advice needed plz...

[beckz]

hi...i have x2 9 month old giant lop rabbits, 1 male, 1 female, who have both been brought up together from 7 weeks old...they used to share a hutch together ( as the male gets very lonely and depressed on his own)...its only recently that we have brought him a new hutch to have as we breeded them and she was expecting...
Now this is her second litter as the first all died, i kept finding them all over the hutch...still in 1 piece, thankfully!!!...The second litter she done all the right things i.e pulled her fir out, built the nest...it wasnt until i was cleaning the hutch out ( hutches are outside)...that i found she had her babys and were all alive(6 of them)...i was over the moon...but they were in the nest that she had built which was by the opening of the bedroom part...they were all covered over and when i checked them i could feel the warmth, so i knew they would be fine, or so i thought!!!...
I didnt want to interfere too much as she can be quite stroppy at times....i only went out there just to feed her...now 2 days later, i went to feed her in the morning and found the babys were uncovered and they were all dead...not harmed in anyway just cold and all huddled together...as you can imagine i was distraught ...I knew that i had to get them out of there before they started smelling...i put my latex gloves on and carefully emptyed her nest out...to my surprise i found another 1, baby number 7..which looked like it had got lost under all the hay and died...then as i reached the back of the hutch i found another baby, number 8, dead and looked like it was still in its birthing sack.. through looking at breeders sites for info there was a solution that maybe cos she knew there was 2 dead babys in there, then thats maybe why she had abandoned the other 6 ...
Me and my partner have both agreed that if she was to have another litter that we are to bring her in and nest and possibly assit in raising them and helping her out abit as we obviously dont know if she knows what shes doing....
so hopefully 3rd time lucky and see how it goes...if it fails again then we are getting her done so she cant have any more and reunite her with the male as they are very close...
Anyone out there thats been through a similar situation then please let me know as to what to do...any advice would be great as i would really like her to keep a litter next time...Beckz

[PigginRescue]

Quite simply, she doesnt appear to be having a great time with raising her babies.
Either she hasnt got the natural instinct to mother, which is more common than you realise, or theres something else causing the babies to die early, such as genetics etc.
Basically, with so many unwanted bunnies, including babies in the world, the kindest, and safest thing, you could do for your rabbit, is to get her spayed and NOT breed any more.
If you want a baby rabbit, may i suggest you pop along to your local rescue centre who will happily show you any youngsters they may have....

[Bavarian Bunny]

Maybe she is too young to breed, some big breeds may need to be older. Or she simply isn't a good mother. I would get her neutered and reunite her with her boy, she might prefer that. But get the boy neutered first, and wait a few weeks until he's no longer fertile.

[Jazzy B Bunny]

poor buns Neuter and spay for their sakes and also to stop the heart ache of losing the babies.

[beckz]

thanks for the advice...like i said it could of been for many of reasons...thats why we would like 1 more shot at it with bringing her inside, in the warm...and seeing how that goes...if it fails again then it wasnt meant to be and will be definately be getting her spayed....keep you posted...

[Jazzy B Bunny]

Please dont

[donna-arc]

The mum and dad aren't brother and sister are they, as this can cause problems with the babies?

[Jack's-Jane]

The mum and dad aren't brother and sister are they, as this can cause problems with the babies?

I agree.

Do you know the genetic background of these two Rabbits ?

[happypreso]

Me and my partner have both agreed that if she was to have another litter that we are to bring her in and nest and possibly assit in raising them and helping her out abit as we obviously dont know if she knows what shes doing....
so hopefully 3rd time lucky and see how it goes...if it fails again then we are getting her done so she cant have any more and reunite her with the male as they are very close...
Anyone out there thats been through a similar situation then please let me know as to what to do...any advice would be great as i would really like her to keep a litter next time...Beckz

Hi my doe has had two litters. The first one, she was a very young and very inexperience. She did pull some fur but didn't make a nest as such. It was a litter of 5 and 1 baby we found a long way from the others and we feel died from the cold. We also found another dead baby the following day, no sure why they died but the mum toss the dead one out of the nest. The second litter was an accident, but she had 4 babies. Two of these babies have eye problems, will be blind and one might even have to have an operation yet (they are 3 wks old).

I have been through a real rollercoaster ride with these babies and honestly I can say that I am never going to breed rabbits again. I have a 9wk old rabbit that I do not have the space for but I can not find them a loving home and I have ongoing (and huge) vet bills for these two poorly buns.

So please think very, very carefully before you decide to breed this rabbit again. Rabbits have feelings too and to lose 2 litters must be upsetting (I have had 3 m/c's so can so relate to this!) and maybe there is a reason behind why it is happening. Personally if they were my rabbits, I would get the male and female neutered and let them live happly ever after (my male rabbit is now done and my female will be done when the babies are off hand). I have slowly been rebonding my male and female together and you can tell they have missed each other very much.

Good luck with whatever you decide and feel free to PM if you you wish x x

Wendy

PS just a thought as well, but I was worried for my first litter as I had to handle them when they were just hours old and was worried that mum would reject them so starting looking for info on the internet about hand feeding etc and there isn't a great deal of sucess of hand rearing babies if the mum rejects them (just something else to think about as well). Hope all this info helps.

[Sky-O]

Why is it you want to breed? Are you prepared and knowledgable enough to help if necessary? (in terms of things lik help mum feed the kits, know what to look for, know about nestboxes, how to help the doe to prevent a calcium deficiency, have a foster mum ready incase mum dies and the kits need raising, etc). Are you prepared to face losing your doe? Or another litter? Are you financially able to take the strain of an emergency spay if it arises? are you willing to keep any babies that do not find homes? Are you willing to have any rabbits you sell returned to you if the owner does not want them anymore?

If the answer to any of those is 'no' then you shouldn't be breeding.