Update on seizure kits
Out of a total of 12 kits, only four remain. Five all together died of complications caused by seizures, one died of bloat and diarrhea of unknown origin, one was a nestbox death, and one I culled because of it's failure to thrive and grow (peanut-like symptoms).
Remaining are 1 REW, 1 broken agouti, 1 broken gray, and 1 solid agouti.
Yesterday I noticed that the broken gray kit had a different eye color compared to the other kits dark, normal brown, and red. This kit instead displays blue-gray eyes. This does not seem to be the true Vienna (BEW) gene, as the kit displays neither the bright-blue eyes, or the typical Vienna blaze. Still, a very pretty kit.
Any thoughts on the genetics behind this?
The doe is a solid gray, and the buck was either a lop or a New Zealand. The doe has been re-bred to a Checkered Giant buck and is due April 5th, I'm rather curious as to if she is a carrier of a sort of lethal Blue-Eyed gene or not. I'm rather hoping not, as finding a non-breeding pet home for her would be rather difficult.
Double pregnancy?
On a note, none of the kits where found alive
My Angora doe (the one with the fur mites) was NOT in fact, pulling and eating her wool, as I had originally thought, but instead nesting. As I so discovered when I cleaned out her cage this afternoon.
According to the sellers, she was bred on March 13th, and she had 3 strangely large kits March 22nd.
By large, I mean twice the normal size of your average new-born kit and they had a covering of hair usually seen in an at least 3-4 day old kit. I'm not sure if newborns with hair (not peach fuzz, hair) are normal in Angoras or not. At least, I've never read anything about such a thing.
The kits where Black, White, and one was a deep mocha color. Beautiful kits, with heavy crimping in their fur, unfortunately, all where very much dead. Actual cause of death is unknown.
There was also a single, under-developed kit found in the bedding. The mother apparently had tried to eat it, but was was left was obviously a very premature rabbit kit (the upper part was fortunately left). If the information the sellers had provided was truly correct, it was only 10 days old. I didn't find any others in the cage, so at the moment I don't know if she's still pregnant or if she aborted all kits.
I suppose the silver lining of this cloud is that I can safely treat her fur mites without having to worry about causing birth defects in the unborn kits. She's most certainly not going anywhere near the buck until she's completely healthy again.
I've heard of dual pregnancy in rabbits, but a dual that late into the pregnancy seems unusual. She would have had to have been bred on February 22nd, if not earlier.
Just when you think you've seen it all, something else pops up :dunno:
Out of a total of 12 kits, only four remain. Five all together died of complications caused by seizures, one died of bloat and diarrhea of unknown origin, one was a nestbox death, and one I culled because of it's failure to thrive and grow (peanut-like symptoms).
Remaining are 1 REW, 1 broken agouti, 1 broken gray, and 1 solid agouti.
Yesterday I noticed that the broken gray kit had a different eye color compared to the other kits dark, normal brown, and red. This kit instead displays blue-gray eyes. This does not seem to be the true Vienna (BEW) gene, as the kit displays neither the bright-blue eyes, or the typical Vienna blaze. Still, a very pretty kit.
Any thoughts on the genetics behind this?
The doe is a solid gray, and the buck was either a lop or a New Zealand. The doe has been re-bred to a Checkered Giant buck and is due April 5th, I'm rather curious as to if she is a carrier of a sort of lethal Blue-Eyed gene or not. I'm rather hoping not, as finding a non-breeding pet home for her would be rather difficult.
Double pregnancy?
On a note, none of the kits where found alive
My Angora doe (the one with the fur mites) was NOT in fact, pulling and eating her wool, as I had originally thought, but instead nesting. As I so discovered when I cleaned out her cage this afternoon.
According to the sellers, she was bred on March 13th, and she had 3 strangely large kits March 22nd.
By large, I mean twice the normal size of your average new-born kit and they had a covering of hair usually seen in an at least 3-4 day old kit. I'm not sure if newborns with hair (not peach fuzz, hair) are normal in Angoras or not. At least, I've never read anything about such a thing.
The kits where Black, White, and one was a deep mocha color. Beautiful kits, with heavy crimping in their fur, unfortunately, all where very much dead. Actual cause of death is unknown.
There was also a single, under-developed kit found in the bedding. The mother apparently had tried to eat it, but was was left was obviously a very premature rabbit kit (the upper part was fortunately left). If the information the sellers had provided was truly correct, it was only 10 days old. I didn't find any others in the cage, so at the moment I don't know if she's still pregnant or if she aborted all kits.
I suppose the silver lining of this cloud is that I can safely treat her fur mites without having to worry about causing birth defects in the unborn kits. She's most certainly not going anywhere near the buck until she's completely healthy again.
I've heard of dual pregnancy in rabbits, but a dual that late into the pregnancy seems unusual. She would have had to have been bred on February 22nd, if not earlier.
Just when you think you've seen it all, something else pops up :dunno:
So no worries there!
