Fostering at Last

[Djakarta]

I posted last month wondering if I should foster a rabbit for my local Humane Society.

A new arrival there, unexpectedly, had 2 babies last weekend.

The poor thing didn't even have a name card, as she was designated for transfer to another shelter.

There really aren't accommodations for a mom and babies at any of the shelters. (It's been a bad year and the nurseries are full).

I asked what would be needed to provide proper accommodations, and the HRS offered to provide me with the supplies if I would foster.

It had been my intention to offer to foster the poor rabbit that had been at the shelter the longest time, not the newest arrival, but the needs of this little family took precedence.

So here are the newest members of the household.

The babies
9/7/06

9/10/06



The Momma Bunny (Miranda):



Any advice or tips on the proper care of this little family would be greatly appreciated.

 

[vics2004]

What kind of advice do you need?

 

[Djakarta]

I only have about a million questions!

What kind of pellets to offer the baby bunnies? And when to offer pellets?

What type of container or water bottle to use for the baby bunnies?

How soon will the baby bunnies leave the nest box?

Should I change to a deeper box to keep the little ones in?

Should I build a threshold across the cage door to keep the babies inside?

(Currently the cage is connected to an exercise pen to which Miranda has constant access)

What are problems to anticipate and look out for?

What emergency supplies should I have on hand?

Best ways to baby proof the cage and pen? ( Miranda eats cardboard and has demolished the baby bumper I placed in the pen!)

Tips on building up the momma bunny?

How to litterbox train babies?

 

[fourbwabbys]

I'm sorry I can't help, but I have to say those are some extremely adorable little babies! Miranda is also stunning.

 

[bunnylover]

I posted last month wondering if I should foster a rabbit for my local Humane Society.

A new arrival there, unexpectedly, had 2 babies last weekend.

The poor thing didn't even have a name card, as she was designated for transfer to another shelter.

There really aren't accommodations for a mom and babies at any of the shelters. (It's been a bad year and the nurseries are full).

I asked what would be needed to provide proper accommodations, and the HRS offered to provide me with the supplies if I would foster.

It had been my intention to offer to foster the poor rabbit that had been at the shelter the longest time, not the newest arrival, but the needs of this little family took precedence.

So here are the newest members of the household.

The babies
9/7/06

9/10/06



The Momma Bunny (Miranda):



Any advice or tips on the proper care of this little family would be greatly appreciated.

for awesome websites try checking out the " need for rabbit form here" thread...it has some AWESOME sites in it for rabbit/baby bun care good luck!!

 

[vics2004]

The best food for baby bunnies is bunny basics 15/23 which is made the same people as cavy performance/cavy cuisine, there is also bunny basics/T for adult rabbits.

Also give the proud mum more alfafa.

The rest of the questions, you will do good to refer to House Rabbit Society Rabbit Care Guide and https://groups.yahoo.com/etherbun

 

[bunnyluv17]

1) Babies and mom should be fed alfalfa-based pellet such as the one made by oxbow for young rabbits, also offer unlimited alfalfa and grass hay. The babies will start to eat solid foods when they are ready.

2) If mom is used to using a water bottle just use a regular one for her. When the babies start to leave the nestbox, then add a second water bottle (it can be the same size) but just position it lower. Use a regular crock for now for food, but when the babies start coming out you may want to add a second ceramic container that is more shallow so the babies can reach.

3) I forgot when mine started venturing out but I think it was somewhere around two weeks.

4) How deep is your box now? A couple of inches should be fine, you want mamma bun to be able to hop in easily.

5) Are they in a C&C cage? If so, you need to make sure the rim around the entire cage is at least 8 inches high. So yes, build a wall.

6) Problems - make sure to weigh the babies every day and make sure they are nice and plump and warm. You are probably not going to see the mom nurse the babies. Make sure they stay in the nestbox at least until their eyes are open, some babies may sneak out of the box too early.

7) Emergency supplies- oxbow critical care, heating pad, at least two phone numbers for vets who are rabbit-savvy

8) Put the coroplast tightly up against the outside of the cage

9) Do you mean bonding with momma bunny? You can let her out of the cage to exercise and spend time on the floor with her. Offer her treats by hand and just spend time around her so she gets used to you.

10) Haha! Good luck on littertraining those naughty babies! When I fostered a litter of five they had no interest in pottying in one spot, but went all over the cage and I had to clean it every day. But maybe yours will be a little better. My babies seemed to act a lot like puppies and just couldn't seem to hold it, and they were too excited and playful to make it to a litterbox even if they wanted to.

 

[Djakarta]

Miranda has unlimited mixed grass hay (purchased from HRS) and alfalfa. The pellets the HRS recommended are Kaytee Supreme. I think this is the brand they feed at the Humane Society. Perhaps they wanted to avoid complications from changing the food.

Miranda has both a water bottle in the cage and a water bowl in the pen. I noticed that she drinks a lot more water when she has a bowl than when she just has a bottle. Since she is nursing, I wanted to make sure she had plenty of water.

The nest box is a sweater box. The sides are pretty high, but Miranda jumps in easily. On Wednesday I noticed one of the babies had jumped from the sweater box into the litterbox. I put him back into the sweater box, and he jumped right back into the litterbox. We repeated this several times. Since then I haven't seen them jump out of the box.

They are becoming very active in their nest box. They hop and stand up along the edges. It's funniest when they sleep. Sometimes they will sprawl out in the typical position with the feet straight out behind. Other times they sleep on their backs with their feet stuck straight in the air.

The cage I'm using was provided by the HRS. It is a typical hardware cloth style cage with a wire bottom and slide out pan. It is 36" by 24" and 22" tall. I have carpet remnants on the floor, so they are off the wire.

I''ve asked if I should just put them into a 2 by 3 C&C, but I've been instructed to use the cage provided. The cage itself connects to an x pen which is configured to be 3' by 4' . I leave the door to the cage open, so Miranda has access to the pen. The only time she is shut in the cage is when I clean out the pen.

When I feed Miranda her veggies, she usually becomes very playful. She will cruise around her pen, stopping to play with her various toys. It's almost like she's showing them off to me, it's funny. Then she will either conclude by flopping herself down for a nap , usually with an audible "floop"; or begin dancing and racing around the pen. Sometimes she will include a trip to the nestbox in her tour. She will hop in and clean her babies and then tuck them under her to nurse. She will look at me as she does this, the same way she looks back at me while she plays with her toys.

I don't know if I should leave when she goes to her babies. The babies look very well fed, their tummies are always nice and round. I'm thinking that since she only has the two, perhaps it's more comfortable to nurse them more frequently to tap off her milk supplly.

If I sit in the pen with her, she will come up to me and sniff around. She will sometimes jump into my lap and stand to sniff my face. She sometimes nibbles my clothes. She has allowed me to scratch her nose and to rub a little around her ears. She even licked my clothes a little the other day. Was she grooming me?

Here are a few more baby pictures:

 

[fourbwabbys]

Oh my gosh! Look at those fluffy little faces, they are just too adorable!

 

[bunnylover]

they are beauuuuuuuuuuuuutiful!