Sunday, February 20, 2011

Rabbit babies

So, for a long time our family kept pet rabbits. We had fourteen at one time and grew to learn a lot about them.

Mitchell, a white lop, was a gift to my sister. She had him for a number of years, and then we decided to breed him. So our friends gave us a female named Sherwood, and the two of them had kits.
So for about a week, all was well. Then Sherwood had more babies. Now, the gestation period for a rabbit is about a month, and Sherwood would not have had time to become pregnant again and have her new litter in the short period of time she did.

That is how we learned one very interesting aspect of rabbits: they can become pregnant while pregnant! What I mean is, rabbits can carry two litters at once inside of them.
And that, readers, is how our family had fourteen rabbits at once.

Have you ever wondered why there are so many rabbits in the world? Well that's why.

Of course, where we live there are wild rabbits, too

If you ever find a nest of wild baby bunnies, leave it alone! mother rabbits only nurse their young a few times a day, and they don't stay with the nest either. They are nearby, but in order to not attract predators to their nest, mother rabbits only come to the nest for short periods of time.
If you happen to find a nest of bunnies, don't disturb it. Watch for a few days. If the kits cry, or are skinny and sickly, then the mother is either dead or not taking care of them. If that is the case, then you can help the kits. But only then! Chances are, the mother is nearby. And you don't want to take kits from their mom.

Rabbits have 4-12 babies, and are weaned at 4-6 weeks of age.

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