RABBIT HELP PLEASE!!!!!

[trapper john]

Ok so I see this add on Craig's list for free rabbits I called and this guy answers, I asked about the rabbits he said yes I have too young females left so I decided to go pick them up. Well I show up at his house with my small kennel I nock at the door the dude walks me to the hutch he says here is Carmel and Sara aka the rabbits! Well as he is putting the bunnies in my kennel he says btw Carmel is a boy! I said ok?? No big deal.. Well I get home and pick up Sara and she is a big bunny and really pregnant !!! I sain oooohhhh boy that dude slipped that one by me!!!! SO!! I kno w nothing about knocked up rabbits help what do I need to do? What do I need? Any advice any will help?? I haven't owned them since I was a kid there just Rex bunnies meat rabbits?

 

[trapper john]

Here is Sara and Carmel!!!

 

[Bunnylady]

The gestation period on a rabbit is 31 days, plus or minus a few. A doe that is carrying a big litter may kindle in as few as 28 days, while one who is pregnant with just a couple of kits may go 34-35 days. If your doe is visibly pregnant, she is most likely due SOON.

There are certain clues that does may give that they are getting close to kindling, but since rabbits don't read "the book", you can't be sure they'll go by it, lol. Starting a week or so before her due date, a doe may dig in a corner of the cage. This is the point at which she'd be digging a burrow for the litter, if she could. Frequently, a doe will begin gathering hay to make the nest within a few days of kindling. Most does don't actually pull fur until just before or just after the kits arrive, though each doe has her own pattern, and you can't be sure just what any particular doe will do until she has done it at least once.

A doe will need a nest box to have her litter in. The box should be only a few inches longer and wider than the doe herself. If the box is too small, she won't use it. If the box is too big, she may sit in the box a lot, peeing and pooping and making a disgusting mess. I usually don't put the box in until a few days before the doe is due, just to keep the opportunity for mess making to a minimum.

If the doe does everything right, she'll have the kits in the box, clean them up, nurse them, pull some fur to keep them warm, and all you'll need to do is count them when she's done. However, an awful lot of does make a hash of things the first time around. She may not be able to figure out what the box is for, and choose to have the kits on the cage floor. If I have a doe that seems to be avoiding her box, I may line the whole cage with hay, so there will be some insulation wherever the kits wind up.

If in spite of everything, you find the newborns apparently cold and dead on the wire, all may not be lost. Rabbit people know that "they aren't dead until they are warm and dead." Using your body heat or warm water to gently warm them up will sometimes revive kits that seemed to have expired. Warming them too fast can cause them to start to revive, and then collapse, so they need to be warmed slowly.

Be warned - a doe comes into use immediately after she kindles. If the buck is in with her at the time she has babies, she will most likely get pregnant again, and have another litter 31 days later. This can be very useful in the case of a doe that loses her litter, but it's a big strain on her to be nursing and pregnant at the same time, and you would have to wean the first litter when they are barely 4 weeks old to make way for litter # 2. Also, the buck can be very persistent in his attentions, and babies can get trampled and killed as the buck chases the doe and she runs from him. I strongly recommend that you get the buck into separate quarters before the litter arrives.

 

[trapper john]

Wow thanks this is gonna help me out big time!ive got to get the cages sorted out for the both of them i noticed that ths are both very underfed like you can feel ribs backbone ect is there a certain food i should give her or vit water addative? I gave them carrots and stuff for a snack the ate like they havent eaten in days they also drank about 20 oz bottle of water in about two min im just hoping they are healthy and will faten up a little. im one too keep my animals lean but not fat just enough so they eat when there fed but not starving too death the previous owner
was not taking enough care the cage was in horrible shape poo and pee inches thick the bunnies are covered in nastyness mabe he could not afford them thats why he gave them too me for free?

 

[trapper john]

Ok here is an update i went to the feed store and found some good food for pregnant bunnies a also got some big alph blocks my wife gave them both a bath we got happy happy

bunnies.

 

[Bunnylady]

For some reason, this guy seems to have had little/no interest in caring for the rabbits, I will grant you that. At least he has done one thing right - he gave them away to someone who is interested.

You've got one thing going in your favor - sounds like they have good appetites. Frequently, rabbits that have gone without food or water for a while develop GI stasis - in other words, their digestive systems basically stop running. It can be difficult to get them going again, and incredibly frustrating to watch an animal starving itself to death with good food right in front of it.

You'll want to go easy on things like carrots. Carrots have lots of water and fiber, which are good, but they have a fair amount of sugar, too, which can be a problem. A rabbit's digestive system isn't designed to handle lots of sugars and starches, and you can wind up with a rabbit with diarrhea as a result of feeding too much of that kind of thing. Since you are trying to put weight on them, a little alfalfa won't hurt, but alfalfa is a bit too high in protein to be a staple in a rabbit's diet (lots of rabbit foods are alfalfa based, but they have many other ingredients to balance it out). Some people are concerned about the calcium content of alfalfa, too.

It's good that you like to keep your animals on the lean side, because it is not good for a rabbit to be fat. Rabbits have pretty small bones; extra weight can really put a strain on the rabbit's skeleton. Fat rabbits may be unwilling to breed, and suffer from reproductive problems if they do. The general rule of thumb for feeding a rabbit is one ounce of pellets per pound of normal body weight per day. If your rabbit's normal weight (not too fat, not too thin) is about 8 pounds, it should get about 8 ounces of feed. That might need to be adjusted up or down depending on the animal and its living conditions (it takes more feed to stay warm in the winter, for example). Nursing does and animals that are growing need more, of course - the usual recommendation is as much as they will eat in a day.

A good grass based hay is usually part of a good rabbit diet. The fiber helps to keep the rabbit's digestive system moving, and chewing the hay helps to keep the rabbit's teeth worn down properly. I don't know what hays are available in your area, around here, we usually get either Timothy or Bermudagrass hay.