Please help! Giving birth? Preparing?

[Rescuemom]

"Thanks! in general, is parenthood good for them? I guess it makes no difference for the male, but I thought the female benefit from a few litters."

This is exactly the thought(and wanting to experience it) that many people have that often leads to overpopulation.

No. It does not BENEFIT any animal - in fact, there can be complications with any animal giving birth. Trust me, been there, seen that - I'm into rescue and have seen it far too often in everything from rodents to canines and so on and so forth.

Please don't breed your rabbits if they aren't pregnant. Please get them fixed or keep them separate if you can't. Don't add to the overpopulation of animals needing to be rescued.

JMO. I don't mean to come off as rude and hope you do not take this rudely.

 

[MyBabyHasPaws]

sorry its taken me so long to reply.

Oreo looked at the Calfmanna sides ways when I first gave it to her. She didnt really eat it the first few hours it was in her bowl. Once she tried it she went crazy for it and picked around her pellets to eat it. Now, as soon as she sees the bag she goes nuts!

When you start giving her extra greens watch that her poop doesnt get too mushy, because then you're giving her too much. it took me a couple days to get it just right. Oreo is a big hay eater and I make sure her and the babies have fresh hay available all the time, for the babies ive been putting just a bit of timothy and lots of alfalfa hay.. on the top level I fill Oreo's bin with an even mixture of alfalfa and tiimothy. I also have a full bowl of pellets where everyone can reach

 

[MyBabyHasPaws]

Did you put her in the hutch? I think you should..

 

[Thumperina]

What I am thinking...When I transfer babies into the hutch, can't she move them back to the hole? What she did so far proves that she follows her instincts and this worked perfectly. The instinct says not to stay near the babies all the time. By the way, I am very happy she had them underground (it was over 110F all the time) and I am glad I was not around as I would be worrying too much, stressing all the rabbits.
I know it may sound strange but we do give rabbits the freedom to run around, they are not locked. I used to lock them in the hutch for a night, but my husband didn't do it when I was away for 2 weeks (he goes to sleep early and this is so darn hot during the day that rabbits just start eating grass when he goes to sleep).

 

[Thumperina]

MyBabyHasPaws wrote:

Did you put her in the hutch? I think you should..

do you mean to put babies in the hutch along with the mom and lock the hutch? I WILL put babies in the hutch when we finish a new one (will be in a hurry now) and she willbe there but I will gove her freedom to get out when sheneeds to.

rescuemom, I inderstand your feelings and don't wantmany rabbits. But we already got some, tomorrow our boy gets fixed, they are separated now. This is all I can do.

Today I talked to a woman who has rabbits and she said they had several litters but can't afford to fix their pets. Now they ended up keeping the only boy separately while girls can run in the yard. Idon't want this fate to my boy.

 

[Thumperina]

MyBabyHasPaws wrote:

Oreo looked at the Calfmanna sides ways when I first gave it to her. She didnt really eat it the first few hours it was in her bowl. Once she tried it she went crazy for it and picked around her pellets to eat it. Now, as soon as she sees the bag she goes nuts!

Thank you! Do you mix it with regular pellets? One tablespoon a day, right?

What about your little ones? Do they like it?

 

[Thumperina]

MyBabyHasPaws wrote:

Did you put her in the hutch? I think you should..

She loves the hutch, just likes to lie in it and rest. Again, everything is not that easy. 1. The first problem is the heat. We take our rabbits inside in the afternoon till 8-9pm. Babies will have to stay out all the time (well, I have a nice nesting box, do you think I should bring them in too?). The forecast says it's supposed to cool down a little though. I will keep my fingers crossed.

2. Back yardhas tall fence but there is no shadein the second part of theday, its miserably hotthere, so I think we will have to have the hutch with babies on the front that has shade all the time. But there is very little grass there and it has 28" tall "rabbit guard" fence. So it is not as safe as the back yard.

But I am confident we will figureeverything out. Just too many things landed on my head today. Thanks everybody for support. I am very relieved bunnies looked all right when I checked them today. So cute

 

[Rescuemom]

Oh shoot. Sorry, I got ahead of myself and posted when I only saw the first page! Sorry about that, didn't realize she did already have the babies until I realized there were more pages.

 

[MyBabyHasPaws]

I dont give the babies CalfManna, only mom, and 1tablespoon a day

Well you're situation is different I guess? I would be worried like crazy if my bun had her babies outside in a hole, but she's never been an outdoor bunny.

Since she is so use to having free roam of the yard locking her in the hutch might stress her. So I think your idea of building a bigger hutch and putting the babies there is good. I wonder if that would stop her from feeding them? I'm not a expert on this, I only know a little bit because I just had a oops litter. She cant move the babies from whereever you put them, they arent like dogs and dont carry their babies in their mouths lol.

Could you build something that gives shade in your backyard? Maybe you could buy one of those Canopy things? We bought one to go to the beach with it, I think it was like $30 @ Walmart. That would be pretty awesome.

Take some pix! I wanna see babies!!

 

[Thumperina]

Rescuemom wrote:

Oh shoot. Sorry, I got ahead of myself and posted when I only saw the first page! Sorry about that, didn't realize she did already have the babies until I realized there were more pages.

Yes, she was nesting since May (false pregnancies) every 20 days. This is why we were not alerted when she was nesting this time.

I am mad at the doctor she went to. She was seen on July 16th and doctor couldn't say shewas pregnant. Then shegot babies on approximately July 26th, as they look big now.Could it be thatthe pregnancy was impossible to notice 10 days prior due date? Well, I myself was pulpating her from time to time andfelt nothing, but I think the doctor should be more experienced in this.

 

[Thumperina]

MyBabyHasPaws wrote:

I wonder if that would stop her from feeding them?

Oh, I hope not. Its a good thing that babies are not a few days old now, so the mom should be used to them and the necessity to feed them (and I am proud of what a good job she did so far!!!). I was messing with the hole yesterday, left it a little bit open. I was worrying this could turn her out. But I saw this morning that she visited with them as the tunnel is closed again. I wonder how they get air in there. But you are right, I need to move babies to the hutch ASAP.

Today our father gets neutered.He's already gone to doctor, poor thing. He willneed the hutch when he returns as he needs to avoid moving too much. So he will occupy the hutch. I am pressing my husband about finishing the new one. We started to build it in May, when she started nesting so we thought babies were coming. It's still uncompleted.

By the way, you may be wrong about them not dragging kids in their mouth. My doe got the babies out of the hole to feed them. I guess the tunnel is not enough large for her to nurse there. After she took them back.

I will post the pictures after I take them. Not yet.

 

[Thumperina]

I put babies in the hutch, not sure if I did the right thing. It's still hot. Should they drink water? Mom was feeding them once or twice a day in the tunnel. They look big and move around very fast. I put mom in the hutch too. She looked very confused. When baby tried to suck, she ran away from him, I hope she didn't hurt the baby. I will see how it's going.

Should I not let the male visit with bunnies? how long?

What do I feed them and how? I think they are ready for more food. I put Calf-manna into the small bowl but they just spilled it over running. I also gave them a small bowl of water. Will try bottle too.

 

[Thumperina]

Here they are

 

[Thumperina]

This one is not shy at all

 

[Thumperina]

How old can they be? 2 weeks minimum?

 

[Thumperina]

This are the parents (white is a boy, brown is a girl)

 

[Hyatt101]

Definitely pregnant! In 30-32 days from the last time they bred, she should have the kits. You might want to bring them inside so that there will be a stable temp all the time! Good luck and let her build her nest!!

 

[Hyatt101]

Sorry, I only saw the top post; but the babies were born! Congrats! Adorable!

 

[Thumperina]

Hyatt101 wrote:

Sorry, I only saw the top post; but the babies were born! Congrats! Adorable!

Yes, and they were born 2-3 months after the first post, so she was NOT pregnant back then.

Thank you for congrats!

 

[Hyatt101]

Sorry!! I only saw one page and assumed that was it! haha! send pics of the little babies!!