Habitually pulling fur?

Has anyone ever had this happen?

My little indoor pet store doe started pulling fur when she was bred, only about two weeks in. The most annoying thing I found about it, was that she was eating it, though somehow she still avoided wool block and was eating fine.

She did it so much to the point where she cleared her whole belly of fur. I chocked up to crazy pregnant rabbit tendancies and didn't think much of it. She still pulled an amazing amount of fur when she kindled, and though while she went nearly naked, her kits were very snug.

The behavior had stopped since she'd kindled, and the kits are now almost three weeks old and running around out of the nest and are some of the cutest kits I've ever seen! However, momma decided to start plucking fur again, but she's starting with the kits this time. She grooms a little, pulls some hair, and grooms a little more. It doesn't seem to hurt the kits, but I don't need naked kits, and will be weaning them sooner rather than later.

Does anyone else have a crazy rabbit? Any reason she might be doing this? Any suggestions on how to stop it? She gets a good quality 17% pellet, she has a mineral wheel to lick on, and a small hoard of chew and play toys in an 18x40 cage (for a 4.5# rabbit) and gets run time outside of the cage around the house. I can't see any reason she's doing it because of boredom or a nutritional deficiency. This is a first for me and I'm a bit lost here!

she may need extra protein in her diet.

OR she may need to be culled as it simply might be a habit for her now.

Mucky (also my little indoor pet doe) used to pull fur randomly. I've never seen her eat it.
Sometimes I'd find fur missing off her body and none in her cage.

She never ate any fur off of the kits.
Trust me, her pen was where I can watch it when I'm on my PC, and I'm on my PC a LOT :roll: . She was definitely NOT nibbling the fur off those two baldy kits she had.

She seems to have stopped doing it to herself now.
One recent change was introducing a whole lot more green stuff to her diet. Since she was a little overweight, I've switched her over to being almost pellet free.
Lots of dandelions, comfrey, lemon balm, weedy hay, raspberry leaves, grass, etc. etc.

I personally think those velveteens have some serious metabolic issues.
Mucky and Sushi do alright on pellets, but they have always seemed to thrive more when giving fresh foods, and there have been kits that absolutely refused to eat pellets(or oats), but would do alright if given rabbit safe plants.
My velveteens in particular also never get soft stool from being given greens. (Mucky has an iron stomach anyway.)

A lot has been said about digestive issues in the kits, but it's strange because it wasn't anything so common as kits getting diahrea. (Which never happened.)

It was full out gi stasis in one 4 week old baby and pellet refusal for the rest of her life (until I culled for swollen lymph nodes around 12 weeks, I think), pellet refusal in another and the inability to maintain body weight (the second fader kit that I decided not to nurse along like the first), and true bloat in one 7 week old kit. (Not the "bloat" that is referenced on FB whenever a kit has a distended abdomen.)

Anyway. I can't really help.
So I just related my experience with a fur pulling doe in case someone can spot a useful pattern somewhere.

I've had some does that were obsessive about it but did not pull kit fur and I've often had does steadily eat the fur of the nest even with hay available. One mini rex started her nests at about 2 weeks in to pregnancy and just kept making new ones. As she got close to kindling she'd have 3-4 fully fur filled nests in her cage. I left them alone or she'd be more obsessive about making more. Usually the kits still ended up in the box. My netherland doe that produces really well goes crazy with the fur too. She plucked herself really bald through the first week of this last litter and then after the kits left the box and the box was removed she pulled fur again to fill the spot they were sitting in the most. Crazy bald doe. She's getting a long break to regrow fur and body condition although I think much of her looking skinny is that she's bald. Her daughter just had her first litter and fur is everywhere. The edges of the cage and corners are all lined and then the box is lined with multiple thicker piles just for her 3 kits who can actually choose which indent full of fur to lay in.

It's quite possible your doe will simply outgrow it as hormones settle with age and she has more experience raising kits. At minimum she might quit bothering the kits' fur. A broader diet might help even if she doesn't have a specific nutrient deficiency. Some supplements like acv in the water (apple cider vinegar, get the unfiltered stuff) and some find teas, I think the favorite is raspberry zinger, are helpful for getting does to breed which is also likely to be the increase in nutrient variety. There are many fresh foods you can find in your yard that would otherwise be written off as weeds or decorative and are free. My rabbits, chinchillas, and guinea pigs are actually enjoying lilac tree flowers right now. :lol: Our yard is rather sparse for edible ground plants because of the amount of dog traffic it gets. In a month or 2 I will have grape leaves to start harvesting. I still find bits of dandelion, plaintain, mint plants gone wild, and quickweed in the garden area. Previously we had huge sections of daylily bulbs and the entire plant is edible. Mine have naturally mined himalayan salt blocks which are full of minerals you don't quite get the same variety and quality of in manufactured red trace blocks and mineral wheels.