Angel's Litter - 8 Weeks Old!

As you can tell by the title of this posting, Angel's litter has turned 8 weeks old!  Last week we moved them out of the house as they were getting so big and put into a moveable cage outside.  They stayed out there for almost a week until I then put them into an actual cage next to my other rabbits.

 

They're so cute. They all rush to the front of the cage when they see me coming back there.

I tried to get some pictures of them for you, but they were jumping all over me that it was nearly impossible to get a clear picture.

(You can see Pocahontas has her tongue out in this picture)

(Another lovely tongue shot)

 

While it was hard to tell by the pictures, I actually am missing the grey spotted male.  The reason? I actually sold him to a nice family who go to our church. 

 

So as you can tell, they are extremely active and super friendly! The all grey one is the only boy left in this group now.  I have him up for sale and hopefully another good family will buy him. 

 

 

Jazz and Piper

Tuesday morning I went outside and put Jazz and Piper into hutches so they could begin building their nests and settling into their new area before they deliver.  Both of them are due tomorrow. 

(Piper)

Now, it's going to be very exciting to see what color variations and how the litters will be as this will be a first time for both of them here under my care.

Jazz has had 3 litters before, but since she's new to me, I will get to see just how good of a mother she is and how attentive, etc.

(Jazz)

 



Piper has never been bred before, under my care or not.  She is a first timer.  And like with all first things, it can slightly be a challenge.  This in mind, I'll be keeping a closer eye on Piper to make sure everything goes smoothly.

Hopefully by this time tomorrow, they will have had their litters! But like all things, the litters can arrive a few days after the actual 'due date'. 

An interesting thing to keep in mind with your pregnant females is that they can actually control the time when they give birth.  This being said, if your female is stressed out, she will not have the babies when she is supposed to, causing a litter of all still born.

Labra-doodles and Lion Heads

Well, as of today Olivia's babies are 7 days old, Kayla's babies are 6 days old, and the puppies are 5 days old. 

I got some pictures of them all today so that you can see how they are doing.  Sadly, Kayla's one kit was a peanut and so it did not make it.  However, the others are doing extremely well and are growing like crazy!

Starting with oldest to youngest, here are Olivia's babies as of today...

 

Seeing as to how Olivia is very protective and easily aggravated, I took pictures of her babies first so that there would not be any other rabbit smells in the container.

 

It's still a little too early to tell what genders they all are, but I'm just glad they are all healthy and doing well. 

 

Then here are Kayla's babies...

 

As you can tell...the white one is much larger than the others.  I believe it is taking more after the mother in size while the others are more like their father is size. (the father is a miniature)

 

Then it's pretty cool because the white one seems to have some light-brown spots on it's back...

 

 

So as you can see, Kayla has been doing a wonderful job with this litter.  They are all growing so fast! In the past 6 days, they have grown to be twice the size they were when born.

 

Now to the puppies! Which, for those of you who don't know, are Labra doodles.  Mother and babies are all doing well...here are some pictures for you to see their progression.

 

The puppies were all really tired! They soon were all asleep while we were taking the pictures.

So as you can see, the puppies and bunnies are all doing very well!  They all appear to be growing before our eyes.  Tuesday we will weigh the puppies again to see how much they have gained in one weeks time.

 

 

 

 

Diatomaceous Earth

What is Diatomaceous earth, you ask? Well...basically it's a very natural type of powder that helps dry things up by sucking the moisture from it.  Simply, it's great for using around your rabbits.

You can use diatomaceous earth to sprinkle on your rabbit's droppings.  This keeps flies away; or if the fly has laid eggs in the droppings, diatomaceous earth will suck the moisture out and kill the larvae.

Another use for it is to sprinkle of your rabbit's fur if your rabbit has a problem such as mites.  It will once again suck the moisture out and get rid of the mites for you.  And I know, you're thinking "If it sucks moisture, wouldn't it be harmful to put directly onto your rabbit?" The answer?...no, you do not have to worry about that.  It is perfectly safe for your bunny.  Not only that, but it is even safe to use on your baby bunnies.

You should always go for 'Food Grade' diatomaceous earth as it is extremely healthy for your animals to eat as well. 

 

Just sprinkle a little of it onto your rabbit's feed and they will eat it up.  This will take care of any parasites or worms your rabbit may have.  It will also make your rabbit drink more water, helping to keep them hydrated.

 

Not only can you sprinkle it on their food, you can also add a little bit to their water as well.  And as a side note; I'm not saying this is only for rabbits, quite the contrary.  Diatomaceous earth (that is food grade) is good for ALL animals; dogs, rabbits, cats, horses, goats, chickens, etc.  It's also healthy and safe for human consumption.

 

So as you can probably imagine...I use a LOT of diatomaceous earth.  It has kept the fly population around my rabbits down immensely! Not only this, but it has helped keep all my rabbits healthy and when you have healthy rabbits, you have happy rabbits. 

 

So if you have issues with mites, flies, fleas, ticks, or just want to feed it to your pet to help keep them healthy, I suggest highly that you do get some.  It is an amazing product that you will definitely want to keep on hand!

Puppies!!!

Well...Sunday evening I noticed our female dog's stomach had dropped slightly.  Then Monday it had gotten MUCH lower.  We went to bed and I was later awoken by my sister who was shouting, "I think she's in labor!!"

                                                      (Scroll down for pictures!! :))

I leapt out of bed, saw our dog had just given birth to a puppy who was laying on the ground, in a sack on our brand new carpet.  I ripped the sack open, rubbed the puppy until I saw it breathing, then handed it to my sister while grabbing our dog by the collar and taking her downstairs to the basement where we have her whelping box set up for her.

3 puppies later we were waiting for the fourth to come.  Our female had been having contractions for about 40 minutes when a big gush of water came out...but still no puppy.  The contractions continued for another 30 minutes until the puppy was born!  The puppy had no sack, but was alive and well. 

She then had 3 more puppies over the next few hours.  It was at 7:07 pm that the 8th and last puppy was born.  Unfortunately though, it was a still born.  We rubbed it and my mother even gave it mouth to mouth, but it didn't work. 

We kept records of the babies as they were born.  They are as the following:

1st puppy: Tan colored male, born at 7:25 am and weighing 12 oz.
Wearing a blue/grey collar

2nd puppy: Tan colored male, born at 9:18 am and weighing 13 oz.
Wearing a red collar

3rd puppy: Black colored male, born at 10:05 am and weighing 15 oz.
Wearing a white collar

4th puppy: Brown colored female, born at 12:09 pm and weighing exactly 1 pound.
Wearing a green collar

5th puppy: Black colored male, born at 12:37 pm and weighing 15 oz.
Wearing a purple collar

6th puppy: Brown colored female, born at 1:48 pm and weighing 13 oz.
Wearing a striped collar

7th puppy: Tan colored male, born at 4:39 pm and weighing 12 oz.
Wearing no collar

8th puppy: Tan colored male, born at 7:07 pm and weighing 11oz. (Born dead)

And now that you have a little history as to what happened yesterday...it's time for the pictures! :)

(This is right after we brought her downstairs to her whelping box)

(Here comes puppy #2!)

(In this picture her 2nd puppy is curled up between her front paw and chest)

(You can see puppy #2 better in this picture)

(Here's the first 3 in this picture!)

(They're all nursing which helps stimulate the mother's contractions to help hurry along the birth of the other puppies)

(The 4th puppy's born!)

(The little brown one is the first female)

 

And as of right now, the mother and all the puppies are doing fine :)  They're actually all curled up and sleeping and after a day like yesterday, it's no surprise!