eating young

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hobie

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I have a Californian who was bred for the first time so she is still young. She ate her young before I caught her and could removed the babies. Should I put her in the stew pot since she is not that old? I don't think I should take a chance on breeding her again! Thanks! :angry:
 
Rabbits rarely eat live young (really really rare). What sometimes happens is the kits are stillborn or die shortly after birth and the dam will the eat them to clean up the nest. They do this in the wild to protect any live kits from disease and predators that could be caused by the dead being left in the nest. Unless you actually saw her eat live kits then just assume they were still born or died and don't count it as a strike.
 
Sorry about the lost litter. Most of the time, the does only eat stillborn kits, but they do sometimes eat live young.

"Old timers" often recommend giving bacon to a doe a day or two prior to kindling to prevent them from cannibalizing their litters. I think most people assume that this is because the doe lacks protein (since kits are meat, after all!), but it is actually a lack of salt or minerals.

Does she have a salt/mineral block available to her? The only time I have had a doe eat kits while still alive is when they did not have access to salt and minerals.
 
I had a doe eat her LIVE kits - I had to dispatch a limbless one and actually had to pull one out of her mouth - but as she was a first time doe she got a pass.

Her next litter was totally trouble free and her third that she has now was so big I had to take two of them away and foster them onto another doe. She is doing great with the rest.

All my does get three strikes with breeding but zero on aggression.
 
I had to dispatch one after hearing it scream - found the doe eating it from the back end forward... no back legs, and half the skin missing :x :cry: . It wasn't pretty. Had another doe eating a kit, and I am pretty sure I saw it take a breath, but something was off with it anyway... not sure if it was early, or what. I didn't realize she was even pregnant much less kindling (she was on the wire, NOT in the nest box) so the kids and I were out messing around, piddling with things with the rabbits. Maybe we just spooked her? I would give her another chance and see how she does... there are a variety of situations that could lead to that result whether it was a still-born litter, something spooking her, the whole process in general freaking her out... who knows!
 
I've yet to ever catch a doe eating kits, but I'm sure there have been some DOAs that were cleaned up before I ever saw them.

You can re-breed if you want, or you can dispatch. It's really up to you.

A litter of eaten dead kits is still a strike for me, since it still amounts to a failed litter.
 
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