Mother Chokie

"Sometimes, the best friends are the ones
who can't speak our language."

This is my sweetest bunny named Chokie, named after her color which is like a chocolate. I really love to tap his little head and super huge ears. She used to give birth of up to 9 to 15 babies and now, we tend to give her more time to take care of herself and maybe she's too old to have babies again, well, just our thought. Father really pitied her every time she has a baby for she really breastfeeds her babies the moment they were born until they'll be taken away, neglecting their sizes. We even find it so weird that even the babies became the same size as her but still, she opts to give them a breastfeed. Chokie is so big that I can't even bear to carry her for a long period for she can't even perfectly fit in my arms anymore.

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After a short 30-day gestation, the normal size of a rabbit litter is usually between 4 and 12 babies. Male rabbits can breed as early as 7 months of age and females as early as 4 months. This means in one year, a single female rabbit can deliver as many as 800 children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren! Even though rabbits build nests, they will not sit on their nests and do not stay on or by the nests after the babies are born for the mother’s scent would attract the attention of predators, call it their natural instinct as they were accustomed to their wildlife habitat.

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Not often does a mother rabbit nurse her young right after giving birth that she keeps her babies on a burrow or at the bottom of the nest and will approach them during mealtime mostly between midnight and 5:00 in the morning. A mother rabbit does not lie down in the nest but stands over the babies to nurse them and clean them and lick their bellies and bottoms. Most often, based on my experience of domesticating rabbits as pets, the first nursing will occur the night or at dawn after the kindling, where the surroundings are at peace and clear from any threat. The mother rabbit’s rich milk supports the babies for 24 hours at a time so don't worry if your mother rabbit seems to avoid her babies during daytime.