# Staying with mom?



## embkm (Mar 1, 2010)

At what age can baby bunnies handle temps that can get down in the 20"s at night?  The babies are 13 days old today (Tues). I have been bringing them in every night, then taking them out to Momma in the mornings.  They spend the entire day in the nest in the cage, then after dark I bring them in before it gets too cold.  They currently share the guest bedroom with all the chicks in 2 brooders.

While I love having the opportunity to have snuggle time with them everynight, shouldn't they be spending more time with their real mom?  When will they start eating hay or pellets and drinking water?  If I continue to bring them in everynight, when will I need to provide food and water?


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## chinbunny1 (Mar 2, 2010)

I start leaving mine out with the mom longer when they are about 4 weeks old. I start adding plenty of hay and a handful pellets to the nest at 15 days. 

I bring mine in at night too. What I do is bring in the whole nest. I cover the front part with a hand towel to prvent them from escaping. I'd be worried they would pick up something from the chicks at that age.

Edit: Looked at the other post. You have a tupper ware bowl nest. Thats something I never had much luck using, because they easily climb or fall out. And they are really flimsy. I use the big metal ones you find at tractor supply. The really deep containers may work though. 

Like this. I just put the towel over the front of it. Sometimes oyu can find these for really cheap at livestock auction barns, and household sales. Wooden ones are excellent to use too.


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## embkm (Mar 2, 2010)

The Tupperware bowl was jsut for at night. They have a "real" nest box in Brownie's cage, but hubby made it too big to make it easy to get in and out. So I jsut leave that in the cage, and take the babies in.  They outgrew the tupperware bowl late last week. now their "night nest" is a bigger box that they can't hop out of.

How old are they when you can leave them out all night with mom? 

What could they get from the chicks? They don't interact... the chicks are in brooders and the bunnies stay in their box. I also have an adult doe that is spending the winter in that room too.


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## chinbunny1 (Mar 2, 2010)

embkm said:
			
		

> The Tupperware bowl was jsut for at night. They have a "real" nest box in Brownie's cage, but hubby made it too big to make it easy to get in and out. So I jsut leave that in the cage, and take the babies in.  They outgrew the tupperware bowl late last week. now their "night nest" is a bigger box that they can't hop out of.
> 
> How old are they when you can leave them out all night with mom?
> 
> What could they get from the chicks? They don't interact... the chicks are in brooders and the bunnies stay in their box. I also have an adult doe that is spending the winter in that room too.


I was under the impression they were in the brooder with the chicks.  They can get e coli and coccidia from them. 

I would say after 4 weeks is about the right time to let them out with mom. Place some straw in the cage for them to snuggle in at night. You may end up losing a couple as they adjust to being out, and adjust to the feed and stuff.


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## embkm (Mar 2, 2010)

Oh, I hope I dont lose any 

and sorry about the confusion... re-reading my first post, it does seem like I have them all together.  I meant they are all in the same room... not in the same boxes.


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## JoieDeViveRabbitry (Mar 3, 2010)

Okay, I wouldn't worry about them needing to spend more time with their real Mom first of all...
 Think about wild rabbits for a moment. Wild rabbit mums don't hang out with their kids. They birth them in their nest, come back only about once a day to nurse and then leave them on their own the rest of the time.

 What I do it take them to Mom only for feedings (I stay and watch to make sure she nurses them, she will usually hop right into the box to release the pressure of milk in her nipples), then I take them back out and bring them inside. I handle them a ton from the day they are born which makes for adult rabbits with GREAT personalities which I get praised on ALL the time by my buyers who have never seen affectionate rabbits who seek out human interaction. 

 When they are old enough to start hopping around and the eyes open, I start sprinkling rolled oats into the box (maybe a Tablespoon at first) a couple times a day. They usually chow down on these without a problem. 

 When they are about 4 weeks old I do bring them back to Mom and leave them fulltime now. I provide plenty of hay (Pad the entire floor of the cage with it so baby feet don't fall through the wire, I clean this out once a day or so at it obviously will prevent bunny droppings from falling through) and I then add more water bottles hung at lower levels for the kids to reach and more food bowls as even a 5 pound J feeder hung on the side can get crowded if everyone wants to eat at the same time.

 I have done this in the DEAD of winter and I never lost any kits this way. 
 It was cold enough that water bottles were freezing solid and I still never lost one to the elements or anything.

 They will teach themselves how to eat and drink, they don't need to see Mom doing it to learn, but it doesn't hurt! 
 I've had bottle raised babies that never saw a Mom eating and drinking and they still "got it" and learned to eat in no time.

 When you put them with Mom, put more oats in the food bowls (not a ton), they will know by now that Oats are YUMMY and they will eat out of the bowls.

 You can leave the nestbox in for added security if you wish, place a padding of hay in front of the box like a ramp so they can crawl up if it's too high. At 4 weeks my French Angora babies can just hop in and out without the hay in front. They will huddle in their to sleep together.


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## embkm (Mar 10, 2010)

Well, the babies are 3 weeks old tomorrow.  Tonight is the night I decided they will spend the night in the big cage with Brownie. A few reasons....  

1. They seem to be havign fun hopping around the big cage.
2. The lows the rest of this week are not supposed to be below 50 at light (70's during the day).
3. I will be going out of town this weekend for 4-H and this will make it easier for DH (meaning I will trust him to get it done right!)

I'm sure I'll be checkign on them quite a bit tonight!.


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## JoieDeViveRabbitry (Mar 11, 2010)

Awww, they grow up so fast!


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