babbies

[tuftie]

things are fine i'm still waiting on my husbandto try putting the photos on the sight.I was going to get intouch for more advise anyway. The babies are eating the same food asmum now and drinking from the water bottle i tried putting a shallowdish with water in but they just bathed in it. They are starting to getas big as my hand now and don't stop eating. At what stage should iremove them from mum as obviously they will start to take up a lot ofroom and should i be giving them anything different to eat



thanks for your help hear from you soon Denise

 

[Carolyn]

:dude: Hi Tuftie,

Thanks for giving us an update!

When the kits reach the age of 5 to 8 weeks, they're ready to beweaned. By 8 weeks, they're used to pellets and drinking water andafter that point and can be placed away from their mom. The doe coulduse the break because it's work on the body to produce milk.

-Carolyn

 

[Carolyn]

P.S. Some breeders don't remove all the babies atone time so that it gives the doe's body a chance to adapt to thereduced amount of milk. Since the bucks sometimes chase their sistersand you'll start seeing signs of mature instincts showing up, they tendto separate the boys from the girls.

Just something to consider.

(Would love to see pictures of the family of bunnies when it's convenient and you're able to get around to it. No rush at all.)

 

[roberts_rabbits_2008]

I just love hearing these babie stories to and yes we all wanna see those babies.

Robert

 

[50/50]

Hello everyone,

We, our family, are also new at this. Our rabbithad her babies almost 5 weeks ago. They are prettyindependant...we take them out daily to the grassy area (in a littlefenced in area) for the kids to pet, cuddle, and watch. Momdoesn't care a bit. She has taken good care of them well, butI don't think she nurses at all anymore...and we haven't seen her do itfor quite some time. They are sooooo healthy and there are acouple of neighbor kids that would like a few (out of 7) and we weren'tsure when it would be OK. The mom is American and the dad isa Flop...if this matters.

Thank you for any insight,

50/50

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

I do believe that babies should stay with mom for8 to 12 weeks. At 8 weeks they can be sold and go to new homes.But bucks must be separated from does before 12 weeksbecause does can get pregnant around 12 weeks of age. The bucks willnot care if they are related or not!

 

[50/50]

Thank you so much,MyBunnyBoys,we will notify the new familiesof their wait. Do you know what they learn from their mom inthis time?

And how do you find out how to get the pix on in rotation like you have it?-You did agreat job.

Because our bunnies are 50/50, and none of their ears are drooping allof the time, does this mean that they will never flop down?Are floppy earred bunnies floppy from the beginning? We werehoping for at least one flop...and my daughter (9)jokes aboutone turning out to have one ear up and one ear down...that wasn't thecase.

We stopped by a farm that was selling flops and they were sowild. The little boy told us that his dad had instructed himto never touch the bunnies until they were 6 weeks old. Ourswere left alone, except for count and the daily inspectionforthe first few days until the mommy was used to being a mommy.Thereafter, it is multiple handling daily. They even come upto us to get attention (or food?) every time we open thecage. They love it, as far as we can tell. Which isright?

I'm so grateful for your imput.

The Greenhorns,

50/50

 

[50/50]

One more for now?

At what age should you be able to tell the does from the bucks?

Thank you,

50/50

 

[gjsara]

Dolores Lindvall wrote:

Duh...First of all, not to be sarcastic or anything likethat, but I believe the plural form of baby is spelled "babies".

Why do you think she is expecting? In order for thatto happen, she would have had to been exposed to a male.Maybe a little bit of history needed here?

please dont be rude

 

[Delphinum]

Just a word of warning 50/50, my first rabbit,Rosie, had one litter of kits(6 in all), then a few months later hadanother litter by her own son!! We didn't know you had tosplit them up and left Rosie in with the babies one night.The next morning she had scratches all over her and looked quiteupset... a month later we came down to 3 little babies in a nest inRosie's hutch! Poor thing! She couldn't/or wouldn'tfeed them and they died. An unfortunate story but I've learntalot over the years... mostly through the internet and thissite.

 

[pamnock]

The ears will probably not lop as the erect eartends to be the more dominant trait, although I have see rabbits witherect ears lop their ears if they have a weak ear base and if thetemperatures are warm.

Sexing -- Most experienced breeders can sex pretty accurately by 6weeks, although it can be done much younger. You need toseparate the babies by sex at 12 weeks of age, so with some practiceyou should be able to tell by them. The delicate genitals canbe damaged by rough handling, so do be careful.

Here are some illustrated sites about sexingrabbits:Remember: girlsare "tacos" and boys are "donuts"

http://rabbitinfocenter.8m.com/sexing.html
http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/sexing.html
http://members.aol.com/roniebunny/nq.html
http://www.debmark.com/rabbits/sexing.htm

http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/Rabbits/rabsex.html

http://www.geocities.com/dutchrabbitinto/sexing.html


(let me know if any of the links don't work -- I hand typed them and may have typos)

Pam

 

[Carolyn]

Welcome aboard, 50/50! :dude:


No need to apologize for asking questions. That's what we're here for, and that's how we learn.

Jump right in.




-Carolyn

 

[50/50]

Thanks for everything, 50/50

 

[rabbitgirl]

50/50 wrote:

Because our bunnies are 50/50, and none of their ears are drooping allof the time, does this mean that they will never flop down?Are floppy earred bunnies floppy from the beginning? We werehoping for at least one flop...and my daughter (9)jokes aboutone turning out to have one ear up and one ear down...that wasn't thecase.

We stopped by a farm that was selling flops and they were sowild. The little boy told us that his dad had instructed himto never touch the bunnies until they were 6 weeks old. Ourswere left alone, except for count and the daily inspectionforthe first few days until the mommy was used to being a mommy.Thereafter, it is multiple handling daily. They even come upto us to get attention (or food?) every time we open thecage. They love it, as far as we can tell. Which isright?

First, lops are born with erect ears, which droop as the ears grow andthe weak muscles around the ears (genetic mutation) can no longersupport the weight of the ear. At five weeks, any lops may not show assuchyet. The one ear up and one down is more than possible--Ihave a buck with "airplane" ears like that, and he is pure Holland Lop.How soon they lop, if they do, depends on the size of the ears. If Irecall, our buns with shorter ears "fell" later than their longer-earedsiblings.

Second, you were absolutely right about touching them! Bunnies stillwild at six weeks are going to be hard to bond with and tame. Becauseof a defensive (new) doe, I didn't touch mine until 11 days, but afterthat they got a lot of handling. And they are also overly friendly likeyours--although in their pre-teen stage they are getting a littleobnoxious when held.

Rose

 

[tuftie]

hello its only me just to let you know that thelittle monsters are already weaned and very gready. every morning wheni call babies they come to the front of the hutch and all lick my nosewhen i open the hutch, they love being in the run and and eating thegrass i spoke to a vet who was very surprised that they were eating somuch and said as they were developing so quick it may be a good idea tomove them from mum at about 6 weeks but not to rehome them till about 9weeks.we are all doing well and they love the kids picking them up



speak to you soon Denise

 

[Carolyn]

Yay Tuftie's back!

I'm so glad to hear that all is well. I've been thinkingabout you and the little buns. Sounds like you're havingfun.

Thanks so much, and do keep us posted.

Were you able to find homes for them?

-Carolyn

 

[LuvaBun]

Hi Tuftie, glad to hear the babies are doing sowell. They sound like they are well socialised, what with being pickedup and all. Are you keeping any? - Jan

 

[rabbitgirl]

tuftie wrote:

hello its only me just to let you know that the littlemonsters are already weaned and very gready.

Yeah, little monsters--I called them piranhas!

I know exactly what you mean! lolol

Rose

P.S. By 9 wks. ours were starting to get a little squabbly with each other.

 

[50/50]

To my new experienced forum family,

Big surprise, one of thefemales was starting to get on top ofthe others...and one of the males too. They are only 5 1/2weeks old. Is this normal?

50/50

 

[Carolyn]

Hi 50/50,

Between weeks 5-8, theyare ready tobegin theweaning process. Since the bucks sometimes chase theirsisters and you'll start seeing signs of mature instincts showing up,they tend to separate the boys from the girls.

Theyaren't sexually matureuntil 12 weeks, butthey'll start going through the motions of domination, assertiveness,etc. before that.



-Carolyn