The thing is I've already gone down that road with an orphaned red squirrel before: feeding it kitten milk every two hours but in the end it died anyway. So I'd rather not get too attached to a kit that was never meant to make it anyway. I agree that nature is cruel but the heartbreak is hard to...
Hello all,
How do you deal with weak kits?
My doe gave birth to a litter of eleven kits, two were very small and have died after a week. Checking the nest, there are another two that are so tiny compared to their litter mates who are now almost three times their size!
I understand that in...
I took your advice Ridgetop and I finally plucked up the courage to have a look in the nest. I removed the kits one by one and placed them in the nest box and put it where the nest was. I made sure the doe saw where they were when she went back in with them.
The nest was nice and warm but...
Finally an update. The doe still has a bit of a strong caracter but we have gotten to know each other so all is ok.
She had a first set of 6 kits that were born during a cold night on February 6th. Although I warmed them, they didn't make it. She pulled fur like crazy for the next day but it...
Thanks for the advice. I've been taking her to the buck's cage. She might just have a bad attitude.
I'm not giving up on her yet but her attitude is making her eventual trip to freezer camp a lot easier for me to prepare for mentally.
After getting to know the rabbits for a bit, everyone has seemed to settle down. The buck isn't as picky as he once was and now eats his hay and pellets nicely. He is a lot less jittery and although I can't say he enjoys being stroked, he is a lot more tolerant of being touched.
The doe on the...
Thanks for the feeding advice. When I was first looking into raising rabbits, I had the idea of feeding them as cheaply as possible. I have access to as much grass as any rabbit could want. So I thought about picking an armful of grass and weeds every evening and the rabbits would grow nicely on...
So it seems I was overfeeding pellets big time. The doe seemed to enjoy it though! So I've cut a scoop out of a plastic bottle to the right size so that I know how many pellets to give.
I am worried about the buck not eating much nor drinking. He's only nibbled at his pellets and he does not...
It seems everyone likes the blue buck whereas I prefer the black doe!
Your rabbits are very pretty too. I like the black and white ones. Over here they seem to call the black and white rabbits 'butterflies'. I'm not sure if that's a breed or if it's the markings though...
This is my first...
I'm aware that most rabbit keepers have their rabbits in wire cages and Storey's guide to raising rabbits recommends this too.
Traditional farm rabbits here were kept in concrete hutches and I managed to find one for sale locally very cheaply. So I'm going to start mine off in the traditional...