Elementary Math

With Megan and Ryan in first grade and kindergarten respectively, we do a lot of elementary math.

So lots of 1+1=2, 5+5=10. . .you get the idea.

Megan even gets some word problem to figure.

 

So here a life application word problem:

What do you get when you have one rabbit (who, just for the sake of argument is, say, a buck) and one more rabbit (who, again for the sake of argument, is a doe)?

 

Let's break it down into simplest terms (Anne is working fractions right now):

1 boy rabbit + 1 girl rabbit =?

 

You get a girl rabbit that starts to do this (hint: nest).

 

 

And then you get some of these: 

 These pictures are with in an hour of birth.   The doe will not be turned off because they are scented like human.  We wear gloves so the babies don't catch anything from us.  Baby bunnies are so delicate when they are born, they are more likely to catch some dangerous germ from us, than we are to catch something from them.

 

 The reason we handle them this soon, is to check for dead bunnies.  The mortality rate at birth is very high for rabbits, and if there is a dead one, the doe will ignore the whole litter.

 

We were very lucky and there were no dead ones, she had 6 wriggly, healthy babies!

 

 

Their color will become more distinct as they grow, but Anne has been forecasting.  So far I am hearing white, lilac, broken (another name for multi colored), tort (another name for one body color, and different colored head and feet).  The father is a chocolate tort.  Mother is a broken lilac.

 

 

This is runty.  It (you can't sex them until about 6 weeks) will probably turn out to have a broken colored coat when it gets bigger.  You can kind of see that it looks spotted.  This little one seems to be very active and this morning (24 hours later) seems to have a chubby little belly.  We may have to supplement it to help it get a little stronger.  Look at the little wiskers, and ears and toes!

 

Once back in the nest box, they start to burrow like moles.  They immediately start to dig down into the fur that mommy lined the box with.  When we come to check on them, the box looks empty, except for fluff.  And then you jiggle the box a little and then the fluff starts to wiggle and squeak and you know they are down there somewhere!

They are so sweet, and will just continue to get cuter!  By two weeks old, they will be bouncing in and out of the nest box on their own and look like little powder puffs!

So to recap: 1 bunny + 1 bunny = 6 baby bunnies!
 

We will keep you updated!