1st time mom had her litter..but

[bunhallarabbitry]

Our Mini Lop doe Eira just had her first litter! Today was day 31, and this morning I gave her a treat, pulled out the box, and it looked as though she hadn't made a nest at all. I just was outside, and checked again and it looked the same. I reach in and I felt warmth, and apparently she did have her litter! The nest is really crappy and the babies are really packed into the hay. She pulled seriously like 2 mouthfuls of hair and they aren't even near the babies.

Should I just leave her be? Or try to brush some hair off of her? I'm really torn since its her first litter and I don't want to bother her, but I don't want to risk losing the litter. This is my 3rd litter so I'm still a worrying noob

Thanks guys!
Savannah

 

[SatinsRule]

When was the last time you checked the lint filter on your clothes dryer? If it's been a while, use some of that to line the nest box.

 

[BoxerMom]

If you have any other pregnant does that are pulling lots of fur you could take a few clumps of that. My two does are pulling fur like crazy, so every day I take some out to stash away for the future.

 

[akane]

You can try to pull a little fur off her belly which should be looser than usual. Sometimes they take a little while to finish building a nest. Some don't bother starting until the first kit comes out and I had a doe who would keep adding to her nest for the next 48hrs. If it isn't cold I'd wait a little while and see if she continues working on it.

 

[MaggieJ]

Dryer lint works well as a substitute for fur, but you can also use teased cotton batting or cotton balls or feathers from a pillow. Fortunately this time of year they don't need a huge amount of extra bedding... a light "blanket" should do it.

 

[Iggysbabysitter]

I used dog fur. I have an abundance of that stuff...
Queen BB was a messy mommy, and her nests were often wet, so newfie fur was the next best thing. Not as warm as rabbit fur, but it made do in a pinch.

 

[Pickles]

Congrats on the new litter! Hope the new little ones are doing ok.

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

hey-- I recently found that the artificial fleece/lambswool is great-- And I took a cheap fleece blanket, cut it into small pieces, both Momma Buns used them very nicely-- and they can be washed and used again!

Marsha's 2 week old kits are out of the box-- they have the lambswool piece to lay on-- but are spreading themselves over the bare wire--added a second, lower placed water bottle to the cage-- figure they will need the extra chance at liquids..

 

[fuzzy9]

Congrats on the new litter!