Neighbour's loose rabbit

Awesome story! I hardly come on here these days because I often find myself reading very depressing things, but this has made my day!

Thank you and good luck, I'm looking forward to your next instalment!
 
:wave: Well !

I've been away in the UK for a couple of days leaving OH in charge of mother and baby / babies. Today is bright and sunny so I went up to the polytunnel with some cabbage leaves, bits of turnip, broccoli stalks etc and look what I found... :D

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a12/angos/la fosse/muppettebabes.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a12/angos/la fosse/muppette-babes-01.jpg

Four babies, very active, three wild-rabbit coloured and one distinctly mottled!

More photos to follow later but I'll now need advice on weaning, how long they should all stay together before Muppette starts to get irritated with them (maybe she won't?) and so on...
 
Aawwwww they are absolutely adorable :love:
Sorry I have no advice on weaning or anything, just wanted to say how cute the bunnies are x
 
What cuties!
I think you should start socializing the babies. Being half-wild, they probably are more wary of human than usual to start with so it's important that they learn to trust humans to ensure they find happy homes.
Mom will keep them with her until 8 weeks old; after that the bunnies should be fully weaned and ready for new homes. At that time you should also separate boys from girls because mounting will start in a couple more weeks.
Girls can stay with mom until sexual maturity which is usually between 3 and 4 months old. After that they may become territorial and fight each other. If they don't, however, you can keep them with mom until they are ready to be spayed or find a new home.
 
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Thanks all - and thank you KoShiatar for the info re weaning, socialisation, separation... very useful.

As promised, a few more pix:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a12/angos/mini-muppettes-03.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a12/angos/mini-muppettes-02.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a12/angos/la fosse/mini-muppette-01.jpg

...and a heap of 3 (count the eyes!) in their preferred spot down the side of the cave:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a12/angos/mini-muppettes-01.jpg

They probably like it there because it's a very enclosed space which happens to be adjacent to the tube heater a few inches away outside the cage.

For interest and comparison, this is a photo of the hare I raised. In the photo, the leveret is about 48 hours old, possibly a bit less. I took advice from someone who knows about these things and one reason you can accurately estimate the age is that the eyes are still slightly oval - they change shape to a more round shape by 48 hours.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a12/angos/Photos for Karin/P1010001.jpg

And aged about 8 days...
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a12/angos/Photos for Karin/grunty-4.jpg
 
Tatihou said:
:wave: Well !

I've been away in the UK for a couple of days leaving OH in charge of mother and baby / babies. Today is bright and sunny so I went up to the polytunnel with some cabbage leaves, bits of turnip, broccoli stalks etc and look what I found... :D

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a12/angos/la fosse/muppettebabes.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a12/angos/la fosse/muppette-babes-01.jpg

Four babies, very active, three wild-rabbit coloured and one distinctly mottled!

More photos to follow later but I'll now need advice on weaning, how long they should all stay together before Muppette starts to get irritated with them (maybe she won't?) and so on...
Click to expand...

Just to say, I dont think Muppette will get irritated by them, when I was a kid we bred our rabbits, (Mum thought it would be a good life lesson :roll:) and at one time we had 25 living together. They never properly fought as they had grown up together and the only one that we ever had problems with socially was the one that had to be handreared. You can keep the girls with Muppette no problem, but its a good idea to get them all spayed (Muppette asap) as this will stop them becoming territorial and most importantly stop them getting uterine cancer. You can keep the boys with Muppette too if you want to keep them, just will have to separate them temporarily before they are neutered, you can reintroduce them 6 weeks after the op and if you keep them in the poly tunnel but fenced off so they can see, smell but not get to one another they shouldnt become unbonded.

Weaning wise Muppette will do this for you, they can eat her pellets but I dont think they should have her veg yet, as their stomachs are delicate as theyre so young.

ETA: they are adorable, especially the mottled one :love:
 
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nessar said:
Weaning wise Muppette will do this for you, they can eat her pellets but I dont think they should have her veg yet, as their stomachs are delicate as theyre so young.
Click to expand...
I don't think I can do much about that, unfortunately. This morning when I put her chopped cabbage leaves etc into her feeding tray, the kits were already getting over their fear of me being in the polytunnel and several were coming out to nestle under her as she fed and were picking up bits for themselves. They also eat the hay I put in as bedding so it's not as if extracting her while she feeds would really help.

As soon as the snow melts and I can get at grass, dandelions and plantains again, I'll revert to feeding her those - which will probably be better for the kits? She definitely prefers fresh greenery to hay.
 
Tatihou said:
I don't think I can do much about that, unfortunately. This morning when I put her chopped cabbage leaves etc into her feeding tray, the kits were already getting over their fear of me being in the polytunnel and several were coming out to nestle under her as she fed and were picking up bits for themselves. They also eat the hay I put in as bedding so it's not as if extracting her while she feeds would really help.

As soon as the snow melts and I can get at grass, dandelions and plantains again, I'll revert to feeding her those - which will probably be better for the kits? She definitely prefers fresh greenery to hay.
Click to expand...

Not sure about the different types of fresh stuff, I only know it as a general rule. Keep a close eye on their poos, if they are affected then I would stop feeding veg near them. Hay is fine for them to eat, it should be encouraged! I imagine grass would be okay.
 
I've been told veg is no good for young bunnies only if they haven't been fed any when they were weaned. So if they are gradually introduced to them everything should be all right.
Keep an eye on their poos and if they are firm and solid, they're having no problem; if they're runny you need to only feed hay.
 
I've not found any of their droppings, only Muppette's. That's assuming theirs will be smaller and therefore identifiable.

Happily, there's no sign of any runny droppings of any size though I'll keep an eye on this of course.
 
i have 5 baby rabbits at the moment neary 3 weeks old and they are out the nest and they nibble on the mums green and seed and its fine it helps them so when they grown up they are used to greens etc and can help to stop things like the bloat which can happen when seperated from mum and given different food, they dont eat much at this point its just a taste and mum will eat most they always do :D
good luck with them all
 
leanne2525 said:
i have 5 baby rabbits at the moment neary 3 weeks old and they are out the nest and they nibble on the mums green and seed...
Click to expand...
Congratulations, Leanne! I'm finding it fascinating watching Muppette and her babes. This afternoon, the snow had thawed in the valley so I went and picked plantains and grass - the dandelions seem to have given up for the time being. I piled the greenery in the cage and watched for a while. The babes are very wary but come out to feed once there's no movement.

We've half covered the entrance to the "cave" with another piece of wood and they're back to using the cave as, I guess, the reduced size entrance is more like that of a burrow and the inside feels safer than it did when it was open.

However, what I find really interesting is how they all group themselves under Muppette's chin and eat from there. I wonder if the kits learn what to eat from eating what mum eats and the easy way to ensure they eat what mum eats is to position themselves under her chin. Or it could be coincidence and what they choose to eat is instinctive based on scent and taste.

The pile of grass etc is big enough for them to eat from around the sides but for whatever reason (security being another I suspect) they like to be half under her body. Then, presumably if mum spooks, the kits know to bolt too.

I love watching and trying to figure out animal behaviour. With animals, much of what looks like random behaviour has a basis in survival.

But anyway, what I would really like to say is Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays everyone, and me, Muppette and Muppettettes (!) say thank you for your advice over the past 6 weeks. :D
 
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