2 First time moms. what would you do?

[Millinex]

One gave birth a couple days ago. 6 popples. Shes killed 3. She nursed 2 but peed in the nest box leaving me to war m one up tonight. Second female birthed 2, refuses to use nest box. Kits are warm/fed but she keeps trying to nest on wire and cut one of the kits on the head in the process......

What realistically should I do. 2 bad litters for my firs time producing myself has me rethinking rabbits all together. Part of me says feed both females off to the snakes part says wait and see. Some part of me wants to combine litters.

Any advice is greatly appreciated before I say I'm done with it.. thanks

 

[ckcs]

First time moms have all sorts of problems so don't feed them quite yet. Many here won't give up on the doe until after 3 or 4 litters. Me if they don't get it right by the third litter there won't be a 4th. So far they have all gotten it right. Possibly take the nestboxes indoors and bring the kits to the does for feeding.

 

[Demamma]

Give the does time. This is all new to them.

 

[Millinex]

First mom lost her kits. Second almost did. This is useless for meat. Bunnnies

 

[PSFAngoras]

I use the 3 chances rule too. Had a mom loose all eight first time, and missed the second. Due tomorrow with the third litter. If it doesn't work neither will she. I usually would put them in the freezer, but she was one of my friends first ever kits, so she wants her back if it doesn't work. Keeping back one 11 week doe that was supposed to be FC candidate just incase I need a meat momma replacement.

 

[Secuono]

Combine the litters, rebreed one of them, take the nest to both does 2x a day to feed them and hope it works out.

 

[Disney]

You can raise the litter by yourself.

This is what i did..
My doe injured her kits, they had wounds and fresh scars on them just days old.
I put them in a box with the nest and kept them in my room.
Twice a day i brought to box downstairs and took the doe out of her hutch and held her in the box on top of the babies.
First she will struggle but after a minute she will calm down and let the kits nurse. Within 5 minutes, al babies have fat bellies and stop drinking and fall asleep. Keep this up until they are 4 weeks old. You can reunite them with the mother when they're 4 weeks old, she might continue where she left of and still try to raise them.

My doe has done this with 2 litters. The last litter when she was nursing them on my watch, i noticed that she wasn't hostile and not trying to hurt them so i let her with the kits for a few hours and she seemed okay with it. A few days later i reunited the kits with the mother in a different cage and she cared for them ever since, as if she was sorry for what she had done to them.

She is now pregnant of her 3rd litter, i hope she doesn't mess up this time. But i don't mind raising the kits, they become very friendly and tame.

 

[skysthelimit]

I'm guessing I have not had that much trouble with first time moms because I pull my boxes all the time.
The worst are those that don't have milk the first couple days, but I cull those if that happens a second time. It's too hard for me to sync does and everyones having litters of 9+ too much to split.

I'm getting down to two strikes as the size of my herd increases.

 

[AmysMacdog]

I have a first time mom also and I have done what Disney described. If I hadn't, these bunnies would have been tossed out of the nest. Momma had them on the wire so I took them in and would bring them to her then after a couple of days, the nesting instinct hit her then she kept rooting through the nestbox while the babies were eating! [[Sigh]] So then I would give her some dandelion while she fed the babies and take them out as soon as she's done. Now they are 10 day old and SHE is as mean as a snake to me not the kits! Not sure what my next move will be but I'm not leaving the babies with her full time at any point. Hopfully they will be nicer than their mother! Only time will tell. LOL
Keep your chin up Millinex! Mine sometimes do badly the first time then great from then on. They'll get the hang of it.

 

[Millinex]

Alright team, time for an update.

Mom 1 (peanut): gave birth to 6 babies, she killed 3 pretty quick then killed the other 3 by peeing on them/they got cold.
Mom 2 (zelda): Gave birth to 2, kept building nest on wire. Brought them in to try and keep them warm. Both ended up dieing despite my efforts otherwise.
Mom 3 (Muskrat) gave birth to 2 this morning, both dead on wire when I got there. Still nesting as well.

When I acquired muskrat and her sister (a silver chinchilla looking critter), they had been housed with a third "sister" who turned out to be a buck. They never bred, and I thought maybe they where too young (4 months). Turns out Muskrat was pregnant, her sister, didn't look like it though, so I paid no mind.

I left tonight around 7 to go pick up a few things at the store. Came back around 2-3 hours later. Zelda had given birth to 3 more kits, on the wire, but in a very well constructed nest at least, and they where warm and fed. Muskrat is still nest building, and looks like she may birth tonight. How many more, I'm unsure. Muskrats sister- the chinchilla, gave birth to 7 kits on the wire. I grabbed all the kits from both moms and rushed inside. One was mangled, and I knew it was a lost cause. I put the other 6 in front of the heater with a small glimmer of hope, I thought I saw movement but honestly they looked dead.

All 6 are now alive and kicking, and the 3 from Zelda are good. 9 good kits. I didn't want to return them to the chinchilla, she had no real interest in even pulling fur, I don't trust muskrat with her nest building, so for now, all are warmed up, together, and put in with Zelda. She's done a great job of nest building and I gave her a fresh box and a ton of straw. Hopefully she can figure it out from here, she seems like she's going to end up being a decent mother.

Muskrat still nest building, and another doe (older proven doe) is nest building now, so I can hopefully pull a few from zelda as 9 is a bit much for her I'd think?..

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions let me know. I tried to use Peanut to nurse the kits (supervised, indoors) but no luck... The 6 from the Chinchilla haven't been nursed but they should hopefully make it until Zelda's next nursing.

 

[grumpy]

Move the box that the doe pee'd in. That may be her "potty-spot".

Give them another chance. Put the box in the cage on day 28.

Buying "Proven-Does" is usually not a good practice.
What you end up buying is "Proven-Problems"

best of luck,

grumpy.

 

[Disney]

The reason why they are failing and this is happening is because they're teen moms and don't understand what is going on.
They have not gained their mother instincts yet, but they will probably do better when they mature.

9 kits is much for a first time mom but i hope Zelda figures out what to do.
If they're not fed by the next morning, shift to my methode and hold Zelda (or another doe) on top of the kits for nursing.
You can give them back to Zelda when they are 3/4 weeks old and out of the danger zone.

 

[Millinex]

I tried bringinh the does in. None of the does would nurse

 

[Disney]

They won't nurse with their own will, basically you are forcing the doe.
You just have to hold her so she can't move and kick, the babies will crawl under her and suckle.. eventually the doe will calm down while you hold her and you will hear the babies sucking the milk and their bellies get fat.
It might be that her milk hasn't come in yet, try the other 2 doe's aswell.

Also give this to your doe's, it stimulates the making of milk.
I don't know what it is called in the US, but in the netherlands this is the most given vegetable to rabbits, especially nursing doe's.

 

[DogCatMom]

...

Also give this to your doe's, it stimulates the making of milk.
I don't know what it is called in the US, but in the netherlands this is the most given vegetable to rabbits, especially nursing doe's.

Ah. "Witloof"? Called "endive" and sometimes "Belgian endive" in the U.S.

 

[Millinex]

Update for everyone, I had another first time mom kindle last night, and I found only one alive this morning, one of the group of 9 passed on as well, so I swapped them out. The other 8 where; however, well fed and warm in the box. Got home from work and all 9 are fed and warm and doing great. Hopefully all works out well.

Still waiting on the other mom to finish dropping her litter, she only had 2... so there should still be some more on the way.

Thankfully the next group of moms due (in a week) are 3 proven moms who always throw great litters from a friend of mine, and a first time mom, so between them I should be alright, we'll see....

Supposed to get chilly tonight, but when I went out it was 40F and all was perfectly fine and they are well covered. Lets hope if it dips to below freezing they do ok.