So I'm very new to this.
Two weeks ago I got a mating pair of New Zealands along with eight of their month-old litter (the two best were kept by the previous owner).
I also got a 4 x 8 hutch that had a solid floor (vinyl covered). It's sitting just a few inches off the ground. I back to several square miles of woods.
Everything was fine for the first week. Last Saturday I replaced part of the vinyl floor with 1/2" hardware cloth to try to improve the sanitation.
Tuesday I found two of the runts dead. One of them has had a sore (even when I got it) about the size of a pea on her back. I didn't see any other marks. Assumed it was shock from the move/infant mortality/what happens to runts. I didn't find them over the hardware cloth, but they weren't that far away.
This evening I found two more dead, and though they weren't the biggest they were certainly vigorous little bunnies. The rear-end of one was opened up and the other had a wound on it's underside. I found them on top of the hardware cloth.
My working theory is that I've got a raccoon/predator visiting for a nocturnal snack. As such I blocked off the hardware cloth area until I can prove/disprove/improve. The problem with this theory, to me, is that the first two runts didn't have any obvious wounds, but maybe I just didn't look closely enough.
Or is something else going on?
Thanks. I'd like to figure this out before I lose all my rabbits.
Two weeks ago I got a mating pair of New Zealands along with eight of their month-old litter (the two best were kept by the previous owner).
I also got a 4 x 8 hutch that had a solid floor (vinyl covered). It's sitting just a few inches off the ground. I back to several square miles of woods.
Everything was fine for the first week. Last Saturday I replaced part of the vinyl floor with 1/2" hardware cloth to try to improve the sanitation.
Tuesday I found two of the runts dead. One of them has had a sore (even when I got it) about the size of a pea on her back. I didn't see any other marks. Assumed it was shock from the move/infant mortality/what happens to runts. I didn't find them over the hardware cloth, but they weren't that far away.
This evening I found two more dead, and though they weren't the biggest they were certainly vigorous little bunnies. The rear-end of one was opened up and the other had a wound on it's underside. I found them on top of the hardware cloth.
My working theory is that I've got a raccoon/predator visiting for a nocturnal snack. As such I blocked off the hardware cloth area until I can prove/disprove/improve. The problem with this theory, to me, is that the first two runts didn't have any obvious wounds, but maybe I just didn't look closely enough.
Or is something else going on?
Thanks. I'd like to figure this out before I lose all my rabbits.