Question about weaning?!?

[tjones]

At what age do the babies not need there mother, because I have a litter that has there eyes open.
The reason I ask is I need to feed my bp and she is the only one, can I feed her and will the babies survive, because I have a male from her older litter that is a albino, and i have a female from this litter that is a albino, could I breed the male and female albino, if they are siblings???

[tjones]

they are 18 days old!! If that helps

[rareballer]

you are usely supposed to wean them at 4 weeks by then they should be drinking and eating on there own.

[tjones]

how do you wean them???

[Mike Cavanaugh]

As soon as their eyes are open they can be weaned. I don't recommend you feeding off the mom though because it will take some time before those kids are producing their own kids.

Yes you can breed brothers and sisters.

How do you wean? you simply remove the babies from the mom, and make sure they can reach their food and water. That's it.

[tjones]

do i ocationaly put the mom in with the babies or do i just take her out and thats it???

[FIREball]

The mom does not need to be reintroduced, once they are weaned they are able to survive on their own.

[tjones]

The mom does not need to be reintroduced, once they are weaned they are able to survive on their own.

Im not saying to introduce the mom AFTER the babies are weaned. Ok I took out the mom today, should i put her back tomorrow for awhile or just keep her out!!! because what if the babies dont eat or drink!!!!

[Mike Cavanaugh]

Im not saying to introduce the mom AFTER the babies are weaned. Ok I took out the mom today, should i put her back tomorrow for awhile or just keep her out!!! because what if the babies dont eat or drink!!!!

If the babies eyes are open, you remove the babies from the parents. NO you do not reintroduce them.... ever. If their eyes are open, they are more than capable of taking care of themselves.

[cobweb2000]

Do not reintroduce the mom like Mike said. I make sure the water bottles are low enough for them to reach (also check the ball in the sipper and make sure it only takes a very light amount of pressure to turn).

When I was feeding blocks, I also broke them up into smaller pieces, but now I'm using hog feed (thank your for your topic on that Mike!), they can eat it with no problem. They can actually eat blocks fine by themselves at this age, but I liked to break the blocks up because I felt bad watching a tiny little baby try to eat something the same size it was.
It's hard to believe they'll be ok without mama because they're so tiny and cute, but they will be. Just keep an eye on your food and water levels and make sure they are both going down and you'll be fine.