Stupid rabbit - healthy calf
We had bred "Barbie" the French Lop rabbit last month. Crossed her with "Lightning", our buck rabbit. Not huge, but not small either, both good sized for a family meal, with smallish to medium bone structures. She was due to kindle today.
I gave her a box to nest in and a pile of hay to line it with, but she didn't seem to know what to do with it. The day after i gave it to her, the box was turned on it's side and the hay was strewn about everywhere. It worried me that perhaps she wasn't going to be a good mother. Then yesterday I watched her running around with a mouthfull of hay, which is something they will do before giving birth as they are instinctively preparing a nest. Typically they will do this for days before birthing.
The last couple of days, the Momma rabbit will pull out a bunch of hair from her belly and line the nest with it. Barbie didn't, which really made me suspicious of her abilities.
This morning, Caleigh and I went out to check on them and change their water and found five (well, 4 1/2 - she started to eat one) dead, frozen babies. The nest box was on it's side, hay was still scattered everywhere, and there was a big pile of belly hair in the corner (not where the pile of babies was, of course!).
It seems like her mothering instincts kicked in after the babies were born, and she started making a nest for them postpartum. When it is in the single digits at night, there is no time to lose for little hairless baby rabbits while Momma putzes around trying to figure out how to build a nest!
I think I will wait another month to breed her again so the nights will be warmer. The fact that she eventually pulled out her belly hair and tried to make a nest gives me a little hope that maybe she can figure this out. If she doesn't, she is a good candidate for rabbit chilli.
"Valentina" is a great mother, albeit a little on the small side. Hopefully, she will pass on whatever gene makes them good mothers to her daughters. Selective breeding is important to a good end-product, and a Momma rabbit too stupid to take care of her babies just uses up food and gives us nothing in return.
On the plus side, Rocky the calf is doing well, he mimicks the goats and yesterday I saw him munching on alfalfa hay with them. His poops are starting to look like real cow poop. He had been a little scoury from overeating, but I cut out milk replacer for a couple of days and gave him some pedialyte and plain yogurt. What happens is that only the first of the calf's four stomach chambers is functional at first, and if they overeat, the lower stomach chambers can't digest the extra milk so they get diareah. It can kill them. The pedialyte keeps them hydrated and the yogurt introduces healthy bacterial culture into their stomachs. It's all pretty fascinating.
OK, gotta get back to work. Today I'm working on Gordon F's doglock.
I gave her a box to nest in and a pile of hay to line it with, but she didn't seem to know what to do with it. The day after i gave it to her, the box was turned on it's side and the hay was strewn about everywhere. It worried me that perhaps she wasn't going to be a good mother. Then yesterday I watched her running around with a mouthfull of hay, which is something they will do before giving birth as they are instinctively preparing a nest. Typically they will do this for days before birthing.
The last couple of days, the Momma rabbit will pull out a bunch of hair from her belly and line the nest with it. Barbie didn't, which really made me suspicious of her abilities.
This morning, Caleigh and I went out to check on them and change their water and found five (well, 4 1/2 - she started to eat one) dead, frozen babies. The nest box was on it's side, hay was still scattered everywhere, and there was a big pile of belly hair in the corner (not where the pile of babies was, of course!).
It seems like her mothering instincts kicked in after the babies were born, and she started making a nest for them postpartum. When it is in the single digits at night, there is no time to lose for little hairless baby rabbits while Momma putzes around trying to figure out how to build a nest!
I think I will wait another month to breed her again so the nights will be warmer. The fact that she eventually pulled out her belly hair and tried to make a nest gives me a little hope that maybe she can figure this out. If she doesn't, she is a good candidate for rabbit chilli.
"Valentina" is a great mother, albeit a little on the small side. Hopefully, she will pass on whatever gene makes them good mothers to her daughters. Selective breeding is important to a good end-product, and a Momma rabbit too stupid to take care of her babies just uses up food and gives us nothing in return.
On the plus side, Rocky the calf is doing well, he mimicks the goats and yesterday I saw him munching on alfalfa hay with them. His poops are starting to look like real cow poop. He had been a little scoury from overeating, but I cut out milk replacer for a couple of days and gave him some pedialyte and plain yogurt. What happens is that only the first of the calf's four stomach chambers is functional at first, and if they overeat, the lower stomach chambers can't digest the extra milk so they get diareah. It can kill them. The pedialyte keeps them hydrated and the yogurt introduces healthy bacterial culture into their stomachs. It's all pretty fascinating.
OK, gotta get back to work. Today I'm working on Gordon F's doglock.
posted by MVTCoPete | 11:10 AM
1 Comments:
Thanks Pete! Works great!
Gordon
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