how do you wean rabbits? ?pellet introduction

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Beckstar19

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Do I gradually stop feeding them milk or can I stop straight away. They only feed once a day now but for 5-10 mins. Shall I feed every other day for a few days then stop altogether or just stop now. They are eating hay but and I have special pellets for them but wanted to know how to introduce the pellets as I have read so much different information and I am worried about mucoid enteritis. Do I just put a dozen pellets in to begin with then introduce more as days go on? What sort of problems do I need to look out for when weaning and introducing pellets?

Thanks
Becky
 
Are you hand-feeding these kits, or are they with their mother? If they're with their mother, you don't need to do anything. Just make food available to them and she will wean the kits when they're ready.

If you're hand-feeding, it can be a little more tricky. My advice is to have hay and a bowl of pellets in their cage at all times. When they're old enough, they will start nibbling. Within several days after that, you'll notice them eating more and more of the solid foods.

Continue feeding milk on their usual schedule until they are eating a significant portion of dry foods (to the point where you are refiling the bowl) or they lose interest in milk. It may be a gradual transition or it may happen quickly. In this case, I let the kits lead the way.
 
They are feeding from mum but are seperated as she was violent and rejected them at first. Ok so it is safe then to just put in as man pellets as they want? Can it upset their system ifthey eat too many pellets? Do I then just stop the milk altogether? Can I just feed the pellets for a few days then stop the milk?
 
It would help to know how old the babies are.

If you are keeping the babies separate from the mom its important that they have access to her cecotropes and poo so they can eat it and get the right gut bacteria from her. So, if she is attacking them and kept separately I would take her out of the cage and let the babies go into her litter box and let them help themselves.

First besides pellets, I would make sure they always have good hay and water at all times. Then as far as pellets go, I start putting out a couple table spoons of crunched up pellets at around 3 weeks and let then nibble them a little bit, I see them nibbling and eating little bits of hay the rest of the day, and they begin drinking water which I leave in a shallow bowl and I also put a bottle of water on the side of the cage really low so they can reach the spout. I think if babies are eating dry food they need to be also drinking water. You can increase pellets as they get older. I don't quite feed all the pellets they can eat, because I want then to eat some hay as well, I feed pellets in the morning, by noon they have eaten all the pellets so then they have to eat their hay until they get more pellets later that night. I introduce greens by giving a blade or two of fresh grass at 5 weeks which is what the mother eats everyday. But I only give a blade or two of grass to each baby just to introduce then to eating greens. By 7 weeks they are eating pellets, hay, 4 or 5 blades of grass, a dandelion leave and a sliver of carrot. I've had about 8 litters so far and they have all lived. Haven't had any enteritis.

Whether you have the mother feed them depends on how old they are. I would keep putting mamma in with the babies like you've been doing until he babies lose interest or she goes dry. If the doe is full of milk it actually is really uncomfortable for her if she can't get rid of some of the milk, so people wean gradually not only for the sake of the babies, but for the sake of the doe.
 
They are feeding from mum but are seperated as she was violent and rejected them at first. Ok so it is safe then to just put in as man pellets as they want? Can it upset their system ifthey eat too many pellets? Do I then just stop the milk altogether? Can I just feed the pellets for a few days then stop the milk?

Yes, it's safe to offer a bowl of pellets. If you notice any digestive troubles, limit them and push more hay. But I like "orphaned" babies to get into pellets early because the milk replacers and such that we feed them aren't nearly as nutritious as their mother's milk. Pellets will get them the nutrients they're missing or lacking.

Once they're eating just pellets, I limit them to about 1/2 cup per 5 lbs expected ADULT weight per kit. This is the same ration I feed mature adults, and I find that this is enough to meet babies' needs while also limiting pellets enough to encourage hay and easy transition.

Keep feeding the milk until they're eating pellets. Once they're eating them (not just picking or sniffing), you can stop milk altogether.

Babies generally transition to solid foods around 3-3.5 weeks old. By 4 weeks, they're pretty much weaned exclusively to solid food.
 

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