Jess' Kits - 20 Days old

Lionhead kits are a little bald around the abdomen, sides, bottom, and cheeks when they are born. Now don't be quick to judge them by their appearance for these bald areas are where the wool would grow as they mature.

At approximately 2 weeks old, you would notice the growth of fur is quite uniform and certain parts of the body would be covered with longer and thicker fur.

This breed of rabbit however is not a recognized breed of the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA) although they can be shown at ARBA shows as an exhibition breed.

The following are some useful links on Lionhead which we thought of sharing:

Rabbit world Agro

Lionhead Proposed Working Standard

A Wet Wabbit

Rabbits are naturally clean animals. We do not advise bath of any sorts for rabbits because the fur of a rabbit takes a long time to dry. But if you must due to reasons such as your rabbit has experienced diarrhea or has matted fur (or fell into a drain by accident), the following is the steps to bathing a rabbit:

Step 1. Fill up some warm water at a sink or a pail. The water should NOT be higher than the rabbit's belly level. Slowly place the rabbit in it. Let it stand on its hind feet while you support the body.

Note: DO NOT immerse the rabbit in the water. They are not natural swimmers and may drown.

Then slowly pour warm water over the rabbit, avoid the head and don't allow water to flow into the ears, eyes or mouth of the rabbit.

Step 2. Dilute the shampoo (use only shampoo for rabbits or small animals) with water.

Note: DO NOT use human shampoo. Not even baby shampoo.

Step 3. Slowly rub/ massage the shampoo into the rabbits fur.

Step 4. Wash away the shampoo. Rinse thoroughly until the water is clear.

Step 5. Use a hair dryer or a fan to dry the rabbit.

If you use a hair dryer, make sure it is not too hot so you won't overheat the rabbit. Keep a safe distance from the rabbit for the noise of the hair dryer may terrify the rabbit and don't blow directly on its head, ears or private parts.

Note: Do NOT leave the rabbit under the sun to dry.

A wet wabbit looks like this...

By the way, It is advisable to brush the rabbit at least once a week and as frequent as possible for long furred rabbits. It reduces the amount of loose fur and to a certain extent, help prevent hairball impactions.

Note: Be gentle when brushing for the skin of a rabbit is delicate.

Brushing a rabbit

Now can i have my solitude back?

Ashley's Kits - 18 Days old

Now, you could see how cute the baby rabbits are.

They're starting to eat what mommy eats (pellets & hay). Even so, they are not ready to be weaned for they still feed on mommy's milk.

Pines' Rabbit

Here's some of our residents... *drum roll* Ta-daa...

Woody Toy (Buck): Little Bit, 8-9mths

He is litter-trained (just not 100% accurate yet!) and is the only one who could respond to its name!

Angora (doe): Muzzy, 1yr++

Blue Eye Angora (doe): PoPo, 1yr++

A feisty rabbit. Don't mess with her less you'll loose a finger

Local Lop Ear Rabbit (Buck): Robin, 1yr++

Check out his huge head and massive body structure.

Local Lop Ear Rabbit(doe): Molly, 1yr++

Blissful Weekend

Weekends always meant more time at the backyard, more time with the rabbits. So today...

1. We returned the kits to the respective dam.

If you notice, these kits are feeding on their mother's poop. These are actually cecal pellets and are sometimes referred to as night droppings or Cecotrophs. The cecum contains a natural community of bacteria and fungi that provide essential nutrients and may even protect the rabbit from potentially harmful pathogens. They provide vitamins and proteins that are essential to a rabbit's health. Besides, it prepares them for feeding on solid food such as hay or pellets.

2. We also allowed Toto, our Holland Lop to stretch his legs. Here's some pictures of Toto.

*sniff*sniff* "what's cookin'? Not my cousin I hope..."

"Yes, you called?"

Toto: "Watch me hop".

It's good to allow your rabbit to have a "free run" once a week. We suppose it's good for the rabbit's psychology and well-being. When it cannot contain its happiness, you can expect a binky! :)

Kits and more kits

11 August 2010 (Wednesday) sometime before dawn, Ashley gave birth to 10 baby rabbits! 1 of them was born deformed without a prefect leg and we suppose it died still born. Nevertheless, the rest of them were all "in the pink of health".

The babies came in various color and sizes. None of them resemble Ashley. Looks like Bebe's gene is more dominant!

Dam: Ashley

Sire: Bebe

Various color and sizes. Now, which of the parent is a dutch carrier? Hmm...

We have a brown, a black and a blue dutch-like kits!

2 Days later...

Tiniest and Biggest

Like father like son (or daughter)

The dam rarely nurse the kits right after delivery. Usually the 1st nursing will be the night after the kindling. As mentioned in our previous post, we only allow feeding twice a day. This is because the rabbit's milk is RICH and could sustain the babies for 24hours a time. So you have to make sure all of the babies are well fed. Well fed babies are warm and round-bellied.

Ashley feeding and cleaning the kits

A dam usually stands over the babies to nurse them and does not lie down in the nest. She also cleans them by licking the bellies and bottoms of the babies to stimulate elimination like a cat.

The nursery

15 Baby Rabbits

By the way... Sean & Jess' Kits Day 3 onwards - Jumpin' Jelly Beans

Sean & Jess' Kits - Day 2

Growth of fur is slightly visible especially on those who resemble Sean. Size wise, not much of a difference compared to the day before - when they're just born. The kits look very much like Smeagle of Lord of The Rings and that's NOT cute at all. Now speaking of cuteness, we don't exactly encourage people to buy (or adopt) rabbits based on cute factor alone. Neither are we denying the fact that our interest in rabbits also started with "Oh look! How cute is that fuzzy-wuzzy bunny". There's nothing wrong with falling head over heels or love at first sight for its "cuteness" but the message that we are trying to convey is: Consider well. It's a long term commitment (they can live up to 6-7 years or some longer depending on various factors). Think carefully. Sleep on it. Talk to your love ones who in someway or other would be affected by the additional "family member". Don't worry about someone else is gonna buy the cute rabbit you saw on display in the pet shop that's so CHEAP (or so you think but you will be surprised with what better offer you can find on the internet especially buying from breeders). By the way, do you know that you can find rabbits that are "cuter", "prettier", "fluffier", and "CHEAPER", etc. if you buy from a breeder? Reason being, rabbits sold at the pet shops are "rejects". Breeders do not want to keep the "stocks" for their breeding program because it lacks certain characteristics or features which could improve or at least maintain the quality of their stocks. So yea, in a way you can say rabbits sold at the pet shops are of inferior quality. Think: a breeder could sell a bunny for RM250.00 to a buyer. But if he has to sell thru a medium - pet shop, the pet shop takes 40% and breeder only 60%. So there you go!

Oh! There's another point to note... Rabbits are cute when they are young (peak of "cuteness" is between 1-2months old) but when they reach maturity, that's when you can see their long pointy ears and face - another "lab rabbit". Pet shops often take in rabbits which are barely 2 months old and it's a huge NO to separate the kits from its mother below the age of 2months, even though they may be nibbling on pellets and drinking from the feeder. There could be adverse effects on the well being of the bunnies in future.

So think before you make a purchase or opt to adopt a cute bunny. Now back to Jess' bundle of joy...

Generally, rabbits nurse the kits once or twice a day when no one is around. Their instincts would tell them to keep away from the kits except to nurse them to avoid any unwanted attention of predators. Since we separated the kits from its mother, we kinda reschedule the nursing time according to the "our timing" so we had to force Jess to nurse her kits. She is of course, unwilling to nurse her kits. We had to hold her down and gently stroke her so she would stay still and nurse the kits. Otherwise she is rather fidgety and would hop around. Once she even resorted to bite anyone who attempt to restrain her. What a feisty mom!

Stroking Jess

While Ashley in the other cage is expecting real soon... check out the huge bump. We're guessing 8 kits or more judging by the size of it. Now, most of the time she is resting and there are hardly any digging or biting of the grills of the cage (which is her new found interest/ addiction of late).

Yummy mummy

We also caught her in action: busy building her nest with hay and shreds of newspapers.

Ashley engrossed in building her nest. Oblivious to the fact that we were recording her every move.