clueless first time mom

[SterlingSatin]

i have a satin doe that just had her first litter this morning, she had 3 outside the nest box and 4 in the nest box. i rescued two of the ones outside the nest box but the 3rd was DOA. anyway, she's not nursing them, but she has been hopping in and out of the box rather frantically. she has no idea what she's doing. is there anything i can do, or just hope she figures it out? i have another doe that is due today, but she hasn't had her babies yet so i'm not sure she's pregnant. i might be able to foster if she is actually pregnant, but she's a first timer as well and i'm not sure she'll be much better. i can take the nest box out of the cage to stop the doe from hopping in and out and squishing the kits, but that doesn't fix the milk problem. they were born this morning but doesn't look like they've been fed.

 

[MaggieJ]

Her milk may not be in yet. Obviously she has some of the mothering instinct... she had 4 in the box (the others probably arrived first and took her by surprise) and is showing signs of wanting to look after them. Did she pull fur and cover them? If so, there is a good chance she will feed them when she is able.

You could pull the nestbox until she calms down a little and make sure the kits are up well under the hood to protect them from her feet.

 

[SterlingSatin]

one did pee on me P) so obviously it is getting some liquid. she did pull fur, not a generous amount but certainly enough she seems a bit calmer, she only gets frantic when i pull the nest box towards the front of the cage to examine the babies. when i put it back she hops in and looks around and hops back out. it seems she is being careful not to step on the kits. hopefully she is or will feed soon.

 

[MaggieJ]

She doesn't sound so bad for a first timer. Concerned but not frantic. I'd make sure the kits are well covered - add some dryer lint or teased cotton balls/batting or the like if necessary - and leave her to it until morning. But then, I am not very hands-on with my rabbits... They seem to do mostly okay without my intervention.

 

[akane]

It can take up to 48hrs for them to get their first feeding. They seem to do fine waiting as long as they are kept warm. I've had some still alive after 4 days with no food but most got too weak to feed when the opportunity finally came along. While supplementing them and taking over feeding slightly older kits generally works out well trying to feed newborns who have not had a drink from mom is terribly difficult. My policy now is to just put down any kits that are unable to get a couple feedings of actual rabbit milk before I attempt to hand feed them. They always do poorly and it can be a very slow death.