Unprepared for this and heart broken.

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sweeethearts_2002

sweeethearts_2002

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I know that with kindling there's always a chance of casualties or expired kits. I know that within the first several days a rabbit can kill their own. I've experienced babies who didn't live, but I've never experienced a mother who ate heads and arms off of their young. I found this "murder" scene this morning and was devastated to say the least. I cried briefly and then cleaned up her mess and out of 5 babies from the start, I'm down to one. It seems healthy so far. I removed it ans am keeping it warm and feeding it myself. I'm not quite sure how often to feed, but I'm thinking once a day like mama would. I will never breed her again. This isn't her 1st litter just her first litter with me. I hate to admit she isn't a good mother because she was perfect pregnant, she was perfect nesting and is one of the sweetest bunnies we have. Maybe and prayerfully the other doe we have expecting will do much better



EDIT: none of the babies ended up alive. She killed everyone of them!
 
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Rabbits usually feed twice a day, when handfeeding more often but smaller amounts might be good.

I wouldn't hand feed if the doe is still nursing, whatever happened might have been, or imo more likely than not was a fluke. Could be that the kits were already dead and she just tried to clean up. How old were the kits? If just born it could be a case of overcleaning. Can happen. Part of the game.
That might be counted as one strike, but no reason to take her out of the game,most breeders go by the 3 strikes rule. It doesn't say that she is a bad mother or so, whatever happened, well, that's something to reckon with. There could have been external triggers like predators, or whatever.
 
Preitler said:
Rabbits usually feed twice a day, when handfeeding more often but smaller amounts might be good.

I wouldn't hand feed if the doe is still nursing, whatever happened might have been, or imo more likely than not was a fluke. Could be that the kits were already dead and she just tried to clean up. How old were the kits? If just born it could be a case of overcleaning. Can happen. Part of the game.
That might be counted as one strike, but no reason to take her out of the game,most breeders go by the 3 strikes rule. It doesn't say that she is a bad mother or so, whatever happened, well, that's something to reckon with. There could have been external triggers like predators, or whatever.
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These were 5 days old and seemed very healthy.. yesterday even I did a count everyone eas moving snd had full bellies...
 
Preitler said:
Rabbits usually feed twice a day, when handfeeding more often but smaller amounts might be good.

I wouldn't hand feed if the doe is still nursing, whatever happened might have been, or imo more likely than not was a fluke. Could be that the kits were already dead and she just tried to clean up. How old were the kits? If just born it could be a case of overcleaning. Can happen. Part of the game.
That might be counted as one strike, but no reason to take her out of the game,most breeders go by the 3 strikes rule. It doesn't say that she is a bad mother or so, whatever happened, well, that's something to reckon with. There could have been external triggers like predators, or whatever.
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One more thing. I learned 2 days ago from the youth that showed her said she wasn't a good breeder and mother. We didn't know until too late.
 
That's awful! I can't believe they didn't make it very definitive to you that she wasn't a breeding rabbit. Why would they sell her to breed if she had this history? Sorry for your tragedy! That's really upsetting. What breed is she out of curiousity?
 
if the doe has milk I would bring her to the doe twice a day for feeding and then remove the kit. some rabbits are simply not good mothers.

When buying a proven doe ask questions, LOTS of questions. samples of such questions follow.

1. did she successfully have kits
2. did she raise her kits. If so, how many of the litter were raised to weaning age? Those that didn't make it to weaning age, why didn't they?
3. were the kits completely healthy, including free of nestbox eye,
4. why are you selling her? Does she have a bad temper? Do you have to be careful of her with kits?
5. do you have pictures of the kits she raised?

Granted. People can and will lie. In my years of raising rabbits I've seen lots of creative ways to answer questions, so ask lots and weigh out the responses. but mind you don't be annoying about it! :)
 
Buknee said:
Did you see her eating them? Just wondering if it could have been a rat/weasel attack. Especially since they were 5 days old.
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^^ This.
In my experience when they are poor mothers they kill or scatter them at birth.
Another possibility is her milk failed, and they died anyway. I had one doe whose babies always died at around 7-10 days of age. When I checked her after the last litter, she had no milk, but must have had some beforehand. I could only conclude that her milk dried up each time.
 
First time kindling does often have problems and may be too zealous in cleaning the kits right after they're born. This can result in lost ears and other parts. With kits 5 days old I'd suspect predators like weasels or rats.
 
sweeethearts_2002 said:
If she isn't a good mother she isn't worth breeding. It's a waste of energy for the both of us to breed her then for her to kill her kits.
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Everyone has their own limit. Sometimes it matters when it happens. We had a young doe kill most of her litter (we saved one and put it with a sister doe) and that was it for her but at the time, we had too many rabbits anyway and were not emotionally ready to deal. I would definitely check out the possibility that it was a predator before final decision if it were me. But I do understand, it's hard. And I am sorry if someone sold you a bad doe without proper information, that sucks.
 
HTAcres said:
Everyone has their own limit. Sometimes it matters when it happens. We had a young doe kill most of her litter (we saved one and put it with a sister doe) and that was it for her but at the time, we had too many rabbits anyway and were not emotionally ready to deal. I would definitely check out the possibility that it was a predator before final decision if it were me. But I do understand, it's hard. And I am sorry if someone sold you a bad doe without proper information, that sucks.
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It wasn't a predator. They are suspended cages more than 3 feet off the ground. There were no other signs and I caught her cleaning blood off of her face and legs .
 
Buknee said:
Did you see her eating them? Just wondering if it could have been a rat/weasel attack. Especially since they were 5 days old.
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We don't have weasels here where we live...and rats IF they got to the suspended cage I'm sure they'd have to be small to get in because the wires on my cages are fairly narrow. Plus I'm thinking the mother would have noticed a commotion. We have cats that keep the mice snd rats and lizards, squirrel and others away.
 
Rabbits by Accident said:
That's awful! I can't believe they didn't make it very definitive to you that she wasn't a breeding rabbit. Why would they sell her to breed if she had this history? Sorry for your tragedy! That's really upsetting. What breed is she out of curiousity?
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They didn't. We received someone's rabbitry in an emergency situation. They asked if they could come back to visit them some and they've never returned in a year. I reached out with no avail. The only thing I ever got was who was who and how old they were. I just stumbled upon an old fb post from this girl on her page where she told someone else the issues with that specific doe when they were 3 days old..
 
ladysown said:
if the doe has milk I would bring her to the doe twice a day for feeding and then remove the kit. some rabbits are simply not good mothers.

When buying a proven doe ask questions, LOTS of questions. samples of such questions follow.

1. did she successfully have kits
2. did she raise her kits. If so, how many of the litter were raised to weaning age? Those that didn't make it to weaning age, why didn't they?
3. were the kits completely healthy, including free of nestbox eye,
4. why are you selling her? Does she have a bad temper? Do you have to be careful of her with kits?
5. do you have pictures of the kits she raised?

Granted. People can and will lie. In my years of raising rabbits I've seen lots of creative ways to answer questions, so ask lots and weigh out the responses. but mind you don't be annoying about it! :)
Click to expand...
We tried to bring a kit to the doe today and had no luck, the doe was making a pissed off noise... I'm feeding a kit now and hopefully it'll survive.
 
Rabbits by Accident said:
That's awful! I can't believe they didn't make it very definitive to you that she wasn't a breeding rabbit. Why would they sell her to breed if she had this history? Sorry for your tragedy! That's really upsetting. What breed is she out of curiousity?
Click to expand...
Again, we didn't buy or ask for this rabbitry. This was an emergency situation for the previous owners... they didn't offer any good information.
 

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