Weight gain for babies
- Thread starter Jennamah
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First, welcome to RT, Jennamah!
With kits that young, I would concentrate more on how they look- the "shrunken" look of a kit not being fed. As long as they all look good, I wouldn't worry. If you want to keep track of their weights, it would give you a guide for later litters.
Congrats on the kits!
With kits that young, I would concentrate more on how they look- the "shrunken" look of a kit not being fed. As long as they all look good, I wouldn't worry. If you want to keep track of their weights, it would give you a guide for later litters.
Congrats on the kits!
There's so much variation even within breeds, I dunno how you'd get a chart for normal growth. For example, I've got a litter of NZW cross kits the same weight as some satin kits born a week earlier, 50% bigger than NZW kits born the same day, and twice the size of a litter from the same buck a week younger. You just have to wait, keep careful records, and check your data once you've got enough to show a trend.
If you just want to be sure that they're being fed you can see that pretty easily
Fed kits have fat tummies, ignored kits get wrinkly all over. Sometimes I get worried about kits who have a few wrinkles on their bellies, but in time I've realized I'm just checking on them right before feeding. They'll get pretty gross looking pretty fast if they really aren't being fed enough. They also bounce back pretty fast, so don't panic. You'll know from a glance if they're in bad shape. At that point you can flip the doe or hold her over them to get them fed. I've only had a doe fail to nurse once, and even she started nursing on her own after two days of pulling her out and flipping her over to get kits fed. I've still got the scars to prove it, though :x
Definitely get them all weighed at two weeks though! Just bundle them all up together and note the number of kits and group weight, and write it down! Weigh 'em again at four and eight weeks. Managing your rabbits gets so much easier when you've got more information at your disposal. You'll know when you really should be worried faster, too.
If you just want to be sure that they're being fed you can see that pretty easily
Fed kits have fat tummies, ignored kits get wrinkly all over. Sometimes I get worried about kits who have a few wrinkles on their bellies, but in time I've realized I'm just checking on them right before feeding. They'll get pretty gross looking pretty fast if they really aren't being fed enough. They also bounce back pretty fast, so don't panic. You'll know from a glance if they're in bad shape. At that point you can flip the doe or hold her over them to get them fed. I've only had a doe fail to nurse once, and even she started nursing on her own after two days of pulling her out and flipping her over to get kits fed. I've still got the scars to prove it, though :x Definitely get them all weighed at two weeks though! Just bundle them all up together and note the number of kits and group weight, and write it down! Weigh 'em again at four and eight weeks. Managing your rabbits gets so much easier when you've got more information at your disposal. You'll know when you really should be worried faster, too.
Thanks all! I checked tummies this am after reviewing the fed-unfed thread. It seems like one or two from each bunch had round tummies but the other didn't. Will some get fed while others get ignored? I am going to recheck in 2 hours.
Maybe
It can be a vicious cycle because the un-fed kit is a tad weaker at the next feedi g and may miss out again. You can always pull out 2 or 3 of the big ones for 24 hours so the smaller kits have a fighting chance at the next feeding.
It can be a vicious cycle because the un-fed kit is a tad weaker at the next feedi g and may miss out again. You can always pull out 2 or 3 of the big ones for 24 hours so the smaller kits have a fighting chance at the next feeding.
well worse comes to worse you can hold mom down and stick a baby bunny to her teat I did that more than a few times to some struggling kits
I also had a day or so scattered around where the kits would be full but only gain around 1 gram that day.
Also once a kit misses a feeding there always gonna be behind the other kits that have not When I did new Zealand whites it ended up being about 2 to 4 oz by 5 weeks
I also had a day or so scattered around where the kits would be full but only gain around 1 gram that day.
Also once a kit misses a feeding there always gonna be behind the other kits that have not When I did new Zealand whites it ended up being about 2 to 4 oz by 5 weeks
Ok when we checked them again. One doe's babies had full tummies. Yeah! The other Doe' s babies were all wrinkly. So my daughter and I pulled mama out and put kits underneath her 3 at a time. After awhile we knew mama was done with this forced feeding and had to put her back. Three of the kits had round tummies, 4 still didn't. We are going to check again now.
