Firstly I should mention the fact that we have two lovely, soft natured and friendly x-breed rabbits. One male, Apple, and one female-Fudge. These were a very welcomed birthday present for our youngest daughter last year.
Earlier, in the spring of this year, Fudge began showing nesting behaviour; pulling out large amounts of her fur and dragging lots of extra bedding through to the sleeping area to make a nest. Shortly after she had a litter of 6 kittens. Amazingly, she was a natural mother and all 6 went to good, loving homes.
Recently I suspected that she may be pregnant again. It was possibly being witness to ''the deed' that prompted this suspicion. Regardless, I had not seen any signs of nesting and so kept both male and female together. Admittedly, it has been possibly three days since I checked in the bedding area of the hutch-the weather has been horrendous and I did little more than quickly changed he food and water.
Today, as youngest daughter and I were cleaning the hutch, we noticed a few pieces of fur lining the bedding area. I asked to her bring extra straw and shredded paper presuming the nesting had begun. Imagine our surprise when the fur lined nest began to move and as we gently moved the straw saw there were four tiny kittens. Two white ones, one black and white and a dappled black/brown, Perhaps the change in nesting is due to Fudge feeling more at ease with it now-or is that my Beatrix Potter self arising again? Anyhow, she has not pulled anywhere near as much fur as with the previous litter where she was almost bald and looked quite a mess. Fingers crossed all remains well for them over the next few days.
Awww only just seen this post, beautiful little bunnies x
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