The Trio - Puzzle, Riddle and Maze
- Jun 1, 2018
- 3 min read
This trio have had a rough start to life. When they were born, Lamby had trouble kindling (giving birth). One of her babies got stuck for a bit, and eventually came out still born. Her other three were alive and wriggling, but there was something wrong. They were barely half the size of any rabbit kit we’d ever seen, and were all but skin and bones. They had a bad start, and things were about to get worse.
When they were just four days old a lightning storm struck our house, with roaring thunder and the first big rain of the season. Lamby didn’t cope with the stress of the lightning, and despite being a happy, healthy bunny that morning, I came home to find her collapsed and floppy in her hutch. She was still alive, and even now, four days later, is fighting to live. Since we found her she has been fed hourly day and night, and we are all hoping she’ll pull through. It has been some sleepless nights for us, and she’s now developed a life-threatening pneumonia, but we are doing all we can.
Of course, this meant that her three babies couldn’t rely on their mum for nourishment. Whilst Tymikka spent the first night feeding Lamby, I spent the first night feeding her bubs. They wanted the milk but couldn’t figure out how to suckle so young. Their mouths were too small for the syringes we use on our older bubs, so I had to use a paintbrush tip soaked in milk to feed them. It was a struggle not to get the milk up their noise, and that night was difficult for us all.
Whilst staying with me at my mum’s house, the babies got named early. The harlequin, barely 31g and the weight of a spoonful of sugar, became the cute little Puzzle. The biggest of the lot at 55g, a white fat little thing, is now known as Maze. And the last of the trio, 48g and stuck as the middle sibling, is the dark tort called Riddle.
The next morning we found a foster mum through Besty’s Rabbit Rescue. As the owner there held a mamma rabbit gently and let our trio feed for the first time since the arvo before, she told me the mamma’s story. She’d been left abandoned at a rental property with her bunny boyfriend. She had four babies with her still on milk and was also heavily pregnant. When she came into care, she had never seen her hutch before, and had her babies whilst still stressed and panicked from the traumatic move. All bar one were left outside the nest in the cold of late autumn. Of the 8, only one survived.
I left the babies under her care, and the mamma rabbit accepted them as her own. They were still supplementary fed while her body started to produce more milk for the extra demand. For a day or two, all went well.
Today, at 8 days old, Puzzle passed away. Being nothing more than skin and bones, he had a slim chance at life, and we’re just glad he got the warmth of a new mum and his siblings in the last days of life. Riddle and Maze are still going strong, and Maze has even become rather fat with the nourishing milk of her new mother. Lamby is still under constant care, and as soon as I finish writing this I’ll be up again to feed her and give her some more water from a syringe.
Our biggest hope is that one day her and her babies will all be running around in our kitchen, bouncing and binkying together, healthy and whole once again. Puzzle will rest in peace with his still born big brother, and eventually Maze and Riddle will find loving homes of their own.
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