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We Have Baby Bunnies!

Mum doesn't mind being stroked but she's not really a lap bunny! If you hold her too long she tends to give a little nip or tug ur clothing or start kicking to get down. I weigh babies when mum is out for exercise because I was worried about her not wanting them being handled. Not that I'm scared of her nipping me but just how she would react to them if she saw me handling them. I always wash my handles and handle the straw and mum before touching them. How long do I need to do this for. Until they are wondering around on their own or even after that? My husband said he found one of the babies near the hutch door. Day ago but it had turned around and was heading back!! Mum seems to have moved lots or straw up against the door to the bedding area where the nest is! I wonder if she's aware of it venturing and trying to keep them in the bedding area!!?
 
Thank you for all your support. It's been a few days so I thought I'd give an update. Mum is fantastic! She's taking really good care of them. They are fed, gaining weight, always cosy warm and clean. All are gaining weight and they have fur now too. The 2 larger ones are gaining weight at exactly the same rate just 1g between them. The small one however is still much smaller. The previous weigh they all gained 12g but today although it's gained another 12g it's siblings gained 29g each. So the larger ones are 107/108g and the smallest is only 78g. Is this normal? Also the other 2 seem to try to crawl forward off if the scales as if searching for milk but the small one seems to try doing this and then keep rolling off the scales as if it has very poor coordination in comparison to the other 2. Don't worry about the scales they are only 2cm high at the very most and are in the hutch on straw when weighing, so the rolling off won't have harmed it but every time I placed it on and tried to get an accurate weight it kept rolling off! Is this normal? Could something be wrong with this one perhaps??


Hi Louise :wave:

It's too early to be worrying about the little one.

I think you're doing brilliantly, and can perhaps try worrying a bit less - at least for now :)
 
Mum doesn't mind being stroked but she's not really a lap bunny! If you hold her too long she tends to give a little nip or tug ur clothing or start kicking to get down. I weigh babies when mum is out for exercise because I was worried about her not wanting them being handled. Not that I'm scared of her nipping me but just how she would react to them if she saw me handling them. I always wash my handles and handle the straw and mum before touching them. How long do I need to do this for. Until they are wondering around on their own or even after that? My husband said he found one of the babies near the hutch door. Day ago but it had turned around and was heading back!! Mum seems to have moved lots or straw up against the door to the bedding area where the nest is! I wonder if she's aware of it venturing and trying to keep them in the bedding area!!?

It sounds as though Mummy Bunny is doing a good job :love:
 
Mum doesn't mind being stroked but she's not really a lap bunny! If you hold her too long she tends to give a little nip or tug ur clothing or start kicking to get down. I weigh babies when mum is out for exercise because I was worried about her not wanting them being handled. Not that I'm scared of her nipping me but just how she would react to them if she saw me handling them. I always wash my handles and handle the straw and mum before touching them. How long do I need to do this for. Until they are wondering around on their own or even after that? My husband said he found one of the babies near the hutch door. Day ago but it had turned around and was heading back!! Mum seems to have moved lots or straw up against the door to the bedding area where the nest is! I wonder if she's aware of it venturing and trying to keep them in the bedding area!!?


I think both you and Mom are doing a great job between you. And your husband of course!
It sounds like the babies are getting to know the lie of the land now :)
 
Good morning everyone. I was just hoping for a little more guidance regarding the beautiful little bunnies we now have! They are 24 days old and totally resemble their parents now. Their ears now stick up and their eyes are open! They hop around and chase each other, then need to go for a nap, so I think we are in the toddler phase!!! I hear them nibbling the straw in the floor of the hutch and they bible any veggies we put in for Willow. They've been out on the lawn, in a pen with mum and had a roam around but we don't leave them out too long as I don't want them getting too tired. When we feed Willow they all gather around the dish and nibble at the food. I know it's ok for them to be tasting mums food but I suppose what I'm wondering is do they need to go on baby pellets? If they are eating or trying to eat mums can they just stay on that, job done, or do I need to feed them baby pellets when mum is out and then wean them onto adult food when older? If I leave smaller pellets in there Williw just eats them all and I don't want to offer them too much food as I know they should be reliant on mum for feeding still for another couple of weeks shouldn't they?? I tried to post a pic but I can't figure it out sorry! I'll keep trying. In the meantime, thank you again for all of your advice.
 
Good morning everyone. I was just hoping for a little more guidance regarding the beautiful little bunnies we now have! They are 24 days old and totally resemble their parents now. Their ears now stick up and their eyes are open! They hop around and chase each other, then need to go for a nap, so I think we are in the toddler phase!!! I hear them nibbling the straw in the floor of the hutch and they bible any veggies we put in for Willow. They've been out on the lawn, in a pen with mum and had a roam around but we don't leave them out too long as I don't want them getting too tired. When we feed Willow they all gather around the dish and nibble at the food. I know it's ok for them to be tasting mums food but I suppose what I'm wondering is do they need to go on baby pellets? If they are eating or trying to eat mums can they just stay on that, job done, or do I need to feed them baby pellets when mum is out and then wean them onto adult food when older? If I leave smaller pellets in there Williw just eats them all and I don't want to offer them too much food as I know they should be reliant on mum for feeding still for another couple of weeks shouldn't they?? I tried to post a pic but I can't figure it out sorry! I'll keep trying. In the meantime, thank you again for all of your advice.

It'll be fine for the Kits to eat the same pellets as Mum. The Kits will slowly self wean, wild baby Rabbits generally stop suckling at around 4 weeks of age. So personally I would not restrict food supply in an attempt to keep them suckling. It looks as though they are all doing well :)
 
So should I just put mums food out and let them share or should I put baby pellets in for them when mums out?

You could put half and half in the same bowl, it wont harm Mum to have some of the Breeder/Grower pellets, she could no doubt do with the extra protein they contain as she has been raising her Kits x
 
I agree with Jane. They can be fed unlimited pellets now as they will know what they need better than we do. I would, however, be careful with giving mum a different type of pellet and would suggest the gradual introduction, like with any new food. As she will be eating more pellets, she may well also have excess caecals, but this will settle when they are separated and she has her food gradually reduced back to a normal amount. Also, I'm sure you know, but they need as much hay as you can get in there, as this will promote good hay eating habits early. I would suggested fresh hay twice a day to keep them interested and eating it.
 
We've dropped the hay basket and water bottle down and I've seen the babies during the water occasionally and I've seen them sniffing the hay and eating the straw!!
Our rabbits don't eat a lot of hay. They did ok until about 2 months ago, now they don't eat it much at all, which I know is concerning. Yet I've seen them both eat straw. I read on here to reduce pellets to encourage hay consumption and to be honest I do think they have more pellets than they should. The post said they could live happy and healthily on just hay and greens so as I can't reduce Willows pellets yet I've started with Inyx. Day 2 and not a noticeable change in any hay munching but they always eat plenty of grass when out. I'll start putting the babies some small pellets out in the morning. Could they have a mixture of adult and baby so that change over doesn't take so long later!!?
 
I should add that actually I have needed to fill Willows hay each day this week so she and possible the babies are eating hay. Perhaps she's not getting enough pellets so she's having to eat more hay.
 
Did anything change with your hay two months ago? What kind of hay do you buy?

Yes, babies can have a mix of foods. The reason that baby food is recommended is higher protein which is good for growing and is also good for mummy bunny too when she is dispelling a lot of energy on milk production and feeding.

The babies should be eating hay now. I've found a hay rack isn't great for getting bunnies to eat lots of hay unless it's over where they go to the toilet so, to increase hay consumption I would always suggest hay in the litter tray (in large amounts, obviously added to and changed regularly).
 
We did change the hay 2 months ago, just for them to try something else and they liked that too but then when we went back to the previous one they liked they didn't eat it. The hay used to be over the litter tray but then we separated them and they used the toilet in different corners so I moved the litter tray accordingly leaving the hay where it was. Should I try putting Willows in one side of her litter tray or just outside it on one side? Onyx's will be a bit trickier as he now has a corner tray. He still won't eat his hay after 3 days reduced pellets. He likes his grass though! We have plenty of that!

http://s36.photobucket.com/user/lou...[user]=146564528&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=0
 
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Hello all. I have a question. The babies are now 5 weeks and 2 days old (37 days). We've put them in the run as usual and noticed that she keeps putting her paws on their backs, almost like she's forcing them to be submissive as she squishes them to the ground, but then she's scratching them as if digging on their backs. This may seem really dumb but is she teaching them the 'rabbit way' or is she being a bit heavy handed and trying to drive them away? I read one of the links posted to me on her weeks ago and it said about 4 weeks the babies begin to wean and mum MAY try to drive them away as her hormones return. She nipped my husband as he picked her up to put her in the run this afternoon, before we spotted what she was doing to the babies. On Thursday she can go back with Daddy Bunny, outside at least. What I'm wondering is if it's safe for the babies to go back with mummy or if we should separate them from her fire their safety? What did you think? They are eating pellets and hay now but I don't know how much they still feed from mum. I need to decide what to do before bed time tonight. Thank you in advance. Louise x
 
How's your bunnies doing Louise? :wave:

They seem to be doing really well. They're full of energy and eating and pooping well. They like their hay too which is a relief unlike their parents! It's just the issue we've just realised above that we need to learn about or rectify! I'll see if I can get some more recent pics up! They are gorgeous!
 
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