Hi

Our 2 year old bunny Bwns has had her 3rd litter (1st & 2nd did not make it) she has had 8 and they are 2 weeks old and fat & healthy yei!! She is a great mother but has turned very aggressive toward the 2 children (13 & 9) and sometimes charges at us, will she stop doing this once they start coming out of the hutch to explore tha garden?? If not, is there anything we can do to ease her panic or aggressive state?? Also we are thinking of keeping one female to breed, will both be ok together once the baby is an adult? We are new to this so any advice is a help!! Cheers x x

Personally I think it is just because of the babies, they get very protective, and you should try not to stress her out. Dunno about them getting on when the baby grows up, females can be very iffy with each other, even when related.
I will warn you that there may be people who will take a dislike to some of that post, I personally try not to judge, sometimes hard I'll admit. I see that you are on her for advice, so that is what I will try and give when I can as much as I can.

*Heidi*

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thankyou x

what will they take a dislike to??

hopefully everyone on here has it in them not to judge someone looking for help,
i think maybe that you have said you are new to it and yet are keeping another to breed from. the 2 litters not making it, but still trying a third, unwanted kits etc.

to me, you are on here for help, but I know some people dont seem to like me for some of the things I say and do with mine, so just a warning that you may clash with some whereas others think as I do, that you are asking for help.

What I would say, is try mot to handle the kits because the mum could turn on them, which could be what she did time 1 and 2.

*Heidi*

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Once again thankyou for the advice Heidi, it really is appreciated.

Her first litter died with the first owner, I think she was 6mnths when she had them, from what the previous owners said she just ignored them, the 2nd died with us, we didn't touch them, just left her to it.

Yes we are fairly new bunny owners (1 year) but everyone at some point is a 'New' owner, yes we would like to keep one baby, and not to breed every single month, but in a year or so, just the once, we are not going to be 'Bunny Breeders' this is not what i meant, our bunny has free reign of one of the gardens 6mtr x 6mtr, has her own hut with plenty of straw, she has her own herb garden to dig & munch on, dandelion hay & dry food & green vegetables & water everyday, we feed her every morning and dinner time as a routine, she gets human contact everyday and playtime for around an hour, she runs & hops about happily chucking balls to us for play, this is a very happy bunny who is doing natural 'bunny' things, we do not keep her indoors and make her wear ribbons etc i have read 3 books and countless hours on the internet reading up on every possible bunny owner manual you can think of, we DO take being a bunny owner very seriously hence all the reading up + studying we did prior to ownership & during, Yes i am new to pet forums-but not to being a pet owner,I have had pets all my life & currently we have a 13 year old cat, a hamster & a dog we rescued as a puppy, and I am not an amateur dog trainer either.
All I wanted was someone with experience of a bunny mother who can offer advice.
So let them judge Heidi lol again thankyou for replying & your honesty is refreshing, I think it's great. Cheers.

Yeh your right i dont understand people that breed for the sake of with no idea what they are doing because at the end of the day its the rabbits that suffer. There are over 33,000 buns sat in rescues and people still breed rabbits just because they can. I havent nothing against serious breeders that do it to improve a particular breed and research what they are doing BEFORE they breed.

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Green blob your way!! Good post and totally agree with you!

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Sounds very much like she is being a good and protective mother. They can get a little bit more grumpy when the babies start moving around, as this is a dangerous and unpredicatable time for both mother and young. She will also be quite hormonal.

Best thing do to is just leave her alone and let her get on with rearing her kits.

Id also advise against breeding from her again. 3 litters in 2 years is quite a lot, and would have put a massive drain on her body, especially as she was still growing during her first litter. The kits died for a reason, and i expect her age and general health would have played a part.

As for keeping a female kit, yes it can be done, and if given enough space they should get on fine, but we warned that it may not be successful. Especially if mum carries on feeding the baby. You'd be better off spaying them both as this will reduce aggression and territorial behaviour which is common in female rabbits. Plus you will completely remove the chance of either of them getting ovarian cancer, a horrible, but unfortunatly common, disease.

Everyone has to start breeding somewhere and no amount of research can ever prepare you for it, you still panic and wonder if your doing something wrong and need a bit of help and reasurance. this is why she has posted on here so please dont start attacking her with comments like that. and everyone knows there are thousands bunnies out here that rescue but there are loads of people, some on here included that still go out and buy babies instead. there will always be rabbits, and other animals out there that need rescuing, personally i prefer to rescue but that doesnt give me or you the right to lecture people. sorry if you think im being rude but bunnykicks had already said that advice was all that was wanted, not criticism.

Maybe its just me but I didnt thikn Crofty sounded like she was lecturing or criticising Bunny kicks rather agreeing with her on the point of the amount of reasearch she has been doing. I find thats the problem with text messaging, instant messages and even forum posts sometimes that you cant really tell if someone is happy/sad, being genuine/sarcastic etc. But from how I read Croftys post I took it in a positive way to Bunnykicks but then again maybe thats just me

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