Immaculately Conceived Bunny Babies

[Cooper]

I woke up to find my rabbit had been keeping a pretty big secret from me: She had babies. I'm still a bit confused as to how, since my male bunny is neutered, and I've had her for four months.

Anybody have any experience with bunny babies?

[Tama]

Are you sure he was neutered properly? Maybe take her to the vet with this question...

Also, how long are bunnies pregnant for?

[Cooper]

Usually about a month. As for him, I'm seeing the vet Friday, I may ask about bringing the whole 'family,' and I could ask her then. Of course, by this time their fur will have come in, and if it's gray, she's somehow managed to be pregnant for over 4 months, if it's another color, it's more likely to have come from my possibly ill-neutered boy. (She and all her siblings are gray.)

[Ghel]

Is parthenogenesis common amongst bunnies?

[strawbabies]

I sure hope the vet has a simple explanation for you.

[AnaKhouri]

I'm pulling this out of my hat, but I think rabbits can store sperm for months before it fertilizes an egg. I know certain reptiles can do this but I believe I read somewhere that rabbits are one of the few mammals that can. Where did she live before you got her?

[Cooper]

The vet appointment moved up to today. I'm going with a botched neutering on my boy. These little guys are rascals already. I estimate they're between 3-6 days old right now, and one has already pulled two escape attempts. (Which I understand, right now, is risking his life, so every time I come home I do a roll call, and I moved their nest to make it harder for them to escape. When I do catch the escapee I lend him my body heat, by letting him hang out in the crook of my neck while I lie down, until he's about as warm as his siblings are.)

[dalesys]

Daddy rabbit: You took two, but I had a hare spare!

[Cooper]

Haha, yeah. A friend of mine suggested, because the father is pretty dull-minded (I can leave his cage door open for weeks before he figures it out. It took him several months to figure out how stairs work...) that it didn't work because he couldn't understand it.

Well, the vet said they're all healthy. Looks like Mom has been feeding them, even though she's currently ill--the vet is thinking she got a parasite from her mom, so all the babies will have to get treated after they're weaned--and it looks like she even groomed one of them.

They have preliminary names of Runt, Rorschach, and Gray, because nobody will be able to know what gender they are until they're a few months old.

Runt is well, the runt of the litter. Runt was the one that went on an adventure... twice. Gray is the middle-sized sibling. Gray's spots are well, gray. Rorschach has the most defined spots.

I will probably keep updating this, with pictures.

I have a few decisions to make:

1: Do I give away all the babies?
2: Do I continue breeding?

It all depends on whether I'm on my own income. Right now my income is getting helped out by my parents, but I have a few job interviews and that might change before these guys are ready to leave the nest. My parents, since they're supporting the pets too, have rightly requested that I not keep the babies.

IF I'm on my own income though, it's none of their business. I'm considering going to 4H this year with them either way, cause if I breed them, I'm not going to breed Owi or Caddie (the current Mommy and Daddy). I'm gonna keep them as pet animals. So I might get a breeding partner for one of the siblings if I decide to go into breeding while at 4H.

I could also keep all the babies, with Gray and Rorschach being bunny-friends of their parents (after they're all properly fixed of course), and Runt going to my little sister. Runt reminds her a lot of the bunny she had growing up, so she might find parting with it very hard.

There are a lot of options. It's mostly up to fate right now.

[Cooper]

Pictures!

So I went and got them a better nest, and took pictures of them before putting them back home. Apparently the mom isn't going to move them, even when their nest (a corner litterbox) was quickly going to get too small for them.



Cuddling babies.



Currently named Rorschach until I find out genders, after their well-defined spots.



This is Runt, the first one I met. The smallest, and most adventurous. I'm expecting this one to be trouble, seeing as (s)he has been causing trouble since they were barely born.



This is little Gray. I don't know if their spots will darken, but in the meantime, Gray's spots are the most faded.

[Draper Mel]

Gray's eyes aren't even open and he/she is already a pro at the "disapproval" face.

Also, itty bitty earses!!!!! Squee!!!!!

[Elspeth]

awwwwwww melting from the cutie!!!!!! so tiny and pink

[Cooper]

So apparently, you can determine the sex before the testicles drop. The biggest of the three (Rorschach) now has fur, and is a boy. The other two are girls. My sister, who is eyeing keeping Runt, will be thrilled.

[Caffienated_Caramel]

Cute...so much cute....

[Sunshine]

Awwwwwww bebe bunnehs!!!