Monthly Archives: April 2008

Every kit born in Tru-Luv Rabbitry is precious. No doubt about that. I take each and every life given to us very seriously and that is one of the reason why Little Miracle is so precious to us. I take full responsibility to ensure that each kit survives till adulthood. Another reason why Little Miracle is so important to me is that if he/she makes it until adulthood. That would mean he/she is the first made in America kit for us. This is something of great significance for my humble rabbitry. Something that I would really cherish in this hobby.

I woke up this morning to find Little Miracle away from the usual nesting site. She was lying on the other side of the nestbox where there is no fur. I was wondering if this could be an indication that she has indeed been nursed by BlueBerry.

Since embarking on this great hobby, I have had 3 quite successful breedings. The first was with my first doe Unix. She had 6 kits and all survived till adulthood. The 2nd and 3rd litters came 3 days apart from Bandie & Adina. All 3 of them were great mothers. They all kindled in their nest boxes, pulled fur and nursed their young all the way till weaning age.

BlueBerry showed me an entire opposite side of the previous 3. Besides having dead and mulled kits, she still growls and attempt to bite me after kindling and sadly, she does not really nurse her kit. What makes it worst is that I realize that she does not have much milk!

I am giving her the benefit of the doubt because there are many factors as to why does behave this way. Flying halfway across the globe pregnant, having to adapt to the local climate and also giving birth in unfamiliar place could be some of the reasons I came up with.

I need a real miracle so that Little Miracle could survive. My attention is now on Noobie. She was lying down in her usual spot today and I was putting my hand with my thumb on her lower abdomen to feel for some lives. To my great surprise and amazement, I felt something kicking me for a couple of times. I need a good foster mother for Little Miracle and Noobie could be it.

Little Miracle was getting a little wrinkly compared to how she looked this morning. I am just so afraid of losing him/her. Here are a couple of photos taken of him/her this morning. By late afternoon he/she was already very wrinkly. I would have to resort to using milk replacer if he/she still look wrinkly by tomorrow morning and if Noobie has not kindled by then.

The eyes bulge enough to indicate peanut?

Is this small enough to be considered a peanut? I really hope not!

This is another incident that makes me want to kick myself. I thought that little Miracle would be cold alone so I decided to give it some cotton to snuggle in.

When I check on her this evening after returning home from work, I found that its right paw got tangled in a little ball of cotton. I cut off the entire bunch of cotton immediately to find a huge swollen paw. Poor thing. I hope the swelling will subside and it will have a normal leg.

What is it with my rabbitry and leg. I know it is common to tell someone to break a leg but I really do not need that in my rabbitry. DARN!

Notice the swollen feet?

Little Miracle weighs only 0.8oz and normally this weight would indicate that the kit is a peanut. A viable kit should weigh anything between 1oz and 1.5oz.  My heart is sinking. I want Miracle to thrive and grow up normally. It survived the first night warm in the nest alone and I believe that BlueBerry had attended to it because there were more fur on top of the nest this morning.

Little Miracle’s tummy was not very plump as what I would hope for but it was less wrinkled. So to give a little assistance, I flipped BlueBerry over and let Little Miracle suckle a little. She is quite good at looking for milk and had a few successes in latching on. She did suckle for a good 10 to 20 seconds. I did not see her tummy filling up with white substance so I hope it was the first bit of colostrums. I hope BlueBerry would go through the let down soon if it is like us humans.

Please continue praying for Little Miracle. I am glad that BlueBerry did not show hostility. It means we still do have hope.

I have so much to write about today. I am finally revealing the secret that I was keeping so far. That was the reason why I have nothing much to write. The initial title I wanted to give this post was “What They Do Not Teach In BIOLOGY Class”. But found this one more appropriate. You have been warned as there will be some very “gorish” photos that should not be viewed by children or faint-hearted adults alike. It is not my intention to scare anyone but this is the truth and facts of life when it comes to the topic of breeding. If you are game for it, read on if not, please come back in another few days. I must mention that this is strictly for education and sharing of knowledge. I do not really enjoy posting graphical photographs but I find it very appropriate to prepare those who intend to breed and yet not prepared for it.

I woke up this morning to find BlueBerry building her nest 2nd day in a row. I knew deep in my heart that today was the day she would give birth. She was picking up loads of hay in her mouth and making a nest on the opposite side of the nest box. I cleared up her “nest” and moved the nest box to where she was building. I then place loads of hay in the nest box.

At about 4pm my wife called and told me that she had given birth. Good news was there were 4 kits. The bad news was 3 had died. There wasn’t much details so I rushed home to have a look at the damage. At the back of my head I was prepared to see some dead peanuts. I was also prepared for deformed or under developed kits because I was told that BlueBerry was bred on 2 different occasions. That was also the reason for me not expecting her to kindle because I was the impression that she did not take the first buck. And since she was then bred 2 weeks later, I was expecting her to kindle in another 2 weeks.

The first thing I did at home was to look at the dead kits to confirm my speculations. What I saw was far from what I have witness breeding rabbits so far. Quite obvious one of the dead kits were oversized. It has got quite a huge deformed head and also very small limbs. Also, it has got one of its back legs totally severed. There were still fresh blood dripping from it.

Another dead kit’s condition was far worst. It seemed to be a normal kit just that it has got its entire lower abdomen ripped off.

I was particularly sad for the third one because it was quite apparent that it died of cold because my dad was unable to get to them in time.

R.I.P. Uno, Dos & Tres…

After burying them in the “rabbit” graveyard, I then turned my attention to the only surviving kit. It was a little cold to touch so I placed her on top of a hot water bottle wrapped with towel. I then cleaned up the entire cage and helped BlueBerry build a new nest using loads of hay, paper and also some of her fur. YES, I plucked loads of fur from her dewlap. She was especially agitated with that. But what the heck, I have a little kit to rescue.

This little fellow has not got out of trouble just yet. It is all alone and does not have a sibling to keep warm with. I do hope all of you bunny lovers can pray for this little one I call Miracle.

I am also quite worried for BlueBerry too since she was bred twice on different occasions. I believe the 2nd breeding took place because it was assumed the 1st was not successful. I am worried that she still has developing kits in her. I read somewhere that rabbits have 2 uterus horn that could hold kits from different breedings.

Looking at the what she has done to 2 of the dead kits, my wife and I came to conclusion that the best doe we had was UNIX because she gave birth to 6 kits alive and passed down her great motherly instinct to Bandie and Adina. Although Adina had half a leg GONE!

BlueBerry seemed to be a little inexperienced and that was not the impression I have about her. But I have no qualms about her and I hope she does pick up and be the best mummy to MIRACLE.

Please do pray for this little fellow that it survives all the way. Pray for Pillbury’s dough boy belly tomorrow!

P.S.: Can all fellow Holland Lop gurus confirm if that dead kit with small limbs and big head is indeed a peanut?

This was the great surprises I was talking about. I have so called seen the does’ tummies moving but later I realized that they could be movement of the stomach (peristalsis). Although I was told that they were bred before being shipped over here, I became a little skeptical if they are indeed pregnant. The flight may have caused them to be too stressful and thus, may have aborted the kits.

I woke up this morning expecting to see some kits in the nest box I have given Noobie since Sunday. I was told that she was placed together with a solid choc buck named Yuba from 9/3/08 till 15/3/08. Whether she was successfully bred or not depends on whether she kindles in these few days. Unfortunately instead of building a nest, she soiled it with her pee.

Instead of seeing kits, I notice BlueBerry was frantically doing something from the corner of my eye. When I looked up, I saw her with loads of hay in her mouth. It has certainly taken me by shock because she should be due in another 2 weeks. But I recalled that she has been bred to Chris Zemny’s black buck the same week as Noobie only to be assumed that it was not a successfully breeding session. I am still a little skeptical about her being pregnant although she has been growling quite a lot just like an angry pregnant doe. I gave her a nest box immediately and place loads of hay for her as well.

It is now more than 12 hours passed but still no sign of any kits. I hope it would be soon because I am running out of patience.