Mommy rabbit and behavior

Question
I am desperately looking for some answers and help. My female rabbit
gave about a week ago. She seems to be taking care of her babies. But I
was scared to touch them because I didn't want her abandon her kits. I
had to because two of the kits decided to play with mom and was in the
section of the hutch that was the wire floor. she didn't seemed to mind
because she still continue to care for them. I took that opportunity to
check on the kits... 7 of them... I had made an emergency call to the
vet b/c 4 of the kits are really skinny but their bellies are round.
The vet had suggested that I remove the bigger kits and leave the little
ones in there to give them more time with mommy or pet the mommy and
stick the baby under her belly so it can nurse longer. Well, I didn't
want to remove the babies so I opted for petting the mommy and tried to
stick the baby to nurse...she hopped away. Today I went to check on the
babies and the mommy was excited to see me she hopped on the babies... I
was so scared she hurted them. And that wasn't the only time she did
that. they babies thought they were going to get fed... she refuse to
let the babies latch on. Should I remove the babies? and do you think I
have...babies that are called peanuts? It's been a week and I see 2 are
well grown and 4 are still tiny and weak. Please help!


Answer
Hi Tia

This is my own personal opinion coming from a breeder's stand point.  If you have peanuts they will die and there is nothing you can do to stop it.  I personally leave them with their mom and let them live as long as they can.  They usually don't live more than 4 or 5 days but I just recently had one live to be almost 3 weeks.  You can easily distinguish the peanuts because their heads are very domed and their back legs are so tiny they almost look deformed.  Often times their eyes will bug out of their heads.

In order to get peanuts first you have to have rabbits that are dwarf breed rabbits.  This doesn't necessarily mean they have to be netherland dwarfs or polish dwarfs.. basically any breed that was created through the centuries by taking a full size rabbit and down sizing it by mixing in a dwarf breed.  The one's that I know of besides the standard dwarf breeds are mini rex, fuzzy lops, holland lops, and then anything with the actual word dwarf in the name.. like dwart hotots and the previously mentioned breeds.  Then each of the parent has to carry the true dwarf gene.  This is what causes the double dwarf gene (peanuts).  Most small rabbits that fit into the standard and aren't excessively large for their breed category do carry the true dwarf gene.  However it is not uncommon to have a larger rabbit of a breed that still carriers the gene but is over the weight limit by 1/2 a pound or so.  I can give you an example here.  I have a mini rex buck who weighs close to 4 3/4 pounds.  The standard is 4 1/4 for a mini rex buck.  I was sure he was not a dwarf carrier because of his size but in his last litter their were 2 peanuts.  Now I know that he is a dwarf carrier and he just got a little bit to big.

I wouldn't take the babies away because I have had babies I thought were peanuts that actually weren't.  Sometimes when there is a large litter you will get 2 or 3 that fail to thrive.  Then one day they will be just as big as the others.  Sometimes rabbits die and it is sad but as long as the bigger rabbits are nursing (round bellies) I would tend to leave her be.  I also would absolutely never let babies remain outside of the nest.  Even though they may be feeding they can be exposed to the cold.  Even on hot days with a temperature of 80 degrees this could still cause hypothermia if they don't have hair.  The best thing to do is nestle them all back together in the nest and let the mom feed them without intervention.  She is obviously taking care of them but the one's that are peanuts don't have the ability to digest food.  They usually die from dehydration.

I know how sad it is but you just can't risk her stomping them by trying to intervene.  I have a doe right now who gave birth to 10 babies.  She managed to trample 3 of them just by me trying to reach in to feed her.  I decided to just leave her alone until they are big enough that they can get out of the way on their own.

Good luck and I hope the rest of the babies do ok.

Pam