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Scared to ask...

messie47714

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I am afraid to ask anything at this point since I started out so poorly. I can only ask forgiveness for ignorance, for poor since of humor with people who do not know me, and for emotionally illcalculated responses.
I have decided to keep the bunnies because I will drive myself with worry over who they are with. Some of you know I have 2 boys and 1 girl. They were originally sexed as 1 boys and 2 girls. About 2 weeks ago I was informed I had 2 boys Rose was a Bob. This morning while Bob was running he ran to the room that Britney was running. I told the kids I did not want them to have babies that is why they are no longer roomies. Too late, There are babies in the cage this morning - fur less little adorable babies.
Please advise. I left a message at the vet.
How do I clean the cage? Do I restrain from holding them? Does mom need extra help with her milk production for -I think I saw 7-babies? Mom is about 7 months old. Please do not be mad- I am trying to get info fast.
I will have them sexed properly as soon as they are old enough -which is when? and Grid caged accordingly.
Since the last conversation I have rearranged rooms so they can have more time out of the cages and increased piggies and 2 rabbit cages.
 

messie47714

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thank you VoodooJoint
 

VoodooJoint

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You're welcome and good luck. If you have more questions there is a very active rabbit board on Yahoo Groups called Etherbun. You can also ask questions there. Be warned that it is so active that it's hard for the mods to keep up with bad advice so if something sounds iffy wait and see what other's say.
 

bunnyluv17

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I've had some experience with this since I fostered a mother rabbit and her five newborns for my local SPCA. My first piece of advice is to not disturb the nest. She should have made a nest out of hay/fur/bedding in which the babies are kept. You can clean the cage, but just clean around the nest. If you can find a shallow cardboard box, line it with blankets and then place the whole nest in the box.

I would not build a new cage for the mamma and babies right now, just keep them in the same cage until the babies are weaned (8 weeks of age). The grid spaces on the C&C cages are too large for little babies, and it would stress her out by moving her into a new cage.

What are you feeding her right now? Nursing mothers should be fed an unlimited amount of alfalfa-based pellet along with alfalfa hay and timothy hay. Any diet changes must be made slowly. If she is used to getting fresh vegetables and greens, then you can increase the amount you give her. If she is not used to getting fresh food, you must introduce them slowly.

You can handle the babies, but watch for the mother's reaction first. If she doesn't seem to care then go ahead and handle them, but if she seems upset then let her run around outside of the cage while you handle them. Make sure the babies are nice and warm with round stomachs. While they are this young, it would be best to only handle them for short periods of time.

You can probably start sexing them by 4-5 weeks of age and then have it confirmed by a rabbit-savvy vet around 8 weeks of age. Male and female rabbits need to be seperated by 8-10 weeks of age. They will go into puberty around three to four months of age, and will need to be spayed/neutered to prevent fights.

I have to ask you a few questions though. Are you now 100% sure of the sexes of your adult rabbits? Are you going to spay/neuter your other rabbits so this doesn't happen again? Are you going to spay/neuter all the babies or make sure that their future owners will?

Good Luck! Baby bunnies are a lot of fun, but also a lot of hard work.
 

messie47714

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I am going to start wieghing the babies then rubbing them against mom. She seems to have sorted them. There is a total of 8. Ouch.
I also am grateful for the post that give advise on keeping cool. Saturday my air conditioner when bluh. It is miserable and I am so scared. All furry family lay stretched out and panting and my fleshy family is sweating. Thought we had it fixed on Sunday but it stopped again in the night. I will be moving everyone to the first level after work. At least there is a breeze blowing through and the fans to help circulate air.
 

messie47714

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As much a I appreciate this site and it information I can not spend $150 to nueter a rabbit. If I new how to get them nuetered cheaper I would- in a heartbeat. I spay and nueter all my other pets.(except the guneas) I pay $50 per cat.

I was told I had 2 girls and 2 boys when I had 4 rabbits but until I let someone adopt one of them I only had 2 sexed right. I thought rose and britney were girls so they were roomates and the other 2 boys. Goerge turn out to be Goergette and Rose was Bob. As soon as the babies are big enough my Vet while see them and hopefully sex them right and I will seperate girls from the boys. As for new owners I really wish I could let them go but as my husband puts it I am pychotic and am scared to death the will be fed to a snake or mistreated. And anytime I post to petfinders I get what looks like a form letter.

Air conditioner guys are coming tomorrow.
 

Weatherlight

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Honestly, if you can't afford to take care of your rabbits (including spay/neuter), you shouldn't be keeping any. Spaying is especially important for female rabbits because of the risks of ovarian/uterine problems.

House Rabbit Society Rabbit Care Guide is a very good site. Read through the Care, Behavior, and Health sections. I nearly cried reading this: (broken link removed) It's about a rabbit who did have her ovaries removed but not her uterus. You really don't want this happening to your bun.

Make absolutely sure that anyone who adopts your rabbits is going to provide fresh water, feed them properly, give them vet checkups, and SPEUTER THEM. It's a basic part of good rabbit care.
 

tweetypie

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those sites are good ones, I would just like to add that if you try and clean the cage please leave the nest there, I know not all mothers do it but some eat the babies once you have moved the nest.

I would just try and clean up where she goes to the toliet. and give her more veg to keep up the strengh.

Plus someone has said about the squares in the cc cages being to wide, when the babies get a little older they move very fast, If they are in one of these cages please put some card around it to stop the babies getting out.

best of luck
 

bunnyluv17

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I am going to have to agree with Weatherlight. I know it can be very expensive to spay/neuter a rabbit, but it is essential to prevent certain diseases and behavior issues. If you are really considering keeping all of the babies as well as your original rabbits, you realize this could easily happen again and again and again if the rabbits are not fixed? You could literally end up with hundreds of rabbits. Unfixed rabbits (even two girls) can be hard to house together because their raging hormones will often cause them to fight. Do you realize that you might end up with 11 adult rabbits that will all have to be housed seperately and be given seperate exercise times? Not to mention the cost of food, bedding, and veterinary care?

I do not know where you live, but you could call around to local shelters and see if any could offer low-cost spay/neuter for rabbits. Or if you have a local House Rabbit Society chapter or rabbit rescue near you, they will sometimes have spay/neuter vouchers. At the very least, they could offer advice and assistance.
 

messie47714

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Thank you agian BunnyLuv. I live in Southern Indiana and will call around. When I was told $150 + meds I about fell out of my seat.
To all please tell how much you paid so I know what I am looking for in a price range. Our local humane society does not spay or nueter the small animals do to cost.
 

aml1676

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messie47714 said:
Thank you agian BunnyLuv. I live in Southern Indiana and will call around. When I was told $150 + meds I about fell out of my seat.
To all please tell how much you paid so I know what I am looking for in a price range. Our local humane society does not spay or nueter the small animals do to cost.

I live in Indianapolis, and just checked with my regular vet this last weekend... she charges $140 + pain meds (this includes an overnight stay) for a neuter, and $160 + pain meds for a spay. Same for guinea pigs.

There is a low-cost spay/neuter facility in Bloomington that does rabbits -- they neuter all the rabbits for the humane society there and for Bloomington Pets Alive. I think it's about $50; I can get the contact info for you if you're interested.

Whatever the cost, it's definitely worth it. As a fosterer, I've had everything from brand new babies to adult bunnies, and with the mess from the babies as they mature (they spray and poop EVERYWHERE), I can't imagine what it would be like to live with unaltered rabbits.

As someone else mentioned, you definitely need to separate girls from boys around 10 weeks, but I wouldn't separate them before. They need to nurse and stay with mommy as long as possible. Boys can be neutered at 16 weeks, girls probably not until 24 weeks. Also, you can clean the nest box (and you will need to -- they get really skanky); just try to save as much of the fur covering as you can. I cleaned it once a week after the first couple of weeks, using carefresh, soft hay, and as much of the original nest as I could salvage. Mommy bunnies shouldn't mind if you handle the babies, and you *should* handle them to get them used to it.

Good luck -- there's nothing cuter than baby bunnies, but I hope I never have to deal with them again. I had 10 at once, in 2 different litters, and they were little devils!
 

bunnyluv17

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Indiana also has a HRS chapter Indiana House Rabbit Society - Rabbit Care - Rabbit Adoption

My local SPCA clinic (in VA) charges $40 for a rabbit neuter and $60 for a rabbit spay.

aml1676 said:
There is a low-cost spay/neuter facility in Bloomington that does rabbits -- they neuter all the rabbits for the humane society there and for Bloomington Pets Alive. I think it's about $50; I can get the contact info for you if you're interested.
 

messie47714

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More specifically I live in Evansville. I will call the Fort Branch Vet, everyone says he is cheap. Keep sending my ideas.
Last night I could only find 7 of the 8 babies and 3 of them looked so small. I rubbed them on mom and then put them back in the nest we will see if they have gained any wieght tonight.
 

aml1676

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bunnyluv17 said:

I'm actually the Fostering Director for Indiana HRS :)

We don't have vouchers, and the only low-cost spay/neuter for rabbits that we've been able to find is the one I mentioned in Bloomington. Here's their info:

Pets ALIVE Spay/Neuter Clinic
6522 S. Empire Road
Bloomington, IN 47401
812-824-1FIX
[email protected]
(broken link removed)

The only Evansville vet listed on our website is Dr. Laura Bakowski at the Village East Animal Hospital. If that isn't the clinic you use, you might try contacting them. The Vanderburgh Humane Society accepts rabbits and other small animals -- I don't know if they spay/neuter, or offer discounted services through their staff vet, but you might call them and see if they know of any programs locally.

Make sure the babies are staying warm, and check to make sure their tummies are round. You should be able to dig around in the nest box if you need to find them all; I'm worried that you say you can't find #8. How is Mommy Bunny? Does she seem stressed? You won't notice her nursing -- they nurse in the very, very early morning, and at night, and then they pretty much leave the nest alone.
 

messie47714

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I found #8!!!!!
I am still very concerned about 3 of the babies. They are about a 3rd the size of the rest and bellies only slightly rounded if at all. They are warm and lively, but not growing.
 

aml1676

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messie47714 said:
I found #8!!!!!
I am still very concerned about 3 of the babies. They are about a 3rd the size of the rest and bellies only slightly rounded if at all. They are warm and lively, but not growing.

Well, 8 babies is a lot, and I would think you could expect some slow-growers. Just keep monitoring them -- it's really hard to syringe-feed baby bunnies as they tend to aspirate into their lungs, so it's best if they get nutrition from mom. If it looks like they aren't being fed, revisit that link that VoodooJoint placed earlier in the thread.

You should notice lots of activity going on -- I think around 10 days is when my babies started popping themselves out of the nestbox. You just have to pick 'em up and put 'em back in! I'd come home from work and find 3 of the 5 huddled together in the corner of the condo, keeping warm. Silly babies.
 

messie47714

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We did the weekend clean the cages thing. I lifted the nest with all babies and set them in a rolled towel on the bed. Britney (mom) sat there with them while my husband petted her. .. It was so cute. I was able to clean the cage real good. There will be pictures soon. Hopefully this evening.

Hopefully the 3 smallest are just slow growers as mentioned in the last post. They are so skinny. One was running the cage on all 4 tip toes. Their eye are still closed.
 

messie47714

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pictures.....okay I m an idiot. I will try agian to post them. They are on the computer - but I can not figure out how to put them on the thread.
 

messie47714

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Not sure if anyone is reading this thread but we lost one baby. I think mom stepped on it. Baby's ribs or back was crushed. Two more are still small but the other are already showing interest in food nd water. They are 2 weeks and 3 days old.
 
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