# Large Kit....when to wean??



## jfell (Apr 7, 2010)

Hi, new here but have been soaking up a ton of info over the past few months!  Great site!
Have a question about our Mini-Rex kits.  They were 4 weeks old yesterday and was going to wait till 6 weeks to start weaning them off of the mom.  However, one particular kit is really large as compared to the others, 3 are all about the same size and there is one that is kinda a runt.  They have all been eating pellets for a while now.  Is it safe to start pulling out the larger ones or do I really need to wait two more weeks?

thanks
jeff


----------



## Bunnylady (Apr 7, 2010)

I would not wean any of them until they are at least 6 weeks old.   Sometimes, you will get kits that grow really, really fast at young ages (usually when there are only a couple of kits in the litter). These kits really aren't very tough, they're "soft," and actually _more_ likely to crash as a result of the stress of weaning than their smaller counterparts!

Can you tell the difference between "true dwarf" and "false dwarf" in the Mini Rex? I'm guessing that your bigger kit is most likely a "false dwarf," and will wind up being oversized when it finishes growing. 

Weaning is a major stress for young rabbits. When the time comes, I would suggest that you remove the doe, and leave the litter together in the same cage, if at all possible. Kits can just give up and die as a result of the stress; having as many things unchanged as possible lessens the stress, and makes it more likely that the bunnies' weaning will go smoothly.


----------

