The rabbit kits are now around 12 days old – Ava kindled a day before Loretta – and their eyes are opening. This morning, all of Ava’s kits were out of their nest box and huddled together on the cage floor. Five of Loretta’s were out, too. Now that they can see, they’re going to be pestering their mothers to nurse every time they get out of the next box – and the does get annoyed.
The small white kit Loretta is fostering was obscured by all the straw and fur in the nest box, so we removed the box and dug him or her out to check on development. We were pleased to see that, while s/he is still behind the others in growth, s/he is definitely being fed and is growing. Thank goodness…trying to hand feed was less than successful.
The kits will soon begin eating solid food (hay, then pellets) but will not be weaned until they’re about 8 weeks old. Weather permitting, they’ll go out onto pasture with their mother in a few more weeks and enjoy fresh air, sunshine, and tasty grass. We say this about all of our baby animals, but it’s true: they grow like weeds!