Rats O_o um..???

[Sinnfox]

Ok a little background first. I have a new beautiful little of bunnies. I can't be more thrilled...but with my rotten luck as of late with the rabbits I didn't want to jinx it. My first successful litter (so far) in a few months...and it is out of my Lolly. When I bought her I was told her name was widow cause the other rabbit they had died when they got her...and she was all bones barely able to stand. I don't think they were feeding her so I spent a few months letting her put on weight then once I knew she was healthy she was put in with a buck. She was more then happy about this and she has always been sweet so she didnt even hold meeting my buck against me like some of the others do. She never seemed to get any bigger and I am terrible at palpitating so I didnt have high hopes. four other rabbits missed between the time she was breed and the day she gave birth. When the day came I was not that hopeful but lolly shocked me. there were eleven little ones all alive happy full and squirming. two were runts, but I couldnt be sure if it was that or since I think she has dutch in her them just being throw backs ~shrug~ one didn't make it but the other is a little fighter and is doing well.

So I'll get to the point real quick. I know all the terrible things rats can do to rabbits...mind you I don't hate rats since I used to have pet ones...but I don't confuse pet ones for wild ones.I have poison I set out regularly. Well knowing all the things rats can do imagine my horror when i went to check on lolly and saw from a few feet away a rat sitting on the ledge of her nest box...and as I ran over another jump out of the nest box. Lolly was asleep in the corner of her cage so I rushed to check the little ones. all of them were fine...one or two seemed annoyed I had disturbed them, and thinking about it it looked like I had just woken up the rats. Why were rats cuddling my baby bunnies @.@

 

[Dood]

They were probably trying to build up the courage to attack the kits. The rats probably have not had dealings with rabbit kits before and the they are not sure what to do with them, once one of them figures out they are defenseless little protein packages they will start removing body parts or try and drag them through the wire.

It sounds like your doe is not the protective kind so I would be bringing my nest boxes into the house and taking them out twice a day for feeding.

 

[MaggieJ]

Rabbit cages for breeding does really need to be rat-proof. Rats can get through anything larger than 1"x1"... and smaller ones can even get through that. If the rats are bold enough to enter the cages and hang out, it will not be long until they are eating kits. A quick fix would be to cover the sides and top of the cage with hardware cloth. Or, as Dood says, bring the kits indoors except for feeding.

 

[Sinnfox]

I have already moved them...and plan to re-poison early since they were spotted ...just floored me that the kits were ok...not that I'm complaining O_O ..this litter was the last breeding I did planing to have none bred till I finish my new rabbitry...so after that at least it shouldn't be an issue...but she was in my house I wanted to keep an eye on her since I think of this litter as special>.>..how the rats got in the house...I have no idea... I need better cats :/ Till then the cage will be in the room Roxie...a rabbit loving dog...she wont let anything near them

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

Wow, that is scary!!! I'm glad they are all okay.

 

[Sinnfox]

They seemed more disturbed that I ran off their cuddly rat friends...silly little bunnies...one even barked at me for it...but I'd rather an annoyed little hopper then a wounded one..or worse :/

 

[Cottie]

Ewww rats. Pet rats are cute. Wild rats are evil.

This is one of the reasons I keep my chickens in the same building as my rabbits. I know a rat will eat a chicken, but it will think twice in the face of an angry flock, including roosters.

 

[Miss M]

Oh, my goodness, they were in your house in with the buns?

That would have freaked me out on so many levels!

RJ - I have been wondering if chickens kill rats. Our chickens have the run of the rabbitry, and I have yet to see any evidence at all of rats! And we've lived here about 9 months now!

 

[Sinnfox]

Normally my cats keep them out of the house...they come from the neighbors ~shrug~ but One cat took out a whole litter of bunnies within hours of their birth ( was gonna be my first lop litter )so the cats and bunnies are separated now :/ (said cat is now gone but I don't know if the others would do the same so they aren't allowed near them)

 

[Cottie]

Cats get a joy out of killing things, just for the sake of killing them. Obligate carnivores for ya. I don't like keeping them intentionally, because it interferes with all the others projects.

I'm trying to think of companion animals that won't be too high a risk to the kits but will be a high risk to the rodents. All I'm coming up with is poultry, like chickens or perhaps turkeys (just not both at once).

 

[AnnClaire]

Use a squirt bottle of water to deter the cats from fixating on the kits ... they will soon learn what is acceptable to hunt/kill and what is not. FIL used to keep a riding crop in his back pocket and would flick a cat on the rear to teach them ... never saw a farm cat even sniff in the direction of a chick even when they were running right in front of them.

Cats can also learn the meaning of "no" so when you spritz them, say "no" firmly. IMHO, too many folks take to heart the opinion that cats aren't trainable ... they are much more intelligent than dogs, so we train ours. He doesn't kill/eat kits, waits his turn when I am butchering for his paw, kills and eats moles, doesn't hurt the pet squirrel, but does play with it. YMMV

 

[Sinnfox]

I normally train my cats really well...I taught one of them to hunt mice...>.> I jumped up caught one and gave it to them (husband was speechless for a bit >.>) was mostly dumb luck so not really that impressive ...I had one taught to sit and lay down ..even roll over and to put his paw in my hand. current ones always come when called and tend to do a few other things I have taught them. Only reason I don't trust them around kits is because the litter they got to I wasn't expecting (doe was quarantined...and apparently met a buck before I got her) I don't know if it was just the one cat I caught or if the others helped, but if one helped its way harder to teach it not to attack something it has already tasted then to teach it to leave something it hasn't alone :/