Rabbits New Bunny

[Inle_Rabbit]

@Tarams is right. She has been pulling fur all morning too. It's very interesting to watch her prepare for her babies.

 

[Inle_Rabbit]

@mkpiggy - I have not been keeping good records on her weight. She does not like to be picked up at all and I feel it is better to let her be since she is pregnant. Where ever she was from did not handle her much.

In my opinion she is a under weight just by the feel of her but if she has been constantly back bred that could also effect her body and make her feel thinner too. She obviously was kept around a male at some point before she was dumped on the road side! She has almost no dewlap which worries me as well since she is due any day. I have been allowing her free feed of oxbow adult pellets as well as veggies twice a day with additional parsley to help her with her babies.

As soon as the babies are old enough to wean Pepper will be spayed and will no longer have to worry about having babies again.

 

[mkpiggy]

Does she let you pet her regularly? When do rabbits normally give birth?

 

[Princess_Piggie]

I've been following this thread for ages now, an keeping my fingers crossed for little Pepper! I can't believe she hasn't popped yet! It sounds like she's going to make a great bunny momma though.

 

[LuvCavysLuvCats]

So exciting! I can't wait for the babies! I hope everything goes well!

 

[Inle_Rabbit]

She does let us pet her and she has no fear of the dog or the kids but she is not tolerant of being picked up. It might be the pregnancy causing her some discomfort or it could be she was never picked up much in her past life. I have some wonderful scratches by her already from trying to move her from rooms we are not going to allow her in.

A rabbit pregnancy is 31 days and the babies stay with mom for 6 weeks. I'm pretty sure the babies will be born tonight or tomorrow night. Hopefully all will be healthy and happy. I'm glad she got at least a 3rd of her pregnancy here with us where she was well taken care of and well fed. I feel less concerned that she will abort her litter at this point.

 

[Princess_Piggie]

I have to say, I find it very odd that a herbivore would eat it's young. I know it happens, and that it's normal(?), but I'm just not sure why, when they don't traditionally eat meat? Has it ever been fully understood why rabbits do this? I know it's normal in carnivorous/omnivorous species, but I find it so strange in herbivores.

 

[Inle_Rabbit]

Rabbits who are stressed or scared tend to eat their babies. I believe the experts think it is a way to deter predators or to abort babies if the the conditions are not favorable. It is common enough among rabbits. I use to foster rabbits quite a bit when I was in high school and college and had a few rabbit litters during that time. I only had one doe eat her young.

 

[melynda]

Well fingers crossed Pepper is not a cannibal!

 

[janinehunt]

OK, this is perhaps stupid question time, but would you not just remove the babies if the rabbit appeared to be going that route? You'd have to be around I guess when she gave birth to observe, but it seems unthinkable to just let it happen.

Pardon my ignorance, and good luck with Pepper! May your home soon be blessed with beautiful binkying bunnies!

 

[petgal49]

I have been following this forum since the start and if I was closer to you I would adopt one of the babies. You're a wonderful person, everyone who rescues pets and gives them everything they need is a wonderful person! Good luck on the delivery!

 

[Princess_Piggie]

I just find it so strange given their natural diet of well..hay! I suppose that theory makes sense though. I always wondered how their stomachs coped with it after never eating meat, I wondered if it was possible it could make them sick, similar to how life long vegetarians get if they eat meat suddenly? I know my vegetarian friend ate pepperoni pizza once and vomited a good few times because he'd literally never eaten meat before. I suppose rabbits have evolved to cope with that though?

 

[Tarams]

It's extremely rare for a bunny to eat her young, unless it is a stillborn. Years ago someone dropped a bunny off at the shelter and she gave birth that same night. The cage was tiny, and she was stepping on her babies as they was simply no room. My mom and I took her home and fostered her until the babies were weaned- it was an incredible experience, I still have photos of the bunny family. Anyway I had many questions/ concerns, though she turned out to be an awesome mom, especially given then circumstances. I remember her look of shock the first time the babies ventured out of the nest and took over the cage, it was sooooo cute! Anyway I found the following link to be an excellent resource: (broken link removed)

 

[Inle_Rabbit]

Thanks for the link Tarams. I love the House Rabbit Society. They do so many amazing things and are usually my go to resource for rabbit related questions.

The doe I had that ate her babies had a few bad things going for her. She was actually a student's high school biology science project. I forget what the kid was studying but it had something to do with food consumption. Anyway, a few students had let her out of her hutch during lunch time when she started to give birth on the floor of the biology room. Someone came and found me and I took mama bunny and babies home. I thought all would be well when the next morning the doe had disposed of her litter. It could have been stress, it could have been there was something wrong with the babies. I'm not a rabbit so I don't know what. I was 15 and horrified at what I found the next morning. This incident was one of the feature moments that got me into small animal welfare. I used that doe and her babies as a reason that animal science experiments should be banned from the high school. Especially with stupid high school students who obviously know jack about the animals they are running experiments on!

Anyway, I don't think this doe will eat her babies anymore. I was worried about it to begin with since she had been through a lot but it's been 10 days and rabbits are very adaptable animals. She is completely at ease in our home and with our loud children and dog. The dog and kids were my biggest concern. We do not have a quiet house at all!

Pepper has figured out when the guinea pigs wheek it means it's meal time! So funny today. I was prepping the veggies for the animals' dinners. The guinea pigs start to wheek as soon as they hear the knife cutting up veggies and when they started wheeking Pepper started hoping all around her cage, standing on her hind legs and looking for her dinner too. <3 It's so nice to have a rabbit in the house again! I have been without a pet rabbit for 6 years. Glad to have another one.

 

[Rabbit_Lover]

That's odd. My female black lop looks exactly like her but she's all black, no spots. I've noticed that larger rabbits don't like to be held. All my lops and other breeds of rabbits that are 7lbs+ didn't like being held.

 

[Inle_Rabbit]

I have mostly had mini rexes in the past and they didn't necessarily like to be held but they did allow themselves to be picked up without too much fuss. The largest rabbit I had was a californian and he was just a big teddy bear. He loved to be held and even cuddled.

 

[mkpiggy]

So excited I cant wait to see pictures.

 

[MommaOfFour]

this thread is a great one to follow for multiple reasons.
1) I can't wait to see the baby bun buns and 2) it is VERY informative for someone like me who does have a pet rabbit but it's our only rabbit, a male and my first bunny so I don't know anything about bunny pregnancies/child care at all. since having the guinea pigs (and a few months later the bunny), finding this forum and learning something new every time I'm on here, I have developed a passion for the well being of small animals that goes far beyond loving them just cuz they're so cute and adorable. I like to educate myself, my husband and others about those lil creatures. I like to think that I make a difference in their lives as opposed to what their lives would have been like had I not found this forum and I'm hoping to reach out more and eventually volunteer at a rescue when I have better means of transportation and to foster once we have more room at home.

so anyway, thanks for making this thread so valuable and informative!


as for being picked up.... my bunny isn't very fond of it. he lets me do it but wants to be let go a minute later. we adopted him when he was 8wks old and made sure to pet and hold him a lot from early on. he loves being petted and comes up to me when I'm sitting on the couch but he just never liked being picked up.

 

[Inle_Rabbit]

No bunnies yet. I thought for sure they would be there this morning after all the nesting activity last night. Oh well, maybe tomorrow!

 

[melynda]

I want buns!!!