The remaining American Chinchillas are very cute and active. Now that they are close to three weeks old, I need to watch for weaning enteritis/enteropithy, which is caused by a sterile gut in the kits as they begin their transition to solid food. We're not out of the woods yet in regards to health.

All of my rabbits are currently taking probiotics as I am planning to take several to shows this season. The last thing I want is for them to become ill. I also hope this prevents the enteropithy in the kits as they will be nibbling their mom's food soon. Fiber is also instrumantal in preventing this dreaded disease, so large quantities of hay are being provided daily. Enteropithy is often fatal in rabbits.

At eight weeks, I will need to worry about stress because that is when I separate them from their mother. This also taxes their immune system, so it is also a danger. I'm not as concerned about enteropithy as I am stress or faders, though, since I've never had a litter with it, probably because of the abundance of fiber and probiotics in their diet.

As a side note, our feed consumption seems to have been cut in half since we started giving more hay. We get our hay for $2/bale at a friend's house, so that's not bad at all. The cost has gone from more than $80/week to about $30/week. If I can sell some rabbits, it will be reduced even further.