ANSWERS: 6
  • I used to breed show rabbits. Great care should be taken to separate the male rabbit from the female prior to her giving birth and not reitroduce them until you want them to breed again. At no time should an un-neutered male rabbit and an un-spayed female be allowed to live together in the same enclosure. Rabbits are prolific breeders! The female may or may not wean her babies at the time the new litter is born. The babies may die if she choses to ignore them. I would suggest reading what you can about weaning the 1st litter early and removing them from her pen. Also remember rabbits can start breeding early so if you keep these babies you will want to divide the females and males by the time they are 4 mos old!
  • when can u sell the rabbits?? i have a litter of six baby bunnies about 6 weeks old
  • Never should an un-neutered buck be anywhere near an un-spayed doe at anytime, unless you absolutely want them to breed and you have homes for all the babies that will be born. She is going to be so physically drained, and maybe harmed by creating all these babies. Does need at least 1-2 months of rest between litters. Some commercial breeders who only breed part of the year and rest their doe breed at the 6th week of the litter but that is with great feeding and supplements and a good long rest in the winter time. I don't know what will happen with your doe. She will probably abandon the youngest kits or the littlest ones may get hurt by the older kits. It will be impossible for you to have both litters. The older kits will still need their nestbox, where will the new ones get to be? If you want both litters to live, your only choice may be to take the older ones away from her on her 28th day so she can prepare the nestbox for the new ones and just hope and pray that the older kits will survive. They will have only been really eating on their own about 1 good week and that's not enough. What a terrible situation you are in. You may lose some. Here is a link for some info and formulas for orphaned rabbits. You will need to get those older ones to 6 weeks of age before they are weaned so you will be handfeeding them. About half way down the page is a section on feeding amounts for domestic rabbits. Remember, don't use the WILD bunnies instructions. Look for the DOMESTIC rabbit info. http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/orphan.html You can use Regular Goat Milk found in the carton at your local grocery store.You can also use KMR (Kitten Milk Replacer) available at most pet stores for the handfeeding formula. Avoid ANY regular milk, puppy formulas, etc. 3-6 weeks: 13-15 cc/ml each feeding (two feedings--again, may be LESS depending on size of rabbit! Domestics are weaned about 6 weeks. For domestic rabbits, if you have a healthy adult rabbit at home and you can collect cecotropes (the soft, chain-like droppings that the rabbit usually eats) then these can be mixed with the KMR to give the baby bunny normal bacteria for its intestinal tract. Only one cecotrope per day for 4-5 days is needed. This is particularly important for rabbits under one week of age. Also good is to sprinkle acidophilus powder, also called "Probiotic" from human capsules in the milk a little each time for healthy flora for both wild and domestic bunnies. *After each feeding it is important to make the bunny defecate and urinate to keep the intestinal tract and urinary system running smoothly (only UNTIL their eyes are open). No need to do this for jackrabbits; they go on their own. Use a cotton ball moistened with warm water and gently stroke the anal area until the bunny starts producing stool and urine and keep stroking until the bunny stops. You are reproducing the behavior of the mother rabbit who would lick her young to stimulate them to go to the bathroom and to keep the nest clean. As soon as their eyes are open, you may introduce the bunnies to plain alfalfa pellets, hay, such as oat hay, timothy, alfalfa, and for wild rabbits, in addition, add dark leafy veggies such as carrot tops, parsley, dandelion greens, etc. Dandelion greens and hay (timothy and oat hay) are extremely important for wild rabbits. You can add whole oats and oat groats from a feed store, and some grated carrots (about a tablespoon). The greens must be fresh, rinsed, and replaced if not eaten in a few hours or they dry out and get stale. You can place them in a cup of cold water with just the tops sticking out to keep them fresher for older rabbits. If this is a wild rabbit, you do not need to introduce pellets. If this is a domestic rabbit baby, then you may introduce plain pellets at 2 weeks of age (please refer to the handout Care of Rabbits for more information on diet). Wild rabbits should be released as soon as they are eating hay and greens and are approximately 5 inches in body length (cottontails) and run from you. They will be small, but the longer you keep them, the more agitated and difficult to handle they will become and the less likely their chances for survival in the wild. Release ONLY at dusk or dawn. Jackrabbits will be much larger and are released after 9 weeks when ready. Make sure they get exercise daily. The exception is the length/age rule is the jackrabbit. They are best released around 9 weeks of age, as they mature much slower than the brush/cottontails and need to develop strength. If they are ready, earlier, they will let you know.
  • how do i know if me rabbit is pregnat coz i thing she is but help me coz i do not want to take her to the vets in case if i was roung
  • I'm sorry to say but Galeanda's answer is a terrible answer. There's no need to hope and pray for things and what's worse is to give bad advice. Don't even think about trying to replace the mother's milk because there is no substitute. That should be reserved for emergencies when the mother dies and the kits were not of weaning age. The kits are totally fine at day 28 to be weaned from their mother. Although, if at all possible, it's best to allow the kits to be with their mother for 6-8 weeks. This will give them the best opportunity to survive while transitioning to solid foods. After about day 12 or so the kits will start trying solid foods and this combined with their mother's milk will help their transition. What happened in your case actually happens in the wild. The doe actually looks for a buck just as much as a buck is looking for a doe. But of course if you can control it, it is not recommended that you allow this to happen. But rabbits have mechanisms to control this and what happens is the mother will wean the rabbits herself at around day 25. So she won't even be feeding the previous litter a few days before she kindles. So, as you can see, there is no need to hope or pray for anything. And you can throw the goat's milk advice out the door. I hope it all works out for you!
  • I, too, am a rabbit breeder and happy to say that I have not had the misfortune of over breeding a doe. I agree with a lot of the points made about the weaning process with the experiences that I have had. Yes, she will go ahead and wean the babies- whether they should be weaned or not. And, maybe the buns will be fine but I breed show rabbits and I would definately give them some type of milk supplement and cecotropes until the kits are at least 8 weeks to get the best possible results from the litter. I would hate to think there was something, in this case, inexpensive and not very time consuming that I could have done to give the kits a better outcome. I would definately not try to have her nurse both litters in fear of losing my doe from being too run down. Keep the buck away from her for awhile and give her a couple of months to recoperate, the same amount of time she would have needed if she would have had the buns properly, at the bare minimum 16 weeks total from the time the first litter was born. Keep a close watch on her general health, just beacause she can get pregnant, doesn't mean she should.

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