They are all doing good so far. I found the first escapee this morning. It was hiding under Alice when I first came into the rabbitry.
I ended up fostering Briana's litter to Alice and Noel. Brianna really wanted her kits, but she wanted them out with her and not in the nest box. She kept digging them out. She is a first time doe though, and I am sure that she will do better next time. I'm just glad that I had two other does to foster to. I was worried that I might have similar issues with Noel since she is also a first time doe, but she has done very good with her kits.
Emily
__________ Sun Apr 25, 2010 2:39 pm __________
Alice's kits are now 13 days old, Brianna's kits are 10 days old and Noel's kits are 8 days old. Alice's kits have all opened their eyes, and so have the 4 out of Brianna's litter.
I rebred Brianna to Tyler a week ago. She kept turning her nestbox over, trying to liberate her kits. I tried taking the nestbox out at night and only putting it in with her in the morning to nurse, but sadly I lost two of them to the cold.
After that I tattooed a small dot in each of the kits ears and fostered three of them to Alice and the other one to Noel. Hopefully the tattoos will not fade and I will be able to tell which ones were Brianna's by the time they are weaned. Has anyone else used tattoos on newborn kits? Do the tattoos tend to fade?
I was worried about how Noel would do with hers. She is a first time doe with 9 kits of her own and one foster kit. She has done excellent with them though. It is amazing how FAT they are!
I have been handling each of the kits every day in the hopes that when they get bigger, they will be easier to teach to stay still and hold a pose. I have even started taking each of Alice's kits out to pose them. There are actually a few of them that will stay in their pose! The others will stay still for a second, but then start trying to explore.
It is way to early to tell which ones will be show quality, but hopefully by the time it is, they will all be able to hold a pose.
Emily<br /><br />__________ Wed Apr 28, 2010 12:11 am __________<br /><br />Alice delivered 3 more kits this morning.
They had crawled out of her cage and were on the floor. Two of them look good and healthy, but one of them, somehow got squashed between a cage and a wall and its feet and neck are swollen. I don't really expect for it to live.
I gave one of them to Noel and the other two to Alice. That will give Alice and Noel both 10. Hopefully the kits will do okay competing with larger kits for milk. I will probably take the three of the out once a day and put them on Alice to make sure that they get milk. Any suggestions?
Emily
