Holland Lop kits, 1 tiny 1 HUGE

[DuckyLou]

My holland lop for had her kits this morning, they actually lived!! Yay! She had them in the nesting box and pulled fur... The whole nine yards.... But she only had 2 and one is the size of my pinky finger and the other is pretty darn big!! I thought I might have a peanut, but I've never had a peanut before so I really don't know. It looks healthy and in proportion but wanted to get some experienced bunny people's opinion... Have you ever had this happen and if so did the tiny kit survive? Does it look like a peanut? This is her second litter.

 

[Bunnylady]

The shape of that head does look like a peanut to me; you'll know for sure within a couple of days. Peanuts don't grow, and almost always die by day 3.

 

[DuckyLou]

Ok good to know. So will the bigger one be ok by itself when or if the little one dies?

 

[Bunnylady]

That's a little hard to say. I have had a few babies that grew up solo just fine, but there are a lot of ways that it can go wrong. One baby has a hard time staying warm enough, though summertime is about as good a chance as one can get. Sometimes single babies grow too fast, and wind up with deformed bones or digestive problems as a result.

 

[DuckyLou]

I have a litter of 4 lionhead kits that are a week old, should I try putting one of them with it? They are doing really good so I don't want to mess anything up. Or should I put it in with the lionheads? I feel bad taking the holland lops babies away from her because she is being so protective over them... Agghh I feel stressed lol

 

[sadieml]

I'm not a bunny raiser, so can you tell me, exactly what is a "peanut"?

 

[Bunnylady]

A lot of the smaller breeds use the dwarfing gene to get the compact animal described in the breed standard. Unfortunately, the dwarfing gene is a lethal gene, which means that any animal that inherits it from both parents will die, generally within three days of birth. You can usually spot these "double dwarfs" by their smaller size and underdeveloped back ends; their heads typically look a bit odd, too. Because they are so tiny, a lot of breeders call them peanuts. .

 

[sadieml]

Thanks @Bunnylady . I try to learn something new every day. This little fact will do nicely!