# had to wean baby bunnies at 6 weeks.....



## giant snail

hey today i unfortunatly had to wean a litter of 5 baby rabbits at the age of 6 weeks
mum was chasing them around like crazy and biting them like they where an introuder. and when i opened the door the baby rabbits would shoot out at 100 miles an hour and run off aorund all other hutches! she was in a 5 ft hutch with them so its not like they where cramped and had gone out side twice since the babies could eat and hopp around


they are in with 2 preg guinea pigs seem happy and eating


is there anything i should do?


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## giant snail

not to worry found some milk formular for them which they are taking :2thumb:


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## Shadowz

Even thou they are only 6 weeks they should really not be in with guinea pigs.
Surely as a breeder you should know that ?


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## pigglywiggly

yep, get them out of the guinea pigs.

they do not need milk at 6 weeks, mom`s milk will have dried up by then anyhow. giving them milk will probly give them the squits tbh as its not something they`re used to and its a change of diet.

mom`s been chasing them around and bonking them because she`s ready to start her next litter and her hormones are raging.
so she wants them gone.
you`d have been better off leaving the babies where they were and shifting mom, the less stress babies have at weaning the better - less chance of bloat.
or remating her up, which is what she wants


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## Kare

From my basic understanding, I was given a pregnant rabbit recently, but she didn't even break the sac on the baby she had, but still I did some research. I think the risk at this age would be not getting Mums special poops to build a healthy immune system

As they are possibly lacking a little on their immune system then putting them with guinea pigs would be the worse thing you could do, they carry a lot of bacteria harmful to rabbits I hear.


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## becki_moorcroft

at 6 weeks old they are fully weaned and independant, there is no need to suppliment their feeding, however keeping them with guinea pigs could be fatal to them, they really need to be on their own...

baby rabbits should be removed from mum at around 6 weeks, generally if mum tollerates them i leave them till about 7, and should be kept together as a litter for a minimum of 2weeks before rehoming (earliest at 8 weeks, but older is better) you should have somewhere prepared for the babies to go into before they have to be removed.


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## giant snail

iv always weaned my rabbits at 8 weeks as iv found when iv weaned other bun's at 6-7 weeks iv had alot go all skinny and die in a matter of two days. and i thought it was because they still needed mums milk

she isnt having another litter she will be rested for 3 -5 months before her next...... she still has milk iv checked that.

iv never had a problem mixing the two. i shall seperate the guinea from them then. 

ill see how they get on but i dont think they will do well at all being weaned at such a young age.


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## Mischievous_Mark

I took my males away from their mother and sisters at 5-6 week, and they were all fine.

Dawn has one of my boy bunnies, one has just recently gone ( brother to dawns ) and hes fine, hes now a house rabbit who sleeps on their daughters bed instead of his own cage haha.

I also still have 2 daughters in with their mother and havent had any problems.


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## pigglywiggly

rabbits get stressed easily.
thats why its best to break up the stress of weaning up into managable chunks for them.

thats why most show breeders wean them at 6 weeks and re-home any they arnt keeping from 10 weeks plus.


so the babies would get left in the cage they were born in and mom moved into another cage.
( otherwise moving the little ones at the same time as taking mom out can make them not thrive or even kill them )
they would be left there for a minimum of 2 weeks and monitored,
then split into pairs for a little longer, then re-homed.

guinea pigs carry diseases that can kill bunnies, not to mention the difference in diet, or the fact that a guinea pig doing the wall-of-death around the edge of the cage as they do will be fatal to any baby bun it crashes into.


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## becki_moorcroft

pigglywiggly said:


> rabbits get stressed easily.
> thats why its best to break up the stress of weaning up into managable chunks for them.
> 
> thats why most show breeders wean them at 6 weeks and re-home any they arnt keeping from 10 weeks plus.
> 
> 
> so the babies would get left in the cage they were born in and mom moved into another cage.
> ( otherwise moving the little ones at the same time as taking mom out can make them not thrive or even kill them )
> they would be left there for a minimum of 2 weeks and monitored,
> then split into pairs for a little longer, then re-homed.
> 
> guinea pigs carry diseases that can kill bunnies, not to mention the difference in diet, or the fact that a guinea pig doing the wall-of-death around the edge of the cage as they do will be fatal to any baby bun it crashes into.


this is exactly what i do and never had a problem, if weaning is done properly is should be smooth and as stress free as possible, taking straight from mum to a new home is as high stress as you can get, very few of my does tollerate babies beyond 7 weeks... i had to seperate a buck at 5 weeks this year as he was trying to mount mum (sure he couldnt have done anything but she would have killed him given a few more hours), fit and well at 10 months, most rabbits stop taking mothers milk from around 4 weeks which is naturally when a mother would wean them as the next litter would be arriving, o even in a domestic situation they are capable of coping on their own should they need to at this age... i'm about to go and split my 7 weekers up tonight, mums are comming out leaving babies to continue as normal


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## corny girl

pigglywiggly said:


> rabbits get stressed easily.
> thats why its best to break up the stress of weaning up into managable chunks for them.
> 
> thats why most show breeders wean them at 6 weeks and re-home any they arnt keeping from 10 weeks plus.
> 
> 
> so the babies would get left in the cage they were born in and mom moved into another cage.
> ( otherwise moving the little ones at the same time as taking mom out can make them not thrive or even kill them )
> they would be left there for a minimum of 2 weeks and monitored,
> then split into pairs for a little longer, then re-homed.
> 
> guinea pigs carry diseases that can kill bunnies, not to mention the difference in diet, or the fact that a guinea pig doing the wall-of-death around the edge of the cage as they do will be fatal to any baby bun it crashes into.




I used to take my Doe's out when the kits were about 6-7 weeks old & never sold anything before 8 weeks (often left them till older). As they do stress easily it is best to keep any stress to an absolute minimum & by taking mum out of the hutch it is less stressful to the kits :2thumb:. Rabbit kits are weaned at between 3-4 weeks old & will be eating solids (yes some Doe's will still allow them to suckle but this is rare).


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## giant snail

took them all up the vets as 2 of them where not right.

he told me it was because they had to be weaned too early and i should of given them a mammal milk formular for the calcium, and that rabbits should be weaned at 7 weeks at the earliest and 8 weeks is best. just as i thought.

he says there is nothing they can do now gave all of them some IV fluids he is doughtfull they will make it, also that the guinea pigs would of caused no threat to health, only if in dirty conditions.


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## pigglywiggly

think maybe someone needs to go on a refresher course then..... :whistling2:

for example:-

rabbits give birth every 31 days, and the mothers milk is usually dry by the time the next litter is on the way.
( we leave them with the mom longer to stagger the stresses of weaning, not because they are feeding from her. and if mom is fit and ready to be remated she`ll probarbly start to bonk the babies in her despiration to be remated and will harm them, this is also added stress for the lil ones )

the difference in diets of rabbits and cavies, cavies need a high fibre, high veg based diet this would probarbly give a baby rabbit scours and kill it from the associated dehydration.

and the spread of bordatella etc between rabbits and cavies...leads to respiratory infections that can prove fatal.

IMHO its more likely that the babies have problems due to the stress of weaning and being moved rather than because of them not being on milk.

i would have:-
left them in their own hutch and taken mom out
fed them reduced quanities of dried food to put less strain on their tummies
increased their hay ration
and put a bowl of water with avipro in their hutch, as baby rabbits dont tend to drink from bottles very well and they get dehydrated very easily, and the sugars and probiotics will help balance their gut flora.

i`ve reared 4 week old nethies that have lost their mom before, as long as your very careful it is do-able.

appart from being dehydrated and getting thin have they bloated?


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## feorag

giant snail said:


> took them all up the vets as 2 of them where not right.
> 
> he told me it was because they had to be weaned too early and i should of given them a mammal milk formular for the calcium, and that rabbits should be weaned at 7 weeks at the earliest and 8 weeks is best. just as i thought.
> 
> he says there is nothing they can do now gave all of them some IV fluids he is doughtfull they will make it, also that the guinea pigs would of caused no threat to health, only if in dirty conditions.


I agree with Piggly.

Does your vet own and breed rabbits, or is his knowledge purely textbook?

I'm sorry but imao, vets are not necessarily the best place for advice like this. They are great for dealing with sick animals, but unless they breed those animals themselves they cannot know everything to do with each individual animal that they treat. 

The best place for advice like this is from people who breed rabbits and who have experienced your problem.


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## rosanna123

sorry to jump in but im on giant snails side here, she has been breeding rabbits and other animals for a while now. and personally yes i come on here for advice but surley a vet is the best place to go for advice. i would listen to the vet


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## pigglywiggly

had to just delete what i typed cause i think i`ll get majorly bashed by pouchie


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## feorag

rosanna123 said:


> sorry to jump in but im on giant snails side here, she has been breeding rabbits and other animals for a while now. and personally yes i come on here for advice but surley a vet is the best place to go for advice. i would listen to the vet


A vet cannot have practical knowledge of every aspect of behaviour and breeding of every animal that they treat - unless they are a vet that deals with one specific animal only. If they own and/or breed that animal, then that's a different story, which was why I asked whether the vet owned or bred rabbits.

I trust my vet absolutely when it comes to health issues, but behavioural and breeding problems, then I go to other breeders who have many years of experience of doing that.


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## Shell195

rosanna123 said:


> sorry to jump in but im on giant snails side here, she has been breeding rabbits and other animals for a while now. and personally yes i come on here for advice but surley a vet is the best place to go for advice. i would listen to the vet


 
Vets are trained to deal with sick animals. If people ring our vets for information on cats or hedgehogs they tell them to contact our sanctuary. If someone wants information on handrearing they also give them our number. What vets know about healthy animals or breeding etc is what they read from a book. People experianced with breeding, rearing or keeping different species of animals are the most knowledgable people to ask advice from not the vets


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## saxon

I've not bred rabbits purposefully for many years but I can say I'd ask another breeder long before taking advice from a vet about most things related to breeding.

That goes for most species not just rabbits. 

I would say that this litter probably had a problem before weaning if they have deteriorated so quickly.
As has been said the stress can kill them in hours anyway.
Research would have made a difference I think in this instance as sometimes, no matter how long someone may have been breeding, lack of research makes their experience null and void....as in they have none!
Anyone can put two opposite sex animals together and eventually get young from them on many ocassions without knowing anything about them...we have seen this with a few members lately!
Sometimes waiting until a problem occurrs before even thinking of researching or asking for advice..again it happens on here all the time!

The best thing to do before breeding or owning sometimes is think, think, think then ask others with experience then think again!
That way there is less chance of problems occurring that they do not know how to cope with.


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## giant snail

everyone is giving different points. and how to look after. no matter what i try or do its always going to be wrong to atleast several people.


no they are not bloated. they have picked up a bit. but not much and not eating as much as normal.
they have thier mix and pellets along with alot of hay and water.
hopefully i wont have to wean any rabbits this early agian poor things.


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## pigglywiggly

all the experienced rabbit breeders are saying the same thing.

that they`re already weaned at that age. as in mom has no milk. 
most exhibition breeders move mom out at that age anyway.
exhibition breeders never fill all of their hutches so they have weaning space
they whole point is reducing stress, but you`re just not getting the point.

the chances are you will have to move babies out again at this age, hopefully you`ll have somewhere more appropriate to house your rabbits with other than with guinea pigs next time


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## corny girl

I bred & exhibited Rabbits for many many years & experienced many downfalls over this time (including losing all but 2 Rabbits to Pastuerella). I have bred hundreds of litters etc.... Rabbit kits are weaned by the time they are 4 weeks old, end of. You taking them out at 6 weeks & giving them milk has probably caused them to deteriorate because if you don't know what you are doing you can force milk into the lungs which will cause pneumonia & they will die. I have hand reared many kits from as early as 9 days old (& was successful too). I would never take the word of a vet when it came to Rabbits as they just don't know anything about them (the course vets take for small animals is only a day course & it is optional, so many don't take it so know sweet FA about them). If i ever needed any advice i'd always phone another breeder or use a Rabbit forum. Sorry but if you aren't prepared to listen to people who know what they are talking about with many years experience then you are more naive than i thought :whistling2:.


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## Mischievous_Mark

Have you checked their teeth? to make sure they are aligned (sp? just got back from hospital and tierd )

I remember i once bought a lionhead that had bad teeth ( didnt know because theyd been clipped ) bred him to a mini lop babies were all fine got to about 6 week and started going down hill fast by this time i realised the buck i used had bad teeth and had the lot PTS.

Sounds harsh i know but there was no way the babies would have lived, and i was letting the buck go to someone else to breed from with bad teeth just because he was show type lionhead.


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