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What
should I do?
If you have a pair of bunnies and
you were told by the person you got them from that they were both does or
both bucks, go back and give them a piece of your mind (if it were me, I'd
blacken their eye!)
Unexpected litters are one of the
main reasons for rescues being full to overflowing. Please NEVER
EVER assume that the person selling/giving you the buns is telling the
truth, they usually just want rid of the buns and will tell you anything,
sad but true!
Be cautious and immediately take
your new buns to a vet or someone with proven rabbit experience (ie. rescuer
or breeder) to have them sexed, you don't want to be lumbered with a litter
of kits a month down the line.
If however the doe has just given
birth, there's not a lot you can do and you'll just have to ride the storm
and act responsibly.
Things you need to do:
* Beg, borrow or buy another two
or three decent sized hutch/run setups, you'll need them.
* If you intend to keep the
babies, start saving your pocket money to have them all neutered and
vaccinated.
* Don't touch the kits
until you have disguised your scent by gently rubbing both your hands all
over the mother bun to pick up her scent. If you touch the kits and
leave your scent on them, she may kill them. Check the kits are all
alive and remove any dead ones as they will chill the other kits and they
could also die.
*
Immediately
remove the buck from the hutch, house him in another hutch and arrange to
have him neutered as soon as possible (please don't think about giving him
away, you'd be splitting up a happy relationship). The buck may kill
the babies and will probably impregnate the doe again as she will be
receptive almost immediately after the babies are born, then you'll have an
even bigger problem on your hands! Once you have the buck neutered,
don't let him near your doe for at least a
month
as he
could still be fertile
during this period.
* The babies must stay with the
mother for
at least 8 weeks
until they are weaned. The mother needs to have extra food and water
in order to produce enough milk to feed the babies. The mother will
only feed them for a few minutes once or twice a day, this is normal.
* The babies will need to be
sexed (by an expert) at around 8 to 10 weeks old and the boys separated from
their mother and their sisters at this time, otherwise they will start to
mate and father more unwanted litters, then you'll be in deep poo-poo!
Leave the female kits in with their mother and remove the boys to another
separate hutch (not in with their father, he could possibly kill
them!). It's also better to leave the babies in the original birthing
hutch and move the mum to a new one.
* If you intend to find new homes
for them, start to look for prospective owners for the babies
before
they are ready to leave their mother, but please please please don't make
the mistake of rehoming a boy and a girl to the same home unless you are
certain the owners will have them neutered before they house them together
(you have first hand experience of the problems which will arise!!!), don't
add to the amount of unwanted and abandoned rabbits there are in the UK -
BE A RESPONSIBLE OWNER!
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