3 week olds not eating yet

[Disney]

I'm raising a litter of 3 in my room.
They are fed twice a day when i hold the mother above them so they can all out on her.
They are now 24 days old and should slowly start nibbling on pellets.. but they are not very interested and just ignore it, even when they're hungry and it's about milkfeeding time.
What should i do to coax them? Or when will they eventually start to eat?
Their mother is not with them to show them and i can't put them back with her, she will probably hurt them.

They do nibble on straw and hay but their mouths are too little to grab it and eat it entirely.

 

[Dood]

Try putting their mothers food bowl in their cage so they can smell her saliva on the bowl and pellets, or if you cannot remove it, put them in her cage.

You could also have the mom eat a bit of carrot, or other food and then give the rest to the kits

 

[MaggieJ]

Creative thinking, Dood. I like it.

Disney, you could try giving them some kitchen oatmeal. Not sure of your brand names but here it would be one like Quaker Old Fashioned/Large Flake rolled oats. The kind of oatmeal you make porridge with. It's an excellent food for young rabbits and they usually like it.

If you can get some goat's milk, you could soften the pellets and oats with that. Or just use a bit of water. Be sure to change it often enough so it does not turn sour. At three weeks, they are still learning how to handle the hard foods and without mom's example to follow, they are likely a bit slower to learn.

 

[ladysown]

you could also offer them a bit of grass. Not much, but grass and parsley. you could sprinkle pellets/oatmeal in their sleeping/resting area.

 

[Ivory]

Why are you raising them this way? Why aren't they still with their mom?

 

[Disney]

I will try Dood's suggestion tonight before milktime. And i will get oatmeal during groceries.
Thankyou!

@ Ivory
Their mother was nipping and hurting the kits. One has a torn ear, another had a huge cut on the mouth and the other had wounds and scars on his back and shoulder. She did this with every feeding, so they would have fat bellies but get new wounds with every turn.<br /><br />__________ Mon Jun 10, 2013 11:04 am __________<br /><br />I found the Quakers oatmeal brand, i gave some to the nursing doe's and the momma of this litter, they really liked it.

Now i put a little plastic cap in front of the kits with the oats.
1 ate a few, the other nibbled a second and the third didn't even smell it.

Maybe towards the evening when they're more hungry

 

[MaggieJ]

The one that ate some will be back for more... and that will give the others an incentive to try it. I'd expect all of them to be eating it within a very few days.

 

[Disney]

You are right, that one and the other (both bucks) are liking it. The female is playing around.
Also both males suckle more milk than the girl.. she always stops a minute earlier than them.
Is that normal?

One male pushed the cap with food down and both males are now lookign for the falling pieces between the shavings, now i changed the cap for a bowl and the other is all over it.

I mixed the oats with the pellets and poured some waterdrops over it, but they are only picking out the oats as far as i can see.

 

[Secuono]

Have you tried feeding greens?
Do they have a bowl of pellets/grain in with them all the time?

 

[Disney]

No greens yet, i only give chicory to the adults and occasionally some sweets as apple/banana. But i think it's too early for that. They need to adapt to pellets first.
I also sprinkled some kitty milk powder on the pellets and oats.

The bowl was offered to them but they weren't touching it so i took it out, but it will stay available from now on since i bought oats and they're actually eating it. (well the boys only so far)

 

[avdpas77]

If you are going to raise them on pellets don't feed the rolled oats too long. If they like the oats better they will not eat the pellets... As you have already seen rabbits are reluctant to try something new. Also, they need some hay. That is the first thing kits start eating naturally while still in the nest.

Give it a few more days until the girl starts eating, but mix the pellets in with the oats. The will associate it with food, and once the all getting eating good, stop feeding the oats. They will start eating the pellets when they have no oats around, may take a day or two. Of course later on when hey get to eating pellets OK, you can mix in some oats again.

The hay is important, you will just need a bit.

 

[Disney]

I was already scared they might ignore the pellets completely because of the oats.. should i pull it out and offer it later when they do eat pellets so they can have both?

 

[avdpas77]

I think it is more important right now that they get used to eating solids. So continue with the oats until they are all eating well, then you can stop the oats and only feed them pellets and hay for a while.. As soon as they are eating the pellets for a few weeks, then you can go back to mixing the oats in if you wish.

 

[Ivory]

@ Ivory
Their mother was nipping and hurting the kits. One has a torn ear, another had a huge cut on the mouth and the other had wounds and scars on his back and shoulder. She did this with every feeding, so they would have fat bellies but get new wounds with every turn.

Holy mackerel! I`d be getting rid of her.

 

[Disney]

Update

They just hit 28 days of age and started eating pellets today.
Basically, they don't like the expensive quality brand that i feed.
I always hold back a bag of petshop pellets and i figured i should offer both brands and let them decide. They went for the cheap petshop pellets and ignored the bowl of quality food so i took that out and now they're good. They also drink less milk from mom, maybe for a minute and then they jump out of the box to play/run around.

Holy mackerel! I`d be getting rid of her.

Her previous owner told me she raised a litter without issues, so i wonder why she got mad at my place.
I would have sold her if she wasn't special. She is a satin dwarf and german import.
I need her satin genes and im trying to get chocolates out of her since she carries it, which is also a very rare color in the netherlands.

So i will be keeping her until next year and i already have planned 3 more breedings for this year. But i'll probably foster the kits to another doe to save them from harm and not let her raise them anymore.

 

[Bad Habit]

Good to hear that they're eating They sure are a cute bunch!

 

[MaggieJ]

Glad to hear they are coming along, Disney.

Avdpas77 is right about the importance of hay. From your original post, I had the impression they were nibbling hay. I hope so! It's one of the best things to prevent enteritis.

 

[Disney]

Yup i feed hay daily, the little ones too but they're not taking it yet. They seem to prefer straw more than hay right now.