Popple Pix! Belle had six this morning!

[dragonladyleanne]

You can only clearly see 4 in any of these shots, but they're a lively lot burrowing back into the bedding when I pulled them up for pix! One looks a little runty, so we may lose it, but for now, they all look good.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

They must be vampire bunnies! "No-o-o!!! Not the light! It burns!" :lol:

The one in the 2nd pic at the top of the frame looks like he is swimming!

Congratulations on the popples!

 

[Bad Habit]

Popples!!!!

 

[3mina]

Way to go Belle

 

[garden lady]

:congratulations: Nice!

 

[OneAcreFarm]

Yay for popples!

 

[newhope]

Congrats!

 

[ZRabbits]

Congratulations!

Karen

 

[faiththequeen]

YAY! HOORAY FOR POPPLES!! Love that last little popple butt :lol:

 

[dragonladyleanne]

Well, either I miscounted the original number, and the runty one caught up in size over night, or the runty one died and the body is missing. Do mamas eat dead babies, like they do the afterbirth? I didn't want to disturb the nest TOO much, but I swear there's only 5 babies in it now, all pretty much the same size and VERY vigorous when I poked my fingers in their pile!

 

[AnnClaire]

Leanne, you could very well have one hiding out under the hay dontcha know

 

[dragonladyleanne]

Leanne, you could very well have one hiding out under the hay dontcha know

While that's possible, I ran my fingers around pretty thoroughly, so if there's a 6th one there it is both small, and not lively at all. Hence my question as to whether the mother might eat one that died right away?

Spot was doing the hay moustache this afternoon, and had pulled fur by 5pm when I went to doctor Schatzi. We gave her a bumper pad (plastic hardware cloth outside the cage walls)like Belle's in case she doesn't have them in her nest, and moved Hairy to the end cage so he can't nab any babies through the wire. Fingers crossed we get more healthy popples tomorrow!

:bunnyhop: ancake: :bunnyhop: ancake: :bunnyhop: ancake: :bunnyhop:

 

[phillinley]

When I was a kid raising rabbits I had a few moms eat babies. But when they ate a baby, they didn't stop with just the one dead or alive. I'd usually find them the next day with baby two being eaten, which was really sad.

That's just my experience. I probably had it happen four or five times out of the 30 or 40 litters we had.

 

[Miss M]

Don't be afraid to take the nestbox out and take the babies out for a good counting and look-over. Gives you the opportunity to make sure the nest is clean, and all that. You can do it as often as you like.

 

[dragonladyleanne]

Ah, we did not really make the boxes removeable. When I had the totally separate box for Spot, she kept moving it as she went in and out, so we just made a 4 inch high (7 inches for Quartz) "walled off" section for them this time. I will take a shoebox or other temporary baby container out tomorrow, so I know I am not counting anyone twice, and so I can be more aggressive about raking through the entire nest area. Yesterday, there WAS definitely a smaller baby, less wriggly too, whereas today's 5 were all about the same size and wriggly. Because I checked pretty thoroughly, I think the runty one died, and is either crammed tightly into a corner full of bedding, or she ate him, which I am ok with, as how else do they get a potentially nasty carcass out in the wild? I certainly hope she does NOT eat any of the others, that would be entirely different! I will try to be more accurate with Spot's first count.

Silly me!

 

[MamaSheepdog]

When a kit goes missing in the first day or two I either find it off in a corner by itself and very much alive, or I find it dead. Sometimes they can be very good at "hiding", whether dead or alive and as much as you sift through the bedding in the nest you just don't find them.

In my (limited) experience, the does don't eat kits that die after the initial birthing- but that may be a behavior peculiar to my lines. I don't have enough experience with other lines or breeds to know if that is typical of rabbits in general.

 

[dragonladyleanne]

Yayyyyy, I have never been so happy to be wrong! Took out a box with a little hay to drop Belle's kits into as I counted them today, and she really DID have six, and the little runt is still alive (and looks fed, as in smooth skin, just smaller). Belle seemed a little upset when she saw me lifting the empty nest, I don't think she saw me put them in the box, but she didn't get stroppy, just set to tidying up the nest when I put them back.

ANDDDD, Spot had her litter sometime between feedings today, and she had SEVEN!!! Since no one got dropped on the concrete or stepped on this time (her first surprise litter, it's a wonder she still trusts me), I am hoping they all survive.

Quartz is due in 3-5 days, so stay tuned!

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I'm glad you found the little guy! Unbelievable, isn't it? :lol:

Congratulations on Spot's litter! I am waiting on two does to kindle, myself.

 

[dragonladyleanne]

Belle is down to 4 today. Hubby let me sleep in and fed the bunnies this morning, and when I got up, he was sitting with a sad face and a box in his lap. He'd found one baby that he said he thought at first was climbing out of the nest, but it didn't move and was cold when he picked it up. I wish he had woken me at that point, but he said he did what I did with Spot's dead babies from her first litter, rubbed and rolled them in his shirt to try to revive it. He had the baby all laid out in this box like for a funeral, but I asked to see it, and discovered it was NOT the runty one, so we went back out together, and I dug around aggressively when I only found 4 in the nest center - found the runty one off by itself also dead. I told hubby not to bury them, or we'd soon run out of yard (there's already 2 dogs buried out back), and I didn't want neighborhood cats digging them up either. My husband is plenty manly, but when it comes to dead baby bunnies, he's soppier than I am.

Anyway, Belle's 4 remaining seem ok (they grunt when poked!), and all 7 of Spot's are kicking and hopping like mad. Fingers crossed for Quartz!

 

[fuzzy9]

Sorry for the lost kits, it's always very sad. Hope the others hang in there!!