• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

22 Rabbits!

B

Bellatrix15

Warren Scout
Guys I need your help!

My rabbit Bellatrix is happy (in a 15x10ft room) and we’re both relatively settled for once!

Someone I know has got into a bad situation... she’s on her own and pregnant and managed to let her 2 rabbits grow to 22!! She has no time or space and the situation has been constantly on my mind.

Currently she has 6 8 week olds with a mum litter of 5 who are around 5 weeks old. I am going to take the mum and the 6 8 week old babies but to look after until I can find them new homes. Hopefully I can rehome them as soon as possible and take the younger litter ASAP.

I’m desperately trying to avoid new babies!

I have very limited money as I don’t have a job due to mental health and just cleaning and baking here and there so can afford food and hay etc but wouldn't be able to afford vaccines or neutering. I’ll be contacting vets today to explain my situation and see what they can possibly do.

I will need lots of advice for caring for the babies as they grow in terms of what is best for vaccinating and keeping them separated etc I will also be contacting local rescues to help hopefully with rehoming. I am based in Leeds so if anyone could help in anyway that would be great!
 
Bellatrix15 said:
Guys I need your help!

My rabbit Bellatrix is happy (in a 15x10ft room) and we’re both relatively settled for once!

Someone I know has got into a bad situation... she’s on her own and pregnant and managed to let her 2 rabbits grow to 22!! She has no time or space and the situation has been constantly on my mind.

Currently she has 6 8 week olds with a mum litter of 5 who are around 5 weeks old. I am going to take the mum and the 6 8 week old babies but to look after until I can find them new homes. Hopefully I can rehome them as soon as possible and take the younger litter ASAP.

I’m desperately trying to avoid new babies!

I have very limited money as I don’t have a job due to mental health and just cleaning and baking here and there so can afford food and hay etc but wouldn't be able to afford vaccines or neutering. I’ll be contacting vets today to explain my situation and see what they can possibly do.

I will need lots of advice for caring for the babies as they grow in terms of what is best for vaccinating and keeping them separated etc I will also be contacting local rescues to help hopefully with rehoming. I am based in Leeds so if anyone could help in anyway that would be great!
Click to expand...

What a sad situation :( Obviously first thing to do is to separate any entire bucks from the unspayed does :)
 
Sorry I have no advice but think you are doing a wonderful thing helping your friend. I hope you manage to find them all new homes.
 
Will that leave the five week old buns with no Mum? If one of her two original bunnies was a boy and there is only one Mum with two litters and you take the Mum and the older buns?

I've never bred bunnies but five weeks sounds too young for them to be without their Mum. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will come along soon:)
 
There are 2 separate mums for each litter. So I will be taking the mum with the older litter and leaving the younger litter with their mum!
 
Bellatrix15 said:
Guys I need your help!

My rabbit Bellatrix is happy (in a 15x10ft room) and we’re both relatively settled for once!

Someone I know has got into a bad situation... she’s on her own and pregnant and managed to let her 2 rabbits grow to 22!! She has no time or space and the situation has been constantly on my mind.

Currently she has 6 8 week olds with a mum litter of 5 who are around 5 weeks old. I am going to take the mum and the 6 8 week old babies but to look after until I can find them new homes. Hopefully I can rehome them as soon as possible and take the younger litter ASAP.

I’m desperately trying to avoid new babies!

I have very limited money as I don’t have a job due to mental health and just cleaning and baking here and there so can afford food and hay etc but wouldn't be able to afford vaccines or neutering. I’ll be contacting vets today to explain my situation and see what they can possibly do.

I will need lots of advice for caring for the babies as they grow in terms of what is best for vaccinating and keeping them separated etc I will also be contacting local rescues to help hopefully with rehoming. I am based in Leeds so if anyone could help in anyway that would be great!
Click to expand...


Can you contact the person and ask them to phone around Rescue Centres to explain the problem? It's a tall order for you to take all these on, because you will have to first split up any adult males and females, and then down the line split up the babies as they become mature. That's a lot of accommodation.

Rehoming isn't easy, and would you home check to make sure they were going to have a good home?

I have worked in Rescue (fostering, home checking and rehoming) for 25+ years and it's hard work.

Looking after babies:


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

http://www.rabbit.org/care/babies.html


All that said - you have a heart of gold, and I wish you all the luck in the world :love:
 
I'll just be taking the one litter at first and only one adult which is the mum of the litter. I have been encouraging her for months to ring rescue centres but she just won't do it and says she doesn't want them to take them!?! So this is probably the only way around it. Such a nightmare, just want to shake her!
 
Bellatrix15 said:
There are 2 separate mums for each litter. So I will be taking the mum with the older litter and leaving the younger litter with their mum!
Click to expand...

Thank you for explaining. I thought there were just two buns to start with so assumed they were male and female - which is how she ended up with 22!!!
 
Bellatrix15 said:
I'll just be taking the one litter at first and only one adult which is the mum of the litter. I have been encouraging her for months to ring rescue centres but she just won't do it and says she doesn't want them to take them!?! So this is probably the only way around it. Such a nightmare, just want to shake her!
Click to expand...



Hmmm, me too!
 
Gosh!

What sorta bunnies are they? Maybe you could find them homes via the forum and rabbit rehome etc :)
 
MightyMax said:
Can you contact the person and ask them to phone around Rescue Centres to explain the problem? It's a tall order for you to take all these on, because you will have to first split up any adult males and females, and then down the line split up the babies as they become mature. That's a lot of accommodation.

Rehoming isn't easy, and would you home check to make sure they were going to have a good home?

I have worked in Rescue (fostering, home checking and rehoming) for 25+ years and it's hard work.

Looking after babies:


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

http://www.rabbit.org/care/babies.html


All that said - you have a heart of gold, and I wish you all the luck in the world :love:
Click to expand...
I agree with this.

I also want to add that, although I'm sure your heart's in the right place, I would make sure you're 100% committed to the responsibility you're taking on, especially if you have limited funds. Rabbits can be quite delicate creatures, as we all know, so I would think about how you would cope with unexpected vet bills etc.

You're welcome to list them in the RIN section once they're old enough and on RR but bear in mind that they may take a while to rehome - if they start to get very hormonal, then some/all may need neutering even though they're in same sex groups.

I'm also confused how she started with 2 bunnies but there are 2 mums? And where is dad? Just as important would be to make sure he is neutered and split otherwise 22 could quickly become even more!

Apologies if I sound like a Debbie Downer but the rules banning posting of Free Ads on here originally came about because of situations very much like this where people were trying to help but ended up very much out of their depth. It's hard to say no sometimes when you have a situation like this but it's also important to be realistic about how much you're able to help.
 
KarenM said:
I agree with this.

I also want to add that, although I'm sure your heart's in the right place, I would make sure you're 100% committed to the responsibility you're taking on, especially if you have limited funds. Rabbits can be quite delicate creatures, as we all know, so I would think about how you would cope with unexpected vet bills etc.

You're welcome to list them in the RIN section once they're old enough and on RR but bear in mind that they may take a while to rehome - if they start to get very hormonal, then some/all may need neutering even though they're in same sex groups.

I'm also confused how she started with 2 bunnies but there are 2 mums? And where is dad? Just as important would be to make sure he is neutered and split otherwise 22 could quickly become even more!

Apologies if I sound like a Debbie Downer but the rules banning posting of Free Ads on here originally came about because of situations very much like this where people were trying to help but ended up very much out of their depth. It's hard to say no sometimes when you have a situation like this but it's also important to be realistic about how much you're able to help.
Click to expand...
I completely agree, it's so difficult sometimes but it's not always possible to take on so many, especially if you're not set up for it etc like a rescue.

Also I'd be worried about not being able to vaccinate etc if you can't rehome quickly, especially with RHD2 spreading like it is :(
 
KarenM said:
I agree with this.

I also want to add that, although I'm sure your heart's in the right place, I would make sure you're 100% committed to the responsibility you're taking on, especially if you have limited funds. Rabbits can be quite delicate creatures, as we all know, so I would think about how you would cope with unexpected vet bills etc.

You're welcome to list them in the RIN section once they're old enough and on RR but bear in mind that they may take a while to rehome - if they start to get very hormonal, then some/all may need neutering even though they're in same sex groups.

I'm also confused how she started with 2 bunnies but there are 2 mums? And where is dad? Just as important would be to make sure he is neutered and split otherwise 22 could quickly become even more!

Apologies if I sound like a Debbie Downer but the rules banning posting of Free Ads on here originally came about because of situations very much like this where people were trying to help but ended up very much out of their depth. It's hard to say no sometimes when you have a situation like this but it's also important to be realistic about how much you're able to help.
Click to expand...

I'm just taking the six babies who are 8 weeks old at the moment and their mum.

I think she started with a male and female and they had babies and then there were babies from one of the babies and the original mum and then just more from there I think! :(

I know this might be a lot for me but the only other option is they will continue to multiply and will go to truly awful homes or stay in 3ft unclean cages where they currently are. If I can give them better homes and know that they are being well looked after in the mean time I feel like I have to!
 
Graciee said:
I completely agree, it's so difficult sometimes but it's not always possible to take on so many, especially if you're not set up for it etc like a rescue.

Also I'd be worried about not being able to vaccinate etc if you can't rehome quickly, especially with RHD2 spreading like it is :(
Click to expand...

I know... I am soo worried about this. They will be kept inside which I hope will help a little but I know that isn't totally safe. I will be trying to re home the first 6 as soon as possible but I know it could tale longer than I think. Feels like this is the best option at the moment by far even though it is still far from perfect!
 
Oh wow, what a predicament! You are very kind for trying to help, though even 7 rabbits is a lot to take on.

Is there actually 22? You mentioned 2 litters, but what of the rest?

So,was this initially a mis-sexing by Pets at home? (Not unheard of). Although it's obviously escalated since then. Can the person be relied upon to not let it continuing to happen?

Good luck x
 
TheThreeB's said:
Oh wow, what a predicament! You are very kind for trying to help, though even 7 rabbits is a lot to take on.

Is there actually 22? You mentioned 2 litters, but what of the rest?

So,was this initially a mis-sexing by Pets at home? (Not unheard of). Although it's obviously escalated since then. Can the person be relied upon to not let it continuing to happen?

Good luck x
Click to expand...

Yes I realise that 7 rabbits is still an awful lot to take on! Yeah theres definitely 22, the 2 litters I have mentioned and mums = 11 and there's the original Dad and 10 more left over from 2 previous litters over the past few months. I think she rehomed 1 or 2 and at least 2 passed away.

Yep, it was a mis-sexing of the original 2 and then pets at home got it wrong again with the first lot of babies. I definitely stayed away from Pets at Home before but even more so now!
 
Bellatrix15 said:
Yes I realise that 7 rabbits is still an awful lot to take on! Yeah theres definitely 22, the 2 litters I have mentioned and mums = 11 and there's the original Dad and 10 more left over from 2 previous litters over the past few months. I think she rehomed 1 or 2 and at least 2 passed away.

Yep, it was a mis-sexing of the original 2 and then pets at home got it wrong again with the first lot of babies. I definitely stayed away from Pets at Home before but even more so now!
Click to expand...


In that case I think P@H ought to be brought to book about this, if it's not too late, and step up and offer compensation.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
Baby rabbits
Replies
11
Views
296
InspectorMorse
InspectorMorse
rosaleen
Cecothrophs pellets and greens questions rabbits
2 3
Replies
42
Views
1K
rosaleen
rosaleen
BevBunny
Lost/abandoned bunny (let’s call it Norman)
Replies
15
Views
316
bunny momma
bunny momma
Back
Top