thumpingBerry
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For more on Allie, please see this post ... http://www.rabbitsonline.net/showthread.php?t=86383
I decided to go ahead and make a blog for Allie and her babies.
But first, a "trip down memory lane" on some memories of my first litter.
Holly (female) and Davis (male) were both broken black tort Holland Lops out of show breeders. Holly was in fact show quality. I got both bunnies at a local rabbit show in May 2014. Holly was about 5 months old and Davis was about 2 years old if I remember correctly. In late May, I started trying to breed them. Holly would just plant herself in the corner of Davis' cage and not move. This went on for several attempts. Then, about a week later, Holly mounted Davis, but then again went to the corner and refused to cooperate. The next morning, after deciding that neither one would kill the other, I left them together and for the most part, stayed out of the area. Each time I would check on them, they were just laying around. Holly was returned to her cage that evening.
Being my first attempt at a rabbit breeding/litter, I read all I could on the internet on when I could (and how I could) start palpating her. The first attempt resulted in me getting excited when feeling something, then, realizing it was poop. Ultimately, I did feel something suspiciously like a baby, then a few days later, felt movement of the babies. Holly was given a nesting box on day 28 and pulled fur and gave birth on day 31 (July 1st). However, one little one was not getting fed, and finally on day 2 or 3, I acted and gave him time with Holly. I got him caught up, but then he fell back behind and it was a struggle from that time on, despite my attempts to help him by supplement feeding him. At a little over 4 weeks old, he passed away from a struggle with enteritis. Sadly, the other two developed enteritis about a week later and were dead within 12 to 24 hours. Due to the loss of the babies, I ended up rehoming both rabbits and not trying to breed again.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago (5/15? has it only been a little over 2 weeks? seems longer than that) ... when I brought home Allie, who was believed to be pregnant. She indeed was, and on 5/25, had 7 babies with 6 survivors. This post is mostly dedicated to the "rest of the story."
Now, the babies are 5 days old and growing quickly. There is one that could be called a runt, but he seems to be doing ok. I love the colors and markings on the babies. It will be hard not to keep one (or two). If I am correct on genders (hard to tell at this age), I have 3 females and 3 males. The first three pictures are from yesterday (4 days old). The yellow object is a sticky note pad and I think is 3 x 3 inches to show size. The other two pictures are from today. The last picture has the potential males on the left side and the females on the right side ("runt" in bottom left corner). The last picture is Allie just relaxing in the cage (picture taken a few days ago).
I decided to go ahead and make a blog for Allie and her babies.
But first, a "trip down memory lane" on some memories of my first litter.
Holly (female) and Davis (male) were both broken black tort Holland Lops out of show breeders. Holly was in fact show quality. I got both bunnies at a local rabbit show in May 2014. Holly was about 5 months old and Davis was about 2 years old if I remember correctly. In late May, I started trying to breed them. Holly would just plant herself in the corner of Davis' cage and not move. This went on for several attempts. Then, about a week later, Holly mounted Davis, but then again went to the corner and refused to cooperate. The next morning, after deciding that neither one would kill the other, I left them together and for the most part, stayed out of the area. Each time I would check on them, they were just laying around. Holly was returned to her cage that evening.
Being my first attempt at a rabbit breeding/litter, I read all I could on the internet on when I could (and how I could) start palpating her. The first attempt resulted in me getting excited when feeling something, then, realizing it was poop. Ultimately, I did feel something suspiciously like a baby, then a few days later, felt movement of the babies. Holly was given a nesting box on day 28 and pulled fur and gave birth on day 31 (July 1st). However, one little one was not getting fed, and finally on day 2 or 3, I acted and gave him time with Holly. I got him caught up, but then he fell back behind and it was a struggle from that time on, despite my attempts to help him by supplement feeding him. At a little over 4 weeks old, he passed away from a struggle with enteritis. Sadly, the other two developed enteritis about a week later and were dead within 12 to 24 hours. Due to the loss of the babies, I ended up rehoming both rabbits and not trying to breed again.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago (5/15? has it only been a little over 2 weeks? seems longer than that) ... when I brought home Allie, who was believed to be pregnant. She indeed was, and on 5/25, had 7 babies with 6 survivors. This post is mostly dedicated to the "rest of the story."
Now, the babies are 5 days old and growing quickly. There is one that could be called a runt, but he seems to be doing ok. I love the colors and markings on the babies. It will be hard not to keep one (or two). If I am correct on genders (hard to tell at this age), I have 3 females and 3 males. The first three pictures are from yesterday (4 days old). The yellow object is a sticky note pad and I think is 3 x 3 inches to show size. The other two pictures are from today. The last picture has the potential males on the left side and the females on the right side ("runt" in bottom left corner). The last picture is Allie just relaxing in the cage (picture taken a few days ago).
