Spooky and her foster broods

[Shara]

So Spooky is doing well. I am allowing the older kits to nurs once a day, so that the little ones can get the bulk of the milk, since they can't eat solids. Spook doesn't seem to ANT to sit in there and let the hungry monsters devour her...but she is taing it well, just sitting and nibbling and they all get fed...they are all alive right now.

Two of the three brokens are almost white...they look like charlies, but are not, since their sire is a solid red. The other broken looks like Brandy's kits, with a white thing on i's head and socks on its feet. WEIRD! But I like them. Then there are two black ones and three white ones.

The other, older kits...I have ONE doe. I had two, but my son broke ones back by throwing it when we were having bunny time. POor thing. The one doe left is the black kit from Luna's litter, all the torts are boys...oh, and my "otters" turned into agouti. lol. Go figure! Everyone is healthy, Spooky is gaining weight (she is in my living room, getting spoiled rotten, but then, how many times is a 6 pound doe gonna be asked to care for three litters?) So she is doing well, too.

I am hopeful that these guys make it well...anytips for weaning a litter at three weeks? I kinda want to get the older kits on their own ASAP.

 

[Brody]

Glad Spooky is doing well .. Shara - you have to STOP allowing your toddler access to the babies ... it isn't fair for him to learn that rabbits are disposable and do't matter and I'm afraid every time he kills one (accidently) that's the message he's getting .. there is nothing wrong with saying - you can pat the bunny mom is holding ...
Meat animals should have value too - they should be (in my opinion) treated respectfully and with appreciation .. help him learn this lesson young ... I'm not trying to lecture at all - nor sound priggish I just really want you to understand how VITAL this next little while is in turning him into a moral, caring, loving human

 

[pfaubush]

That's awesome! I hope this is a sign of good things to come!

As for weaning a litter at 3 weeks, I've never done it. I did have a litter that lost their mom at 3 1/2 weeks. They did ok, but were a very messy bunch of babies. I attribute that to not getting taught anything from the doe. She sat there for a while not doing a whole lot of anything, so I don't think she was doing much for them before she died either (she was the first doe we lost and didn't know anyone was sick. My Cali's are all a lazy bunch anyways).

I think there is a post somewhere around here, where Ladysown talks about weaning a litter at 3 weeks. Hopefully, someone will have some good pointers. All I can do is add my plug about using ACV and lots of grass hay.

 

[MaggieJ]

I found that kitchen oatmeal made into mush with warm water went down well with our three week old that had to be weaned suddenly. I added a pinch of sugar at first and a few grains of salt. Not sure it was the right thing to do but it seemed to work. My main concern was dehydration... The kit took awhile to figure out that water was for drinking. He would nibble hay but I wanted to get some fluids into him. I also offered dry oatmeal after a few days and he soon preferred that. You could likely add some of the pellets to the mush to transition them to what you are feeding.

If you have goat's milk, you could use that to moisten the oatmeal, being careful to not leave it long enough to sour.

Regarding Caelin. He obviously does not understand yet about hurting and killing the kits. I agree he should not be allowed to hold them until he is older. Just say, "No, they are too little." Let him pat a rabbit you are holding instead.

 

[eco2pia]

Oh, I am glad spooky is handling it so well! The little brokens that look like charlies may get more pronounced spots as they get older, some of the lighter fawn-red colors have such pale fur on the lower half of their bodies that it blends in with the white when they are babies. I am looking forward to pictures! You ought to try to set one up with Spooky in a heap o' kits, lol!