Weaning / Rebreeding

[TinysMom]

My babies will be 7 weeks old on Thursday. Girly Girl is trying to mount her foster baby Ziggy. I'm going to take her out tonight and put her in another cage for the night.

Is it too soon to wean him away from her? I was going to put all four babies together when I weaned them because they are all used to playing together (two are singletons fostered to moms).

Also - is it too soon to rebreed her? I'm not in a big hurry - but if she is receptive now (which she obviously is) - I'm seriously considering it. She had her babies 7 weeks ago and lost them - wound up fostering Ziggy and she's in show-quality condition...so I'm not concerned about her at all. She was only nursing the one.....

Thoughts?

Peg

P.S. I would be rebreeding her for specific purposes - not just for "babies".....but she does have a lot to offer my breeding program.

 

[pamnock]

I'd wean and re-breed as long as she is in good condition.

Pam

 

[bunnybunbunb]

I don't know the breed so I can't say when weaning is alright for them but for dwarf breeds babies stop sucking at 4-5 weeks normaly. I usely take the babies around 6 weeks. I haven't left them any longer in about 2 years. It is perfectly fine to take him.

I would say it is fine to breed her. For one she only had the one baby to raise so it wasn't a whole lot of stress. She should do fine with breeding her again. Since she lost her babies it would have been fine to rebreed her after a few days if you hadn't fostered to her.

Good luck :biggrin2:

 

[Bo B Bunny]

THis is interesting because I've always heard to wait until 10 weeks at least..... 12 if possible for bunnies.

I always suspected that bo was about 8 weeks old and Tony most likely the same but didn't really push the issue.

 

[aurora369]

I think taking mom away at 6-8 week is okay, and then give them some time with siblings for a couple weeks after before rehoming is ideal.

--Dawn

 

[pamnock]

Bo B Bunny wrote:

THis is interesting because I've always heard to wait until 10 weeks at least..... 12 if possible for bunnies.

I always suspected that bo was about 8 weeks old and Tony most likely the same but didn't really push the issue.

10 - 12 weeks is tough on the doe and way too long for the babies (plus the fact that you may have some early developers ready to mate by 12 weeks). 8 weeks tops.

However, waiting 10 -12 weeks before selling is recommended.

Pam

 

[ZakuraRabbit]

At 7 weeks old the baby would do fine without his mother.
Babies should be with their mother untill they are 6 weeks least, preferably 8, but 7 is fine too He doesn't have to go into a new home immidatelyKeeping him for a couple more weeks is good for his immune system. Ready for a new home doesn't just mean that the rabbit must be off his milk

I prefer waiting a bit longer before rebreeding a rabbit, just because I don't like the thought of having her go trhough pregnancy, weaning, and pregnancy again without a break, though I have experienced at school a doe breaking loose and mated (with her father:shock soon after being separated from her 6-week old young. Despite both litters being a bit bigger than we are used to in our lop dwarves (she had 8 in her first litter, 6 in the second...her mom had 5 in both her litters) mother and kits did just fine:biggrin2: It all depends on the doe.