First time mom

[Smitty52]

Hi Everyone,

So I recently got my first bunny, Gracie, and on the second day of having her, she gave birth to 8 babies. 2 have passed, so I'm left with 6. They are Holland lops. I have a few questions:

1) I want to keep one, to keep Gracie company. Gracie is only 6 months old herself, is it a good idea to keep a mother and daughter together for companions? Or should I be looking to find homes for all the babies, and then find Gracie a companion?

2) How old must the babies be before they can be rehomed?

3) How old do they have to be to start reproducing? AKA how long do I have to find these little guys homes before they start multiplying?!

I really appreciate any info I can get, I've tried googling these things, but I find a lot of the information contradictings.

 

[HappyFarmBunnies]

Wow. That's quite a bit to be handling right off the bat there! Did you know that she was about to deliver when you got her? Do you know what she was bred to?

1. Some breeders will say not to keep two generations together but it has worked for me in the past. However, I would not keep a daughter but a son instead, and get him snipped as soon as his testes descend. In my experience, the best combination for bonding is a neutered male with an intact female.

2. 8 weeks is good. Around 4-6 weeks Gracie will start to naturally wean them herself, then those last 2 weeks are used to get them totally transferred over to hay and pellets.

3. Some rabbits can be fertile as early as 12 weeks, so definitely plan to have them rehomed or seperated by then.

If you post some pics, we can give you some ideas on colors. Plus we would just love to see them!

 

[woahlookitsme]

1) i agree with the above a boy and girl will bond better. As far as it being a baby it can work but sometimes it cant. I had a litter of 7 with their mom until about 6 weeks. It started getting really crowded in the cage so we moved out all but three and more open cages were coming up we were able to separate more then at 3mos we just had one little buck left with his mom. We soon had to move him because we noticed mom had a missing patch of fur on her head. So i guess it depends on the bunnies.

2) Due to showing we dont rehome our babies until about four months but babies can find new homes at 8-10 weeks.

3) we always separate the babies from mom at around 6-8 weeks depending on how they get along. If mom ever seems irritated at the babies then we remove them as soon as we have an open cage. But they are usually separated by 3mos. Once removed they are split into groups or all together depending on litter size. Boys and girls are also split.

Good luck!

 

[bunnychild]

1. I agree with others if they are just pets.
2. would rehome them 1-2 weeks after being weanned
3. They usually start reproducing 4 months old (females)
Good Luck!:clover:

 

[LakeCondo]

bunnychild wrote:

1. I agree with others if they are just pets. just pets?
2. would rehome them 1-2 weeks after being weanned
3. They usually start reproducing 4 months old (females)
Good Luck!:clover:

 

[Smitty52]

Thanks Everyone,

It's good to know I have more time than I thought before they start multiplying. Interesting that most people are encouraging me to keep a male rather than a female... I didn't really think of it. Thanks!

They are getting bigger now and it almost seems like they ambush her whenever she's around for feeding so I get the feeling she pretty annoyed with them right about now. I guess the plan would be to see how things go and how they get along once there is just one baby and Gracie remaining?

I'll try and add some pictures... still new to this. She was mated to another Holland lop, (his mom told me he was chinchilla colored). The babies will be 4 weeks old tomorrow and they've been starting to eat pellets the past couple days!

 

[LakeCondo]

aaawww

 

[wendymac]

They're cute!!!

 

[Blaze_Amita]

OHHHHH Sable Point!!! I've tried keepign mom and daughter, in multiple other breeds and it's never worked. Though I've bonded two old retired does together and they did fine with each other- a Holland lop doe and a dutch doe. Figures . . . .

 

[Blaze_Amita]

OHHHHH Sable Point!!! I've tried keepign mom and daughter, in multiple other breeds and it's never worked. Though I've bonded two old retired does together and they did fine with each other- a Holland lop doe and a dutch doe. Figures . . . .

 

[Blaze_Amita]

OHHHHH Sable Point!!! I've tried keepign mom and daughter, in multiple other breeds and it's never worked. Though I've bonded two old retired does together and they did fine with each other- a Holland lop doe and a dutch doe. Figures . . . .

 

[HappyFarmBunnies]

Eeeeep! So cute! Looks like a black tort and a smoke pearl baby. More more more!

 

[ZRabbits]

What sweet babies!

K

 

[1357rabbitlover]

My bunny had babies. I kept 2 of her daughters and they all get along completely fine, there is no fighting or aggression.
The only problem i had with keeping 2 of the babies is that my bunny did not wean them of her milk. They were still feeding of their mum when they were 16 weeks old, so i had to separate them for a while. Hope this helps!

Aww they are beautiful! Such lovely colouring!

 

[LakeCondo]

Charlotte, I guess your rabbit mom was of the nurse-them-until-they-start-school opinion.

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

Very cute bunnies! Congrats!

 

[Smitty52]

Thanks Everyone!

The little guys are 8 weeks old today!

I almost die of cuteness overload everytime I come home. But its time to try and find homes for them. I was wondering if any of you would be able to help me sex them. Is it possible to sex Holland Lops at 8 weeks? Even for a newbie? I was trying earlier but found that I was calling them all males, so obviously I'm doing something wrong. Does anyone have any tips or links they could send me that would help?



Thanks again so much, loving this site!

 

[saidinjester]

Cuteness!:hearts :hug: I just wanna squeeze em all!

 

[woahlookitsme]

I found a really good video that helped me. The guy does one blurry video at four weeks and then a much better quality video at five weeks. Try searching for sexing 5 week old rabbits on youtube they were netherland dwarfs i believe.

Edit the video is titled how to sex a baby rabbit! And maker is jrskick1

 

[Smitty52]

Thanks!

After doing some research I'm pretty confident that I have males and females figured out. I was quite surprised last night however, when I glanced at the cage and one of the babies (that I'm calling male) was mounting his Mom. I definitely don't want to go through this process again so I removed Gracie from the pen. The babies are 9.5 weeks old, how early can males reproduce? I'm still working on finding the babies homes, and Gracie is going to be spayed shortly, but in the meantime should I keep her separated from the babies?