# Mother and baby bonding



## Kristen (Aug 24, 2018)

My holland lops had babies a month ago, there were 3 but 2 were still born. We have 1 little girl who is growing pretty well for being a week and a half early. I know at 2 months they should be weaned from their mother, but has anyone kept their mother rabbit and a baby together? Koda, my mother rabbit, is very attached to Clover, her baby. I have a feeling it's due to this being the only baby that has lived out of 2 litters. (She and my male will be getting fixed, I am done breeding them) Koda will lay in the nest with Clover for at least an hour a day, and she actually pushed Clover up into her cage today. (The nest is on the opposite side of the room where it has been since before the babies were born) The 2 have been snuggled up in the cage for about an hour now, Koda keeps nudging her baby to stay with her. She didnt follow the typical rule of only going in the nest to feed and clean, she would check every hour and even lay in the nest since day one. She doesnt leave her babies side. So when Clover is 2 months, do I need to separate them for Kodas milk to dry up? Or could I just let them stay together to keep their bond? Koda has always been great with other rabbits no matter the gender.


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## Preitler (Aug 25, 2018)

There's no need to wean at 8 weeks whatsoever - they should not be weaned (and sold) before that, although it can be done without too much harm as early as 4 weeks in emergencies like back to back litters. 

I keep the kits with the does until they are 12 weeks (10lbs mutts), then I seperate the boys and keep the females with the does for another 2 months. At some point they wean by themself, or the doe desides she's had enough.

I keep my does in pairs, and they are both mother-daughter pairs, I just kept the doeling that got along best with the old one and never separated them. Once separated, reintroducing can cause problems - that's why bonding rabbits is such a big issue.

Anyway, as long as the young one isn't through puberty it isn't really a bond, there is the possibility that 2 rabbits simply don't get along, but imho when doing it this way that's rather rare. 
There may be humping, a little chasing, and tufts of fur flying from time to time, when hormones rage, depending on personalities, but that's quite normalwith intact does, as long there aren't serious fights or one of the rabbits take it to heart and gets depressive.


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## woahlookitsme (Sep 9, 2018)

From my experience most moms will wean around 4-6wks. That meaning that the baby is no longer using mothers milk and is on solid foods. As long as you don’t see baby feeding on mom anymore then she is probably successfully weaned. We have kept a girls in with Mom before as they got older. You have to just keep an eye out for wounds on baby or Mom. With one of our rabbits overgrooming was also an issue. If they have a big enough cage and no fighting then they are probably fine together. As baby gets to be 4-6 months of age she will start to develop and they goes through a puberty phase that can be quite terrible. Make sure to keep a good eye at that time and spay then both to rebond


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