All the Babies Died

[Graceful Meadows]

Hi! I have a doe the had a nice litter of well fed babies yesterday. Unfortunately, today I found them all dead. Well fed, cuddled but not to close, and dead. The mother doesn't appear to have mastitis, and I want to rebreed her, but I also really want to know what I or she did wrong.

 

[cmfarm]

Sorry for your loss. :grouphug: . Has it been really cold there lately?

 

[Zass]

Doe might have slept in the nestbox. If she's in there, they often can't get all together under the fur to stay warm. Her body heat alone isn't enough for newborns.

 

[Graceful Meadows]

It has been cold here, 4 below the night that we believe they died. The thing that confuses me is that I had another litter in a cage right next to the one that they were in and the babies were fine. Also, the doe had them a day or so before outside of the nest box. My mom had a thought- perhaps the babies fell asleep after being fed, and when the doe left they didn't wake up in time. They had a trampled look when we found them, but the doe kept getting in and out of the nest box after they died. I don't think that they all (8) died from getting stepped on.

 

[WhWRabbitry]

I am so sorry! :weep:

 

[crookdbeak13]

I just had a similar situation. I had a doe that had 5 healthy looking babies, pulled plenty of fur and built a great nest....Came home on Tuesday to cold dead babies...only one looked as though it had the trampled look. It was cold here, but I also think that a predator scare had something to do with it... I had 2 wandering dogs knock down a growout cage with 3 15 week olds...and you can imagine what happened....the dogs are now on the watch list... :evil:

 

[macksmom98]

I am so sorry We are new to rabbit breeding and are working on our first litter (we hope) and I have heard people saying its common to loose some. I know that weather can be a big factor-we live in South Texas so our temps aren't as cold as other places in the winter. But I have also heard they sometimes eat the babies? Does anyone know if this is common or just indicates some problem? I have my 9 yr old daughter who is very involved in all things rabbit around here, and I want to be prepared and avoid this from happening and her from witnessing it if at all possible.....

 

[SuburbanHomesteader]

Greetings, Macksmom, and welcome!

I think it's really great that you've got your first litter on its way and that you're introducing your child(ren) to the Circle of Life.

So many times (with rabbits) the answer to a question is both "yes" and "no". A doe losing her first litter is neither frequent nor rare. Sometimes it happens, often it doesn't.

As I was telling a customer of mine on the phone as his first litter arrived and he kept asking me "what should I do?": Rabbits have been having babies for years and years and they've done just fine without us. There's a reason that men don't have babies - we just freak out and think we should be doing something when all we need to do is just stay out of the way and let Nature take its course.

Read and study up - but mostly just provide her with a dry warm cozy nest box and let momma do her job. God willing, things will go well. If not, know that the next time, things probably will.

Good luck to you - and please keep us posted on how things are going.

 

[macksmom98]

Thank you-these guys have been really interesting to learn about and we are looking forward to hopefully having a litter with little expectations......I grew up on a farm so I know it's all very unpredictable I also know my daughter will learn to experience death in doing this at some point......Thanks again for your input and I will most defiantly keep asking questions and post updates!