Newly gifted rabbits, curious what could be wrong with them.

[Millinex]

Picked up a couple of nice lionhead does today, also was gifted a litter of 5 9 week old kits. They have some issues, and are probably just going to get fed off to the snakes, but I'm still curious what might be up with them.

They are 9 weeks old, but very small for their age, they act fine, fur looks fine, except the back of the neck, they ALL are losing hair on the back of the neck, and not really growing too much. They where treated for mites, no issues there. The entire litter is like this, not the parents, just the litter.

Any ideas ? It'd be cool to figure it out and get them fixed but if not, no harm no foul.

Thanks!

 

[Miss M]

Losing hair on the back of the neck, sounds like either fur mites or molting.

What was done for mites?

 

[amandainohio24]

Sounds like mites to me. For them being on the smaller side, you might just have a litter that has the genes that will be smaller in stature when fully grown. I know there are some breeders who have full grown adults that are done growing at a little over 2 pounds so I would not give up on them for their size just yet.
Also, what percent of feed were they using? Were they being free fed or just a ration? Just throwing out some possible factors for them being on the small side.

 

[Millinex]

They where treated 3x with invermectin with no results. Parents show no signs of mites nor do any other members in the herd.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

The fur loss sounds like fur mites to me too. Do you have any food grade diatomaceous earth? I just apply a little bit to each rabbit's fur and they clear right up. It could also be ear mites. They might be scratching the base of their ears and necks, causing the hair loss.

As for their weight, I would just be sure to free feed them and make sure they get enough water. They may be having a hard time getting enough if they are using water bottles or valves, so I would give them a crock of water as well.

 

[Millinex]

They've been treated 3x for mites, and I'm going to treat them with my remedy here, but I don't feel like it is mites, as it never spreads, it's just in one tiny spot, doesn't make sense how tiny they are, could water be that much of a factor? They are free fed. I'll upload pics in a sec.<br /><br />__________ Thu Oct 17, 2013 12:34 pm __________<br /><br />

 

[OneAcreFarm]

That looks like mites....I have heard of some mites being really aggressive and resistant to ivermectin.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

could water be that much of a factor?

Yes. If they don't drink, they don't eat... so if they are having a hard time getting enough water their appetites will be poor.

 

[Desert Rose Rabbits]

Don't know if you can do this for buns, but Olive Oil works wonders for aggressive mite situations with Rats. I rescued some rats a few years ago who were dealing with a full blown/full body outbreak. Since it was their full body, I rubbed them down completely with olive oil making sure to rub it into the skin well, and also made sure to get a good coating (but not a glob) on and in their ears as well. I know with the buns we don't want them 'wet' but hitting that area and rubbing in some olive oil might help.

 

[ladysown]

before you feed them to your snakes I'd be just letting them chill someplace where the mites can't get engrained into the wood or anything. You need to let the ivomec run out of their systems...this can take longer than anticipated with rabbits since they ingest their fecals and thereby keep meds in their bodies longer. Ivomec isn't good for snakes right?

 

[Millinex]

before you feed them to your snakes I'd be just letting them chill someplace where the mites can't get engrained into the wood or anything. You need to let the ivomec run out of their systems...this can take longer than anticipated with rabbits since they ingest their fecals and thereby keep meds in their bodies longer. Ivomec isn't good for snakes right?

Won't hurt them like this. Snakes are safe, but if I can fix these I'm happy

 

[squidpop]

My Jersey Wooly got a bald spot behind her ears starting when she was about 10 weeks old and I treated her with Revolution but I'm pretty sure it wasn't mites- its was just part of her molting process because when she had babies I kept the daughter and she went bald in the exact same place but it grew back— There weren't any flakes though. If you want to try a different medication for mites- Revolution is supposed to be a good and safe for rabbits.

The bunny in the picture looks more like a cashmere lop to me than a lion head- not only because ear is down but also the shape of the head is so round-- very very cute- to cute for snake food.

 

[Millinex]

Update: 3 randomly died, the last was kept outside in a holding QT cage with 2 other females I got the same day from the same breeder. The last one molted very bad, had a lot of fur loss, and I decided to cull it rather than letting it be so cold half bald, it wasn't making any improvement. No sign of mites, the other females this one was with are perfectly fine, no hair loss at all, so I'm a little stumped..