Rabbit thread!!!

[orpington13]

What Breed?

 

[SternRose]

I have mini Rex
Here's a few sale ones I have on here

 

[lizardandchicks]

Our neighbors are gone, and their rabbits had babies, and the mom won't rtake care of them. There are already 2 dead. And we don't have a single idea how to care for then.
We have already seperated the other rabbits, they are out of sight. Is there anything else we can do for them?

 

[orpington13]

Keep the Mother contained with them. It might seem like she doesn't take care of them but she usually does. The kits that died could also have been "peanuts". This is a phrase rabbit breeders use to describe a baby rabbit that won't grow and will most likely die.

 

[Bunnylady]

A "peanut" is a baby rabbit that got the dwarfing gene from both of its parents. A lot of the small breeds (Netherland Dwarf, Holland Lop, Mini Rex, etc.) require the dwarfing gene to get the really compact animal described in the breed standard. When both parents have the dwarfing gene, some babies will get it from one parent, and a normal growth gene from the other, and they are fine. Some babies inherit the dwarfing gene from both parents. They are called "peanuts" because they are significantly smaller than the other babies (only about 2/3 the size), have oddly shaped heads, and have a shrunken, underdeveloped look about the back end and hind legs. Their digestive systems are usually incomplete, so they can't live; they usually die by about day 3, though I had one that lived to be about 10 days old.

It generally takes about 3 days for a baby rabbit to starve to death. If these babies died because their mother won't feed them, does that mean they were born about 3 days ago? Are any of the babies growing? A baby rabbit that is getting fed grows pretty fast, and had a full tummy with a white blob in the middle where the stomach is.

If the doe isn't feeding, her milk (assuming she had some in the first place) is probably drying up by now. You could try to feed goat's milk to the babies with an eyedropper, but I don't know how well that is likely to work. After starving for 3 days, the kits are going to have little in the way of energy reserves left; they may very well die in spite of anything you can do.

 

[lizardandchicks]

well, there are no more casualties. They were born Saturday night/Sunday morning. I can't really tell if they are growing or not. I think they are. The owners got home last night, but this is the first litter they have had. This morning, we got a text from them. Turns out this morning another rabbit had babies. I have seen those babies sucking on their mom a few times, so I am not worried about them. Both litters are plump, and moving around, so I think both moms are caring for them. There other female might be about to have babies as well because she has pulled hair from her chest, and from all the nipples. At first we thought she was the mother of the second litter. But we decided on the other one because of some things (blood around vent [is it called a vent on rabbits?], accepting of babies, babies were nursing off of her, and she was the same coloring as the babies). Are we right to assume the other one is about ready to have babies? Tell me if we are doing anything wrong!

 

[lizardandchicks]

So I went and checked on the two kits. Last night they all seemed to be doing well. This morning however, the first kit was all dead. No sounds of injury, they were all cuddled together, and they were plump. No idea what killed them.

The second kit, only one was dead. It was the smallest one, and it was off by it's self. I think he just got too cold. Now there is only 3 baby bunnies left. Another female rabbit we think will be having babies soon, if not already. She could have had them as some of the babies in the first kit looked like her. I hope she hasn't had any yet.

 

[kacklinkelly]

So glad to have found this thread. I've been checking other threads that have gone quiet. I think as new rabbit "caregivers" some of us are worried and want to do everything "right". What I have learned in my couple of years of raising back yard rabbits is that losses happen and some times for no apparent reasons. I live in the desert. When I find myself worrying too much about the rabbits in our air conditioned shed, I think about the bunnies on the outside of our fence who are giving birth in 110 degrees underground with no one to assist but mother nature. Who, by the way, is the best care taker in my opinion. First time mothers/kits are iffy. Our one surprise litter was not fortunate and we lost all 5 at one week of age. I feel like if they have a safe environment where kits cannot crawl out of the cage and something can't reach in, have a nest box full of hay, mom is fed and hydrated those that are meant to survive will. Some people may have a different opinion. I have been known to place a kit on the does teat to help get that runt up in size. I have also been known to feed goat milk formula from an eyedropper. Our kits that have been the strongest have been the ones raised by their mother. Good luck and hoping you find the experience as rewarding as I do.

 

[lizardandchicks]

Yeah, well I figured out what was going on. I had noticed something while looking at the mom of the first litter. She had something none of the other females had around here her bottom. So that got me thinking. I looked online and found out how to tell the difference between males and females. Went over, looked at the "dad", who was clearly missing something, and while looking I kept feeling nipples. I looked at the "mom" and she had two big things the other rabbits didn't. So the reason all the babies died was because they had No milk. I am surprised the true dad didn't eat them. I switched the two, and now each is in the spot where they should be. I just feel so bad. it is because of us the babies died. We just grabbed the two white ones, and we thought the testicles was stretched skin from being pregnant. Turns out, not so much. It makes me wonder though. Last night they were covered in a sticky whitish yellowish stuff we assumed to be milk. But if that was a male, what are they covered in? Thank you all for your help!

 

[kacklinkelly]

That's how our "surprise" litter happened. I had what I thought were two sisters sharing a cage. They began "fighting" so I separated them. I never saw them mate - just fighting. (apparently the mating had already happened) Anyway, we went to NY 3 weeks later and when we returned, we had surprise kits. I thought it was a "miracle" because the doe had never escaped. My husband reminded me of the "fighting". I double checked and Thelma and Louise were now Theodore and Louise. Clearly my ability to properly sex bunnies has not been perfected. I swear that "extra skin" just magically appeared after 4 months of age. I never noticed it before that.

The sticky stuff may have been that the buck sprayed the babies. That's the only thing that I can think of. Sorry for the losses.