clwillia55
Member
Hi everyone,
We have our first surviving Holland Lop litter and now they are a little over 2 weeks old I have a few questions to make sure we get them what they need to continue thrive. I know typically the Doe should just take care of all their needs until about 3/4 weeks. But our doe cannibalized her largest two kits this time, and in the past had a single kit which we found alive with no legs. Not willing to just see what happens, this time we removed the reaming 4 live kits and have been keeping them adjacent - but not with her.
Originally I was afraid we would have to hand rear them, but in about 2 days her milk became available so 2x a day we hold her over them and they are doing quite well so far. They started urinating on their own, opened their eyes, and now nibble on hay in their area. So, now that they are beginning to eat hay a little, will they still get all the essential flora just from the mom's milk? I read fully hand reared kits need cecotropes mixed into KMR in order to develop correctly. So do I need to try to get them to eat cecotropes if I am lucky enough to find them? I just want to ensure they are exposed to the correct flora, and I don't know if does introduce their own cecotropes to kits? Is her milk enough? I found a couple and dropped them in there but no real interest was shown.
Also, the doe has zero interest in the alfalfa hay I read to give her during this time. So I am only feeding the kits timothy as that is all she eats. Do they need alfalfa? I have the same issue with pellets, as she is not interested in the Oxbow baby alfalfa mix pellet and prefers the regular manna pro ones her breeder always had her eat and we just kept it up. Should I start to add pellets to their area? I am afraid to if they need to eat cecotropes from her in order to digest them.
Thank you for all your help!
We have our first surviving Holland Lop litter and now they are a little over 2 weeks old I have a few questions to make sure we get them what they need to continue thrive. I know typically the Doe should just take care of all their needs until about 3/4 weeks. But our doe cannibalized her largest two kits this time, and in the past had a single kit which we found alive with no legs. Not willing to just see what happens, this time we removed the reaming 4 live kits and have been keeping them adjacent - but not with her.
Originally I was afraid we would have to hand rear them, but in about 2 days her milk became available so 2x a day we hold her over them and they are doing quite well so far. They started urinating on their own, opened their eyes, and now nibble on hay in their area. So, now that they are beginning to eat hay a little, will they still get all the essential flora just from the mom's milk? I read fully hand reared kits need cecotropes mixed into KMR in order to develop correctly. So do I need to try to get them to eat cecotropes if I am lucky enough to find them? I just want to ensure they are exposed to the correct flora, and I don't know if does introduce their own cecotropes to kits? Is her milk enough? I found a couple and dropped them in there but no real interest was shown.
Also, the doe has zero interest in the alfalfa hay I read to give her during this time. So I am only feeding the kits timothy as that is all she eats. Do they need alfalfa? I have the same issue with pellets, as she is not interested in the Oxbow baby alfalfa mix pellet and prefers the regular manna pro ones her breeder always had her eat and we just kept it up. Should I start to add pellets to their area? I am afraid to if they need to eat cecotropes from her in order to digest them.
Thank you for all your help!
