So not prepared!

[BackyardCritters]

One problem I have discovered (thought it was always in the back of my mind) from buying families at the sale barn...you don't know if the mama has been bred back yet!

So frustrating. I don't like to breed back immediatly, because we like to leave the babies with their mamas until 6 weeks. Well 2 weeks ago we bought a mama and 6 kits that were 2 weeks old (for $35!!) Today the mama started moving stuff around in the cage and making a nest. I am excited for more babies, but I like to know when they are coming! So the babies are only 4 weeks old and I have taken the mama out of the cage and moved her to a bigger cage with a bigger nest box (she is HUGE-we think she might have some flemish giant or something in her- She was sold as a New Zealand but she is bigger than all of our other mamas and was having a hard tiem getting in the nest box)

So Will the babies be okay that I just took their mama out of their cage? Usually when I wean, I take 2 out at a time to make sure they are doing okay. They are all eating pellets and drinking our of the water bottle I know, but I don't know if they were still nursing or not. I had never seen them nurse.

Here is a pic of the family when we brought them home:

 

[DianeS]

If it were me, I'd still put momma back in with the kits once a day so they can nurse. I wouldn't potentially sacrifice the health or wellbeing of baby rabbits that already exist just because momma might be pregnant and might have more babies.

Once the new babies are really here you might choose to let mom nurse only them, but until then I would only count the babies that I can see! After all, the second pregnancy might turn out to be a false one, or the babies might be born dead, or there might be only one, etc.

Even if its a real pregnancy with a good sized litter, you might have a couple more days before its born. So you can still do your normal wean-two-at-a-time thing, at least until the newbies are here.

The bigger nestbox sounds like a good idea. Mom needs to be comfortable!

Hope that helps!