Rabbit just gave birth

Lawrence1895

Need a bit of help there. I got two rabbits a few weeks ago from a pet shop nearby. They told me and the OH, that they were mother and daughter.

Right, it was a mother, but the daughter is actually a son.

I was cleaning the hutch there a minute ago, what did I find? Four dead babies, one still alive. The mother seems to be fine, she is breastfeeding the little one.

For the moment, I have separated the mother and her son, but what to do now?

I never had rabbits before, we got them for my stepson and I felt a bit of pity with them, as they were in a poor state when I got them, sitting in a dirty small cage.

How long will the mother breastfeed the baby?

I guess, they both have to be neutered as fast as possible.

I feel a bit like an idiot now, but none of us did see that the daughter was actually a son

Any other things I can do?

kylith

If you've had them for less than a month then she was likely pregnant when sold to you.

The first thing I'd do is complain, vehemently, to the pet shop. It is totally unacceptable that they misrepresented the sex of the younger rabbit when selling to you. They may offer to exchange the male for a female; make sure you bring someone who can sex rabbits with you to make sure you're not done over again.

If you want to keep the male then he'll need to be sterilised ASAP. You can get the mother done as well, talk to your vet about when would be best to do that.

Irishchick

kylith wrote: »

The first thing I'd do is complain, vehemently, to the pet shop. It is totally unacceptable that they misrepresented the sex of the younger rabbit when selling to you.

I agree with this. Too many petshops are doing this. Its disgraceful.

Groom!

Separate the mother and son, which you have already done.

Plenty of clean bedding for the mother but DO NOT disturb the nest no matter how tempted you are.

You will never see a rabbit feeding its babies, as they tend to do it at night, and very briefly.

Basically just feed her and top her up with fresh hay and straw. If you mess with the nest, she may kill the babies.

Be patient and you will see the babies leave the nest in a couple of weeks but just leave them alone is the best advice.

Good luck!

(And in the meantime ask the pet shop will they take the babies at 8 weeks)

godtabh

Groom! wrote: »

. If you mess with the nest, she may kill the babies.

Be patient and you will see the babies leave the nest in a couple of weeks but just leave them alone is the best advice.

Don't believe everything you read on the net. You can handle them. Search on here or the Irish rabbits advice

Lawrence1895

Groom! wrote: »

Separate the mother and son, which you have already done.

Plenty of clean bedding for the mother but DO NOT disturb the nest no matter how tempted you are.

You will never see a rabbit feeding its babies, as they tend to do it at night, and very briefly.

Basically just feed her and top her up with fresh hay and straw. If you mess with the nest, she may kill the babies.

Be patient and you will see the babies leave the nest in a couple of weeks but just leave them alone is the best advice.

Good luck!

(And in the meantime ask the pet shop will they take the babies at 8 weeks)

I wouldn't do that now. When I found my rabbits in there, they were in a poor state, sitting in a small cage, which was not cleaned for days. That was the main reason why I saved them from there

Groom!

@godtabh: Who said anything about reading it on the net?? I have over 10 years experience boarding, breeding and owning rabbits. I have 7 rabbits of my own and know a lot about them.

@OP: Do not handle the babies. (And good plan not to ask pet shop to take them back if you are not happy.) I may be able to help you with homing them when the time comes.

Lawrence1895

Groom! wrote: »

@godtabh: Who said anything about reading it on the net?? I have over 10 years experience boarding, breeding and owning rabbits. I have 7 rabbits of my own and know a lot about them.

@OP: Do not handle the babies. (And good plan not to ask pet shop to take them back if you are not happy.) I may be able to help you with homing them when the time comes.

Thanks for that, I guess, we keep in touch

It's only one of them little mites who survived. I was on night duty last night, I fed the rabbits before I went. No sign of a nest or a birth to come soon.
But when I came home this lunchtime, four dead ones and the mother was breastfeeding the surviving one.

Sigma Force

Try the irishrabbit forum for more advice, can you pm me the name of the pet shop?

If the baby survives and once he/she's weaned get the vet to take a look at the bun if she's not preg. then she can be spayed. The other bun can be neutered and once they are all over their ops you can try reintroducing them.

RosieJoe

kylith wrote: »

If you've had them for less than a month then she was likely pregnant when sold to you.

The first thing I'd do is complain, vehemently, to the pet shop. It is totally unacceptable that they misrepresented the sex of the younger rabbit when selling to you. They may offer to exchange the male for a female; make sure you bring someone who can sex rabbits with you to make sure you're not done over again.

If you want to keep the male then he'll need to be sterilised ASAP. You can get the mother done as well, talk to your vet about when would be best to do that.

Irishchick wrote: »

I agree with this. Too many petshops are doing this. Its disgraceful.

So reading the OP, they only have the rabbits a few weeks meaning that the Mom was pregnant when they bought her.

This doesn't neccessarily mean that the 2 the OP got are not both female. It might mean that there was another rabbit involved that was sold from the shop.

As for the baby, all going well it will start to be weaned at around 4 weeks. But hold onto it until about 8, as recommended.

Lawrence1895

RosieJoe wrote: »

So reading the OP, they only have the rabbits a few weeks meaning that the Mom was pregnant when they bought her.

This doesn't neccessarily mean that the 2 the OP got are not both female. It might mean that there was another rabbit involved that was sold from the shop.

As for the baby, all going well it will start to be weaned at around 4 weeks. But hold onto it until about 8, as recommended.

As far as I can remember, they only had them two rabbits in that shop. But the girl working there didn't tell the OH about their previous history

RosieJoe

Lars1916 wrote: »

As far as I can remember, they only had them two rabbits in that shop. But the girl working there didn't tell the OH about their previous history

Thanks for clearing that up. There was no point people blaming the shop when it may not necessarily have been the case.

Try not to stress out about the baby now, let Mom take care of it.

Lawrence1895

RosieJoe wrote: »

Thanks for clearing that up. There was no point people blaming the shop when it may not necessarily have been the case.

Try not to stress out about the baby now, let Mom take care of it.

The only thing, which was upsetting me though was, that they were sitting in a dirty and small cage. I felt pity with them and took them home

RosieJoe

Well, hopefully you'll get many years of enjoyment from them. Sometimes little pets deserves people like you that will care of them!

Lawrence1895

RosieJoe wrote: »

Well, hopefully you'll get many years of enjoyment from them. Sometimes little pets deserves people like you that will care of them!

Thanks for that

Sometimes, people don't want to see, how much joy a pet can bring into someone's life, I suppose...

Sigma Force

Shops fault at the end of the day.

Lawrence1895

Sigma Force wrote: »

Shops fault at the end of the day.

I guess, they took advantage of me telling them, it would be my first rabbits

Odaise Gaelach

Lars1916 wrote: »

How long will the mother breastfeed the baby?

I guess, they both have to be neutered as fast as possible.

I feel a bit like an idiot now, but none of us did see that the daughter was actually a son

Any other things I can do?

I wouldn't be able to sex a rabbit either; it'd be something you should probably get a vet to do if you're unsure.

I've a book called Collins Family Pet Guides: Rabbit and here are a few relevant sections from it that may be useful:

• Do not touch the kittens unless one is stranded outside the nest and heading for hypothermia.
• Remove any uneaten portions of placenta.

...

By the end of the first week of life, the fur begins to grow. After ten days the eyes open; after twelve days the eats open; and by sixteen to eighteen days the kittens have begun to leave the next and to nibble solid food. Then you can begin to handle the youngsters.

...

Kittens nurse for six to eight weeks and can then be considered weaned onto solid food, although some may continue to suckle the doe for a further week or two. At eight weeks, the young rabbits (except in the case of Angoras which should wait until twelve weeks of age) can be sent to good new homes.

...

Young rabbits should not be allowed to eat too much greed food; it can lead to serious, possibly fatal, digestive trouble. Make sure they get plenty of hay and offer very small quantities of green food several times a day so that they are compelled to eat the hay in between.

Ultimately if you're unsure about anything, you should ask a vet.

Congratulations on your (unexpected!) new young bunny. I hope he/she does well, and the mum and brother are okay.

Lawrence1895

Odaise Gaelach wrote: »

I wouldn't be able to sex a rabbit either; it'd be something you should probably get a vet to do if you're unsure.

I've a book called Collins Family Pet Guides: Rabbit and here are a few relevant sections from it that may be useful:



Ultimately if you're unsure about anything, you should ask a vet.

Congratulations on your (unexpected!) new young bunny. I hope he/she does well, and the mum and brother are okay.

Thanks for mentioning the book, I guess, it's worth buying it

Anyway, I have an appointment with the vet next week, looking forward to get some clarity then.

Darlughda

I would just love a rabbit. But, I live in a bedsit, with no garden area.

Is it too cruel to expect a rabbit to live in such environs?

I can give it a space to call its own and supply with pet shop materials or whatever is required. I am around a lot during the day as well as night, so I can be company. I am not sure how to deal with the electricals. Is there a rabbit prooffing thing I can buy? Bunny would be well loved, but if my limited habitat was not enough for the rabbit then of course no way.

TooManyDogs

Rabbits make perfect apartment pets, they don't actually need a garden they need space and permenant access to hay. Google house rabbits and you'll get a ton of information on rabbit proofing a room/house and how to litter train rabbits.

Darlughda

TooManyDogs wrote: »

Rabbits make perfect apartment pets, they don't actually need a garden they need space and permenant access to hay. Google house rabbits and you'll get a ton of information on rabbit proofing a room/house and how to litter train rabbits.

Really? I live in a small space and I would so love a rabbit, but would be so worried thats/he would get frustrated without an area to dig and burrow?

Sigma Force

They make great apartment pets, one thing is to consider how to dispose of bedding once you have space in your bin it's grand or even better if you have a communal compost bin or something like that.

As long as you give them inside space to run around and play.

Digging wise, my rabbits weren't big diggers. But sometimes I gave them a deep box and filled it with peat moss for them to dig, they'd dig about in it a bit.

What some people do is give them a thick phone book to rip up and there are loads of toys out there for rabbits now, tunnels, bunny kabobs, grass mats, even plain brown paper bags filled with hay and treats to rip up etc.

Grass isn't needed as long as they have good quality hay, burgess dry food, fresh veggies and fruit as a treat. You can grow some herbs on your windowsill for them as a treat like oregano and thyme and applemint and rosemary. Or even flowers like Nasturtiums. Just make sure you get the ones that are safe for rabbits. But you can also buy dried grass which most of them love. If you have a friend or rellie that has a garden that hasn't been treated with chemicals etc. you can always pick some grass as a treat or take a cutting from an apple tree.

They are fairly quiet as pets go just make sure you bunny proof the room, no access to cables etc.

TooManyDogs

Darlughda wrote: »

Really? I live in a small space and I would so love a rabbit, but would be so worried thats/he would get frustrated without an area to dig and burrow?

Mine dont' do much digging either, mainly just little hollows to lie in. One of my previous rabbits had 2 litter boxes, one to poo in and one to lie in and he used to kick the litter around a bit.

Mine get the argos catalogue! They spend ages shredding it and have a great time. They are a bugger for cables though, in their burrows any roots straying into the tunnel would be trimmed off so cables get similar treatment.

carwash_2006

House rabbits often have much better lives than ones that live in a garden in my experience. When they are kept in peoples gardens it is often (not always) in tiny little hutches, because they are outside they get less human attention and when the winter comes round they are often cold and miserable.

The american house rabbit association have a website with so much information on it (well I haven't checked in a few years, but I used to use it all the time when I had rabbits).

OP, you are dead right not to look to the pet shop you got them from to find a home for the new bun, make sure you never support this shop again in any way, I hope there is somewhere else you can get your supplies and tell all your friends not to go to this shop. The only way places like this will be discouraged from keeping these animals in horrible conditions is if people refuse to support the ones that do this.

Rabbits have a gestation of 4 weeks, so it is possible that she was pregnant by another rabbit that the shop no longer had, you will have to get a vet or someone with some experience of sexing buns to check whether the daughter is indeed a daughter or a son.

I urge anyone else reading this that is ever considering getting a rabbit NOT to purchase rabbits from shops because they feel sorry for them. Instead report the shop to the local SPCA, this will not do a while lot, but they will usually go in and have a chat with the staff and if this is happening enough it may encourage them to change their ways. By buying any animal from a place like this it is supporting them to continue their unacceptable ways. They will just replace the ones you have bought with more and the cycle will continue.

Demonique

Lars1916 wrote: »

The only thing, which was upsetting me though was, that they were sitting in a dirty and small cage. I felt pity with them and took them home

You shouldn't have bought them to be honest. Buying them just tells the petshop it's OK to keep animals in poor conditions as people will buy them out of pity.

Your best bet would have been to complain to the local branch of the ISPCA.


Now that you have them home, you should still complain to the local branch of the ISPCA about the pet shop

Lawrence1895

Demonique wrote: »

You shouldn't have bought them to be honest. Buying them just tells the petshop it's OK to keep animals in poor conditions as people will buy them out of pity.

Your best bet would have been to complain to the local branch of the ISPCA.


Now that you have them home, you should still complain to the local branch of the ISPCA about the pet shop

That's always a bit of a Catch 22, tbh. I didn't want those little creatures to be left in those appalling conditions, but still, you are right there. Pet shops might only learn, if nobody buys any pets in there.

Rabbitandcavy

First off, you CAN handle the babies, it's an old wives tale that the rabbit will kill or abandon the babies if you handle them. If she kills or abandons the babies it is because they are sickly babies and not going to survive, no milk or just hasn't got to grips with looking after them. I've had lots of babies born here over the years, and handled them all with no problems. I give the Mother a treat and she'll munch away while I check on them. If I never checked on them, I wouldn't have known that a litter of seven were all going to die because their Mother had no milk, and I was able to step in and hand rear them. I also wouldn't have known that with another litter, the Mother hadn't coped what to do and I was able to hold her over the babies and let them feed. She then looked after them perfectly after that.

As long as you aren't taking them out of long periods of time, or not putting them back in their little nest they'll be fine.

Personally, I think it is important to check briefly on them every 24 hours.

I would make sure that the ''Mother and Daughter'', are mother and daughter. They still could be, and the Mother got pregnant before she left the pet shop. Most vets are actually crap at sexing, so if it were me I wouldn't waste my money on it but that is totally up to you. I would at least have a go myself and then see if the vet confirms you got it right if your unsure.

Here are some sites that might help

http://www.rabbit-guide.com/finding_out_the_sex_of_your_rabbit.html

http://www.debmark.com/rabbits/sexing.htm

I would try it on both your rabbits, and see if their ''bits'' look the same, if your not sure.

If the ''daughter'' is in fact a buck, the just be aware that she could be pregnant again. A rabbit's gestation is 4 weeks. They can get pregnant as soon as they have their babies.

You can wean the baby from the Mother at 6 weeks, and 8 weeks is when you can start looking for a new home for it.

Good luck!

Lawrence1895

So one thing is for sure, the daughter was a boy, he got his 'job done' at the vet this morning. He is just a bit tired there, maybe I keep him in for the night.

Rabbitandcavy

Good to hear!
Keep an eye on her as she is possibly pregnant. Also you need to keep him away from her for up to 6 weeks, as he can still possibly get her pregnant.

Sigma Force

Great you got him done Lars, definetly keep him indoors for now he'll be cold after the anesthetic and won't be able to regulate him temperature and it's cooler at night now.

If he has a cone on his head make sure he's able to eat and drink (another reason to have him in at the mo) if he hasn't got a cone on his head keep a very close eye because a lot of rabbits will pick their stitches open.

Unless the rabbits have a warm shed or outhouse to put their hutch in you will have to bring them in soon anyway ideally now before the temp. goes down much more. All else fails a hutch hugger or similar will be needed but if we get a winter like last year then they definetly need to be in a heated shed or in the house.