12 month old NZ doe, 2nd litter born today on day 31 in the nest after haystaching and pulling fir on day 24. Buck was a NZ
1st litter had 10 kits on day 34 in the nest, one died 2nd day. No issues. They are our “Hurricane Helene bunnies” which is an funny story in and of itself. Unplanned buck was a Rex.
This litter was 15 and in the middle of the day and with lots of fur. As I leaned in and felt around, I noticed a main pile about 3/4 of the way in with a few close stragglers. Since they were not all huddled together, I rifled through whole nest box and sure enough I felt a cold one but still squirming a bit in the front left corner and somewhat damp.
I immediately brought her in holding her snugly and put her in a ziploc and in a bowl of water that was kept warm. Then I brought the remaining bunch inside to count and assess. But I was worried I did not search carefully enough and there may be another. Sure enough, in the same spot where the other cold one was, there was an even colder but smaller mass which was very damp and I thought maybe a placenta, but I pulled it out and it was a very underdeveloped kit, with all body parts. Despite the warming in a ziploc bag for over an hour, neither made it. So we are left with 13!
My question is:
Being that a few stragglers were not very near the main pile in the back (maybe 1-2 inches away), were these two cold ones in the far front corner delivered there accidentally? In other words, was she a little sloppy this time, dropping them willy-nilly wherever? Or did she know something was wrong with those two and put them far away from the main pile of kits in order to protect the main pile?
Maybe I am overthinking it and maybe I need to concentrate on bottle feeding instead.
1st litter had 10 kits on day 34 in the nest, one died 2nd day. No issues. They are our “Hurricane Helene bunnies” which is an funny story in and of itself. Unplanned buck was a Rex.
This litter was 15 and in the middle of the day and with lots of fur. As I leaned in and felt around, I noticed a main pile about 3/4 of the way in with a few close stragglers. Since they were not all huddled together, I rifled through whole nest box and sure enough I felt a cold one but still squirming a bit in the front left corner and somewhat damp.
I immediately brought her in holding her snugly and put her in a ziploc and in a bowl of water that was kept warm. Then I brought the remaining bunch inside to count and assess. But I was worried I did not search carefully enough and there may be another. Sure enough, in the same spot where the other cold one was, there was an even colder but smaller mass which was very damp and I thought maybe a placenta, but I pulled it out and it was a very underdeveloped kit, with all body parts. Despite the warming in a ziploc bag for over an hour, neither made it. So we are left with 13!
My question is:
Being that a few stragglers were not very near the main pile in the back (maybe 1-2 inches away), were these two cold ones in the far front corner delivered there accidentally? In other words, was she a little sloppy this time, dropping them willy-nilly wherever? Or did she know something was wrong with those two and put them far away from the main pile of kits in order to protect the main pile?
Maybe I am overthinking it and maybe I need to concentrate on bottle feeding instead.
