The was some sort of blockage in his nose preventing his eye from getting better! So now he has a permanent wet eye and has to get 2 eye drops everyday for his entire life!

Back to the first litter, 2 where girls and 1 boy. I found a lovely couple who had a 10 year old daughter who wanted both girls so they are happy in their new homes. Gizmo (the male) lives happily at my boyfriends house where i can visit him every day. And Blackie and Sky are neutered and living happily with my boyfriend aswell, sunbathing and munching on grass all day long. And the only girl from the second litter Fudge lives happily with me on her own with the free roam of my house and garden. And she gets so much love from her parents whom she sometimes plays with.

You where lucky to have 2 litters and watch how they grow! I certainly enjoyed my experience but no more children for me, Millie and Thumper (mum and dad) are neutered and live in the garden as a happily retired couple!

Dont worry about your male when he gets neutered, he is in safe hands and its for the best! I worried about all 4 of my boy rabbits and they where all fine. If your male and female where together for a year then they should be fine when getting put back together. Just do it gradually on neutral ground where they get used to each other again. And they will not forget about each other or forget their scent!

Dont worry they will be fine.