Hand feeding newborn kits

[MaggieJ]

Wow, they're looking great!

I love Della Rose's expressions in particular and those dark whiskers against the blonde fur are just so cute. What brand of mascara does she use? :lol:

 

[2CrazyFools]

Thanks Maggie!

I really like how her whiskers are two-toned, 2/3rds of them are dark and the last 1/3rd at the ends are white (or cream, hard to tell)! Reminds me of my dog who has 4 different bands of color in her guard hairs. I asked her about the mascara and she said she just rubs her face in dirt... so...

Weights are in, and poor Pips is still lagging behind the rest with his gains, but that's not for lack of trying! All the kits are about the size of normal 4 week old meat mutts.

7 weeks old (05/04)
Della Rose – 1-lb 2oz (+5oz)
Louie – 15oz (+4.7oz)
Pipsqueak – 13.4oz (+3.4 oz)
Lady Gaston – 1-lb 2.8oz (+5.2oz)

Compared to their previous weighing at 6 weeks old (04/27)
Della Rose – 13oz (+4.5oz)
Louie – 10.3oz (+3.6oz)
Pipsqueak – 10oz (+3 oz)
Lady Gaston – 13.6oz (+4.5oz)

This morning I mixed about a 1:7 ratio of water to formula for their breakfast, tomorrow will be a 2:7 and so on until they lose interest in their morning water... lol. Also, tonight or tomorrow night they will be staying outside all the time and I WILL resist bringing them inside. *Le Sigh

-- Sat May 13, 2017 7:23 pm --



Louie, sweet sweet Louie, went to his new home today. A lady who actually has a rabbit room set up in her house and has had rabbits for the last 15+ years. She recently lost two rabbits in the last year at the ages of 14 and 15. I feel Louie will be in good hands.



Laid back Lady G. went to a very sweet home which had a small child who is enamored with her. This caused me concern at first but after seeing how he interacted with her and with the promise that he would never be allowed to play with her unsupervised, I felt much better. Very gentle little boy and a very attentive mother.

I made sure they all knew that I would take them back in a heartbeat if for any reason it didn't work out.

I'm going to miss these cute little guys!

 

[Nymphadora]

I'm going to miss these cute little guys!

And we will miss the updates...
But I'm so glad Louie and Lady G went to such great-sounding homes! May they be loved and cared for forever.

 

[MaggieJ]

Nymphadora is right . . . We sure will miss the updates. This thread has been a bunny soap opera from its dramatic beginning through to to its happy pet home endings.

How's Little Pips doing? :lilbunny:

 

[2CrazyFools]

Well I still have Della Rose, so we may occasionally get updates here about her. (Basically an update on what her final weight ends up being, as I feel it is pertinent information for this thread when formula fed since birth) But as of right now she's just a spaz who is at least double Pips size, not that she's ever been a small kit out of the bunch, but she's really enjoying her food!


I'll post an update on Pips in his thread.

-- Mon May 22, 2017 3:24 pm --

So Lady G came back to us a few days ago, apparently their puppy didn't get along with the rabbit... so now I'm adding that to the questionnaire, "Are you expecting this rabbit to get along with the family dog? Because that's unlikely..." I offered to purchase her back at half the purchase price but they refused, apparently the family had fallen in love with her and was very upset they couldn't keep her so they declined payment.

Lady G was 3oz heavier than Della when she came home so she certainly wasn't off her feed! Within a few minutes back home she was back to her happy docile self, sweet thing. But since she left the rabbitry she is now in quarantine and under observation for this next month. Better safe than sorry...

And now I'm thinking about keeping her instead of Della. :roll: Multiple reasons really, the 1st of which is that Lady's just about always been the largest kit even from the beginning with Della only overtaking her once at 9 days old, she's certainly a surviver even on formula. The 2nd reason is that she's extremely docile just like her mother was, and always has been from the start. Don't get me wrong; Della is sweet, but she's definitely going to be a diva like Alice... not sure I want two queen bees in my meat mutts. The 3rd reason is purely cosmetic, Lady is starting to appear similar in coat to a silver fox! I love silver fox rabbit coats, and this heavy tipping that is going on in Lady's coat is really growing on me.

I'm not sure what's going on with her ears but I think it's probably the combination of the heavy leather ears her pops has and the large ears her momma had which frankly, I find to be adorable. They were trending to the side when she left for her new home and now they really seem to be lagging downwards. Other than injury, what could cause this? Anything she may be lacking in diet? (Manna-Pro, Pro formula pellets + various greens) I don't think she was mishandled as she's not even remotely sensitive to me messing with her ears.




If I do end up keeping her instead she would be re-named "Southern Belle." I figure I've got all month to decide who I'm keeping.

 

[shazza]

does she have silver fox in her? it almost looks like a gray fever coat but in my experience silver rabbits do not photograph well lol. my champagne cross always look like a badly compressed gif in photos for some reason.

as for the ears it just looks like summer ear. it happens when it's hot and the kits' ears are growing pretty fast. the heat makes the cartilage weaker so the ears will flop or fold over for a while until it get stronger. they almost always stand back up as the kit gets older. pretty much all of my growouts have summer ear right now because it's just ridiculously hot here in houston

 

[2CrazyFools]

Well now it's just one ear flopped, lol, weirdo. Thanks for the information about the heat effecting the cartiledge, though it's been really mild this last week. Maybe the stress from travel helped?

No, she doesn't have any silver fox in her. Pops is 50/50 NZ and Texas A&M, and momma was pure American. Unless there's something floating around in the Texas A&M mix she shouldn't have any Silver Fox genes.

-- Sat Jun 17, 2017 11:59 am --

Southern Belle came out of quarantine today! Della Rose seems to be very grateful to have her sister back, lol. Obviously they will not share a cage as I don't want to risk any territorial issues surfacing (last thing I need is to come out an find bloody does...) but it's nice that I can let them both down for some exercise time together. Little sweethearts. Southern Belle is reminding me SO STRONGLY of her mother it's ridiculous,
the way she acts, how she loves sleeping inside her box, and even her shape and head. That girl is like a carbon copy of her mother with a different coat color, which, by the way, you can really see the silvering on her fur now.

I have decided to keep them both for a few litters and see if either of them carry the recessive astrex genes from their poppa. I feel it's unlikely but....

Della Rose is 4lbs 2oz and Southern Belle is 4lbs 3oz at 3 months 2 days old. So not bad with weights!

 

[MaggieJ]

Such nice bunnies! And they obviously enjoy each other's company!

Thanks for the new pictures!

 

[Nymphadora]

That delicate lacing on Della Rose's ears is so pretty! And they both seem so happy to be in each other's company.

 

[2CrazyFools]

Just another little update, from the age 2 months to 3 months the girls gained 3 pounds each. Now from the age of 3 months to 4 months old they gained about another 3 pounds.

Southern Belle is at 7lbs 2.75oz and Della Rose is at 6lbs 12.35oz.
I'd been experimenting with giving Southern Belle Calf Manna supplements each day and her growth has reflected that compared to Della, especially when they were neck and neck at 4 pounds last month.

Anyhow, they seem to be racing to hit adult weight without much, if any stalling from their earlier malnutrition. I have no doubt they will be as large as their mother. I purchased a pure Texas A&M Composite buck to be their beau (last picture) and I think he compliments them very well and I'm looking forward to seeing their offspring. I'm planning on breeding them in the beginning of September when it cools off.

 

[SarniaTricia]

They grew into beautiful rabbits

 

[Nymphadora]

They grew into beautiful rabbits

:yeahthat:

They're beautiful, Crazy, you should be proud of your success with them!

 

[2CrazyFools]

Bottle Fed Bunny update, Della Rose and Southern Belle had litters of their own! Quickly and easily, both kindled while I was in the rabbitry and were done in about 5 minutes tops. Della Rose had 10 kits and Southern Belle had a litter of 11! Both are great mothers and their kits are growing normally, now at the age of 6 and 7 weeks old. None were DOA and all kits survived.

Belle and Della topped out at a little over 9 pounds in weight.




Belle's kits

 

[MaggieJ]

Absolutely beautiful! So nice to see them again.

 

[2CrazyFools]

I thought it would be good to add these last stats to the bottle-fed bunny chronicles, I admit I was a little nervous about how they would do kindling their own litters but was relieved to have an utter lack of complications.

 

[Nymphadora]

Ahh, it's good seeing you pop in with an update on RT again, Crazy! I've been keeping up on Facebook, but it's nice having your success chronicled here to give others hope for handraised bunnies. Della and Belle look wonderful, and their kids are adorable!