Help with very young mama

[coffeemama]

I'm not sure if this is the correct place to post this. I used to breed and show rabbits, but there has been a 13 year gap. I recently got a very young mini rex and a dutch, both females (not planning on breeding). This morning I went to their cage and the mini-rex's fur was all over the cage. First I thought the spunkier dutch was beating her up, but I soon realized that she was about the have kits! I put in a sort of nest box shaped cardbard box in her cage, removed the other bunny, and put some of her pulled fur in the box with some pine shavings. When I got home, there were 4-5 kits on the wire. I put some grass hay that I boughtin the box, some fur, and her babies. She doesn't seem very interested in them, and I'm a bit concerned.

It's been so long since I did this, and I was totally unprepared for it. Is there anything else I should do? I know that because of the high fat content that rabbits don't nurse as frequestly as some animals, but how will I know if she's feeding them? I'm freaking out here! :shock:

 

[RexyRex]

I would ask a mod to move this to the rabbitry and showroom if I were you. That way it can be seen by the breeders and they can help you out. I have no advice, but good luck and mama and the babies are in my thoughts!

 

[Maureen Las]

I'll move it

 

[TinysMom]

Many times does will not nurse in the first 24 hours after giving birth. (Most of mine usually do nurse though). Since she is a first time mama - she may not really know yet what to do.

If you find by tomorrow morning that she has not nursed them - you may want to put her in a basket with a couple of treats (carrot, lettuce, etc) and put the babies under her and have her stay in the basket (most likely standing or laying) and let them nurse from her.

If she really doesn't know what to do - you may have to do this two or three times per day.....until she starts getting them nursed.

If your other rabbit is a buck - make sure she is not exposed to him as he can (and will) get her pregnant immediately after giving birth. Does are VERY receptive to getting pregnant again after giving birth.

Good luck. Feel free to ask any more questions you might have.

 

[coffeemama]

Thanks for the reply. Yeah-we don't even have bucks-I know very well where the "quick as a rabbit" term came from . Breeding was not my intention at all! Thanks for the ideas-not sure how I will know if she nurses or not. It's funny, in my rabbit showing years, I would have 15 does due at the same time and have no issues. I guess I've just forgotten, and it really threw me off guard since I didn't realize she was preggo when I bought her.

 

[Pipp]

I'm sure others will mention this too, but check the babies tummies, if they look like they swallowed a pingpong ball, they've nursed. If they look deflated, they haven't.



sas :bunnydance:

 

[Baby Juliet]

I prefer to take the nest box with the kits away from the mother. Each morning I put the doe on the kits in the nest box. This way you get to see the feeding. In a few days the kits will bark when the doe is near.

 

[gentle giants]

Baby Juliet wrote:

I prefer to take the nest box with the kits away from the mother. Each morning I put the doe on the kits in the nest box. This way you get to see the feeding. In a few days the kits will bark when the doe is near.

Not sure if that is a good idea with an extra young first time mom, she will have less chance with them to "figure out" what to do.

Coffeemama, how old is the doe? Since you are sure the other rabbit is a doe, I take it you have had the rabbits 30 days or less, right?

 

[coffeemama]

Yes I've had her less than 30 days, but want to stress again that I am not a newbie-just out of the game for a while. I don't know her age for sure, but I'm guessing 4 months or so. She was in with another litter that was a bit older than her.

I don't want to remove the nestbox for sure-I think it's important for her to learn to do her own thing. I went out this morning and the babies were looking totally deflated, so I held her in the box for a few minutes and they seem much better. I'm just not sure how long I actually have to do that, and not sure how she will react to it overall.

 

[Dublinperky]

I don't have any advice but I wanted to tell you good luck!

 

[TinysMom]

I have had some mamas where I have had to hold them over the babies for a week or so (two or three times a day) and others where they picked it up in 2-3 days and started tending the babies on their own.

I would definitely do it 2-3 times per day though until you see she starts taking care of them on her own.

 

[coffeemama]

Thanks Tinysmom, and everyone else. I will just plan to do it 3 times a day for a while then. Hopefully I will start to see some full bellies when I go out there!

 

[gentle giants]

Be sure to let us know how they do, ok? We are great ones for wanting updates--oh, and baby pics too! LOL

 

[bunnybunbunb]

I've been having such a horrible time with my rabbits lately, they are not raising their babies. I have had bad lucksince September last year with doesnot raising their babies. My last 2 litters(born one day apart) the first mom didn't feed so I let the other mom have them but 11 babies was to much and all the babies from the one mom died. After thatI decided from now on I am raising the babies! Theremaining babies from the mom are doing great, there are 4 out of 5 left and the 5th died before I took them away.Once they are born thenest box and all comes out. The momcomes out of her cage and is put on the babies 2 times a dayfor the first few weeks then it goes down to one time a day.

I would personally recommend taking the babies away and controling the feeding. The babies are so much sweeter when they are raised away from their mom. I believe moms should be allowed to raise their babies but from my experiance if they are not doing right/good it's responsibility to do it yourself.

Good luck

 

[coffeemama]

I've just never had experience with young mamas/mini rex. I raise Satins and Himilayans, and only had maybe 1 litter out of all of them that I had to take the babies away. It occured to me that if she's not feeding them, she's probably not cleaning their um...potty areas either. Don't bunnies need the stimulation to pee like kittens do? Gosh its been a long time for me!

 

[TinysMom]

coffeemama wrote:

I've just never had experience with young mamas/mini rex. I raise Satins and Himilayans, and only had maybe 1 litter out of all of them that I had to take the babies away. It occured to me that if she's not feeding them, she's probably not cleaning their um...potty areas either. Don't bunnies need the stimulation to pee like kittens do? Gosh its been a long time for me!

If you don't see her licking them then yes - you might want to take a damp cotton ball to them and clean them...

I wouldn't take them away from mama. I did that when I was first breeding because I read about how they did that in another country...I forget where....

I've found that leaving my babies with my mamas - teaches the mamas how to be mamas. I just hold them over the babies 2-4 times per day if they're not nursing them on their own.

The only time I take a litter away is if mama is attacking them...

 

[bunnybunbunb]

I've read one site where the breeders takes the babies away as soon as they are born, every litter. They have the moms feed once a day and that is the only contact they have with mom. I talked to mom about it, if every breeder does this rabbits will loose their instinct to raise their babies like Pekin ducks have lost their instinct brood their eggs. I've just decided for the time being I'm raising the babies, I just feel safer with it.

 

[gentle giants]

bunnybunbunb wrote:

I talked to mom about it, if every breeder does this rabbits will loose their instinct to raise their babies like Pekin ducks have lost their instinct brood their eggs. I've just decided for the time being I'm raising the babies, I just feel safer with it.

That's true. I don't know if you had thought about this or not, but I would not re-breed those does that have been such bad mothers. That is something they will pass on geneticallyto their own girl kits, and you will wind up with a whole line of bad moms.

 

[coffeemama]

gentle giants wrote:

bunnybunbunb wrote:

I talked to mom about it, if every breeder does this rabbits will loose their instinct to raise their babies like Pekin ducks have lost their instinct brood their eggs. I've just decided for the time being I'm raising the babies, I just feel safer with it.

That's true. I don't know if you had thought about this or not, but I would not re-breed those does that have been such bad mothers. That is something they will pass on geneticallyto their own girl kits, and you will wind up with a whole line of bad moms.

That's true-breeding should be for temperament as well as confirmation. My doe will not be bred again simply because I got her as a pet and have no desire to breed rabbits right now. Good thing I knew what was happening when she started to nest!

 

[bunnybunbunb]

It's honestly not that they are bad moms it is they are messing up. My line comes from purely good mothers, I made sure of that, however they are just messing up. The mom of my current litter raised babies before. She had a litter of 8 but she only pulled 2 through it. Her mother was my best mother ever and her grandmother was a great mother too. Her sister has had 2 litters and both times she raised them to 16 days and then they died from starving, both times the other lost her milk. It is not they are good mothers but things just keep happening. A few times I lost to the cold and others to the heat, some from mothers loosing milk and others to the does using the nest boxes as litter boxes.

All my does where doing great and I was having great luck till September last year. In FeburaryI had 3 litters which I only lost 3 babies from one doe, all did great. Since then my luck has turned again. I'm on break from litters right now.

Do you think the babies are purebred or mix?