We have our first Standard Rex litter of 2017. After one false pregnancy where I think the problem was too much winter weight, Fire Opal has kindled a modest litter of six healthy kits. There are five solids and one little broken. Two light coated and four dark. Not sure what colors these will end up as, but likely some opals and castors as per usual.
There’s already a waiting list started for this litter, so if you’re looking for a purebred Standard Rex bunny, please get in touch with us ASAP.
Enjoying bamboo and blackberry today
The babies are currently at their cutest stage where they become quite active and look like miniature versions of their parents.
Running around eating everything is their greatest joy so I keep them all well stocked with organic forage from the gardens.
These litters have developed a special fondness for arugula and Red Russian kale, which has self seeded everywhere this year and is in particular abundance right now.
There are three broken opals from Fire Opal’s litter:
And there is one little broken castor and a solid castor:
There is also a lovely blue otter with a nice, deep colored coat. This bunny is really blue!:
Then we have two solid opals and a broken black otter:
Five Spice’s litter consists of two solid castors, two broken castors and a solid opal. I don’t have individual photos of absolutely everyone but you get the idea!:
Five Spice with her kits
Esther’s kits next to my lupines and mint
Well my girls came through. Esther kindled nine bunnies and Tuna kindled ten. That’s what you call a twenty-nine rabbit long weekend.
Esther’s kits had already arrived when I went in to check this morning. She had a combination of half light ginger kits and half what looks to me like black otter. I can’t wait to see how they turn out. As usual she pulled enough fur to line a hot tub.
One of Esther’s ginger kits
I was so busy getting excited over Esther’s kits that I barely noticed that Tuna was in labor. She ignored her fresh bunch of grass so that should have been the first indication. As I watched her over about a half hour period, she methodically gave birth to her large litter of healthy kits. Here they are just moments after being born, you can still see some placenta that hasn’t been cleaned out yet. These are some big litters so I’m hoping the predominantly fresh diet will keep all the kits alive. We shall see.
Tuna’s litter
These little Standard Rex bunnies are nearly five weeks old. I am feeding all the rabbits a primarily fresh grass and forage diet right now as there is so much lush growth in my yard. Every day I go out with my little scythe and mow down fresh bunches of greens for them which they happily dive into. They all eat a lot less pellets this way and they all love it. Plus it’s free!
I took a little look at the tort baby and it seems to be a doe. I’ll know for sure next time once I’m able to do everyone. She is the runt of the litter but still doing very well and very friendly. Bluefin has done a great job raising everyone and soon they’ll be out in their own tractor, on lawn mowing duty with the other kits.
In other news I finally got myself a tattoo machine for doing rabbit ear numbers. I decided on the KBTatt pen which I ordered through Martin’s Cages. I’m excited to try it out on these little guys, it’s a skill I’ve been wanting to learn since I got into rabbits a couple of years ago. More info on that to come!
I have some requests from potential buyers for pics of this litter, so I figured I might as well share them with everyone.
These kits are now twelve days old. As it turns out, there are two black otters, two blue otters and two solid self-blacks. One of the black otters has funny little bent over crumpled ears. I’m sure they’ll straighten out in time.
I think the reason I thought they were all blue at first is that the Rex black is much lighter when they’re born than in some of the other breeds I have. I’ll have to remember that.
My other Standard Rex Bluefin is due to kindle her very first litter on the 23rd. I gave her a nestbox today and she kind of exploded it.
Yes, there is actually a nest and a rabbit underneath all that
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