Colony nesting

[BunMama928]

I have a doe who buried her kits along with her nest. I know some rabbits do this out of instinct I’m assuming she has a beautiful nest since she was haystaching for several days and just about pulled fur until she was balding and I have no doubt she’s taking care of her kits. The curiosity in me wants to uncover the nest to see how many kits she has but I know some rabbits will abandon their nest if they don’t feel they are safe and if the nest gets tampered with. My question is should I let curiosity get the best of me? Or should I leave the nest alone and not meddle with it until the kits start emerging?

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

The whole "abandoning Kits because of human interaction is basically a myth, I don't see any reason why you shouldn't check on them

 

[Alaska Satin]

I have a doe who buried her kits along with her nest. I know some rabbits do this out of instinct I’m assuming she has a beautiful nest since she was haystaching for several days and just about pulled fur until she was balding and I have no doubt she’s taking care of her kits. The curiosity in me wants to uncover the nest to see how many kits she has but I know some rabbits will abandon their nest if they don’t feel they are safe and if the nest gets tampered with. My question is should I let curiosity get the best of me? Or should I leave the nest alone and not meddle with it until the kits start emerging?

You never know about a particular individual, but as @RabbitsOfTheCreek notes, checking on a nest doesn't usually disturb a mother rabbit. I would be inclined to check, because if there are dead kits in there and they aren't pushed out by the others (the mother won't usually clean them out), it'll get pretty nasty.

 

[BunMama928]

You never know about a particular individual, but as @RabbitsOfTheCreek notes, checking on a nest doesn't usually disturb a mother rabbit. I would be inclined to check, because if there are dead kits in there and they aren't pushed out by the others (the mother won't usually clean them out), it'll get pretty nasty.

I guess I’m also a little apprehensive to as well because I had one rabbit in the past who abandoned her litter and they all died. I’m still unsure why but the only thing I can think of was that she was stressed out on me checking on them

 

[Preitler]

Rabbits normally don't abandon nests because of checking, never heard of that, some are very protective and worried though, then it's best to lock the doe out of sight with a barrier. I had does kindle in tunnels too, but I transfered the nests to the hutch. And I always check, in that nest there was some blood, and the big black flies were there - not sure if that would have been a problem but I want them in the hutch anyway for several reasons.

 

[Captaincatholic]

Rabbits normally don't abandon nests because of checking, never heard of that, some are very protective and worried though, then it's best to lock the doe out of sight with a barrier. I had does kindle in tunnels too, but I transfered the nests to the hutch. And I always check, in that nest there was some blood, and the big black flies were there - not sure if that would have been a problem but I want them in the hutch anyway for several reasons.

Sorry to hijack. I started another thread specifically about moving a nest. How did you get your doe to care for the babies after the nest was moved?