Surprise lionhead babies

[ashlyn84]

Not sure if this should be posted here but my husband and I woke up to a surprise of 4 kits Sunday morning. I am wanting to know if I post a pic of the babies could someone please tell me if they all look normal and healthy? Momma has been great and no matter how much I look up and read on babies I still can’t put my mind at ease that they are fine. My husband and I have 3 lionheads all together plus now the babies and are all kept indoors. We have two males and a female and they all have their own separate cages and all get time out of cages at different times accept for one day that led to the babies. Thanks in advance.

 

[Bam]

Hi Ashlyn, as I wrote to you in my PM, we don’t allow pictures of bunnies under the age of 8 weeks displayed here on the forums. Just explaining to other members here who might read your post:
This rule is because we don’t want to inspire people who happen by on the forum to mate their bunnies because babies are so cute. There are so many bunnies that don’t have loving homes and we really want to promote adoption of rabbits. This is however a surprise litter and the owner is looking for a bit of support and advice, just general stuff about baby bunny care and what to look out for. Also info on how to see if a baby is a peanut would be appreciated.

Bam

[ashlyn84]

Posted By bam on 10/27/2015 2:29 PM

Hi Ashlyn, as I wrote to you in my PM, we don’t allow pictures of bunnies under the age of 8 weeks displayed here on the forums. Just explaining to other members here who might read your post:
This rule is because we don’t want to inspire people who happen by on the forum to mate their bunnies because babies are so cute. There are so many bunnies that don’t have loving homes and we really want to promote adoption of rabbits. This is however a surprise litter and the owner is looking for a bit of support and advice, just general stuff about baby bunny care and what to look out for. Also info on how to see if a baby is a peanut would be appreciated.

Bam

Thank you.

Ash

[Vienna Blue in France]

??? You’ve lost me there bam. “If a baby is a peanut….” !!?? LOL

[ashlyn84]

Posted By Vienna Blue in France on 10/27/2015 3:01 PM

??? You’ve lost me there bam. “If a baby is a peanut….” !!?? LOL

From what I understand is that peanuts are from dwarf rabbits and deals with genes. They typically don’t develop correctly and will die usually within a few days after being born. They are also usually smaller than the rest of the litter. Seeing how I ended up with a surprise litter of 4 Sunday morning I was in a bit of panic trying to figure out if any of the 4 are peanuts but I am pretty sure they are all normal and healthy at this point thanks to info from Bam. I so can’t wait to get her spayed and our 2 males neutered so we don’t have anymore surprise litters. It is amazing that a male can get a female pregnant within seconds. My husband didn’t listen a little over a month ago when he decided he wanted to clean all 3 cages at one time and had them all out after I said one at a time. We also have a dominant male that pics on his brother. I kind of feel bad for our female because she was almost a week overdue with no signs minus the fact that she quit giving us kisses and thinking about that now scares me on how dangerous it could have been.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

The best way to ensure the babies and mom are healthy is to call a vet. They may not insist you bring them in and could offer some advice and what to watch out for by phone.

[LBJ10]

Peanuts are usually pretty obvious, about half the size of normal babies. I agree with KK, a vet would put your mind at ease.

In the meantime, do they have a nest box? If not, you can make one out of a small cardboard box with a whole large enough for mama to fit through. You can move babies and their nest in there. You can also add some material if there isn’t much of a nest.

[ashlyn84]

Posted By LBJ10 on 10/27/2015 7:39 PM
Peanuts are usually pretty obvious, about half the size of normal babies. I agree with KK, a vet would put your mind at ease.

In the meantime, do they have a nest box? If not, you can make one out of a small cardboard box with a whole large enough for mama to fit through. You can move babies and their nest in there. You can also add some material if there isn’t much of a nest.

Thank you. I don’t have a nest box for them yet but I have a few friends that have all told me they have a cardboard box they will give me so within the next day or two I will get a nest box made up. The babies are getting pretty active and I know I will def need to move them into a box to keep them confined and together.

[Vienna Blue in France]

Thanks to all for educating me. lol
“Peanut” is actually quite a sweet name for a rabbit if you didn’t know what the ‘other’ meaning was !!
(Well a dwarf rabbit atleast,
I’m not sure if you’d call a Flemie ‘Peanut’…. !! More like “Coconut” !!! LOL)

[Bam]

Ashlyn, I hope the babies are still doing great!

ViennaBlue, a peanut is the offspring of two “true” dwarf-rabbits, ie rabbits that have the dominant dwarfism-gene. If you cross two of those, 1/4 of the kits will get one dwarfism-gene from each parent, and that doubling of the gene renders those kits unviable. Peanuts are very small and under-developed and die within days no matter what you do. It’s not the same as a runt.

[ashlyn84]

Posted By bam on 10/28/2015 1:24 PM

Ashlyn, I hope the babies are still doing great!

ViennaBlue, a peanut is the offspring of two “true” dwarf-rabbits, ie rabbits that have the dominant dwarfism-gene. If you cross two of those, 1/4 of the kits will get one dwarfism-gene from each parent, and that doubling of the gene renders those kits unviable. Peanuts are very small and under-developed and die within days no matter what you do. It’s not the same as a runt.

 They are still doing great. Today they are moving a lot more and I can’t believe how fast they can grow. I had one wander from the nest today, momma decided to dig a hole in her nest and I heard some squealing from one and went over to the cage to see the baby and momma sitting next to it looking at me like are you going to put it back or not. Getting a box to make a nest box sometime today. 

[Bam]

So good to hear they are doing so well! I do realize it will be a lot of work for you. Perhaps you could set up sth like a play-pen like people do with puppies to keep them from wandering off. You’d have to find sth with netting/grids/bars that the babies can’t get stuck in when they try to get out though. (They probably will try to get out, just due to natural curiosity.) Some kind of PVC-covered table-cloth or plastic sheet to protect the floor from messes would be needed.

Mama-bunny seems like a clever girl who turns to her human for help with her babies. She must really love and trust you =)

[ashlyn84]

A little worried today that one of the babies may not be getting fed or not getting much. It is still active but seems a little skinnier and not much of a round belly compared to siblings.

[ashlyn84]

So I moved the nest and babies into a nest box and momma didn’t like it one bit. She kept trying to dump it over so I finally moved the nest back into her cage. Momma isn’t happy and is adamant on destroying the nest. I am now freaking out

[LBJ10]

I deleted your duplicate thread. Sometimes inexperienced mothers do this. I don’t know if Roberta has experience with that, she has experience with several oops litters and fosters with newborns.

Here is a great article from HRS: http://rabbit.org/domestic-baby-bunnies-and-their-mom/

[ashlyn84]

Posted By LBJ10 on 10/29/2015 8:30 PM
I deleted your duplicate thread. Sometimes inexperienced mothers do this. I don’t know if Roberta has experience with that, she has experience with several oops litters and fosters with newborns.

Here is a great article from HRS: http://rabbit.org/domestic-baby-bunnies-and-their-mom/

Ok thanks. So far she is now calm and has left the nest and babies alone. Thankfully I can see her cage and when she’s near or in the nest at night from my side of the bed.

[ashlyn84]

UPDATE: Momma messed with her nest again last night but this morning I woke up to see she fixed up her nest and the babies bellies were full and they have grown again and are very active.

[LBJ10]

That’s good.

[Author]

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