dead kit... not sure what happened?

[FourRingCircus]

I have two does due any time now. I put some extra hay in their cages this afternoon and took my camera out tonight in hopes of getting a hay staching picture... instead I find one eating a lone kit! :shock: :evil: It has been ridiculously hot which I know can cause issues for pregnant does. This is my first litter with her, she was last bred in October with her previous owner and had a decent sized litter (she said she avereaged between 8 and 11). This was with the same buck as well. The belly was gaping open so I don't know if there were genetic issues, if it was born dead or alive, maybe she got too close cleaning things up? No idea. Oh, and it was out on the wire. The nest hasn't been touched since I was out this afternoon. Not sure if I should check on her again in a little while, or just let her go and see what happens?

 

[Zass]

Sometimes does will pass non-viable kit/s early. If she was eating it, it was probably already dead, and she's just cleaning up the mess. She may still have a healthy liter, so keep the nestbox in place.

 

[FourRingCircus]

Hopefully that's all it was... trying to fight the urge to go check on her again.

 

[Zinnia]

As often as I get to witness a doe eating a DOA kit at kindling, I sometimes wonder about how common this must be. I see this often. It's very normal if it is what it appears to be.... kindling beginning and one is not alive at birth... A healthy litter remaining should follow soon, I hope!

 

[FourRingCircus]

I had to go shoo our dog away from the basement (where our injured cat is: post273825.html#p273825) and went to check on her. The nest box looked slightly disturbed, and she was just hanging out. I guess we'll see what there is in the morning. I am going to make sure I am the first one out! I remember how traumatized I was as a child to find dead, half eaten babies in my rabbit's cage. Don't want to go through that with my little ones! (my mom and I were just talking about it... evidently I'm not the only one that remembers it well).

 

[Zass]

My does just recently went on a doa-kit-disposal-strike for some unknown reason or another.

I found, my girls each had litters of 12, but there were some doa kits in each litter that were not even fully developed. The end result was one litter of 9 and one of 8 healthy kits.

Not only were the girls only exposed to a buck once, they only got one cover each because I'm too lazy, and the rabbits are too...fruitful..to necessitate more covers. :lol:

I wonder...how many other times that I've seen only 8 or 9 kits in the nestbox, were there more non-viable kits that I just never saw??
Why did my (unrelated and not even the same breed) does suddenly stop cleaning up the extras?? The only thing I can think is different this year compared to every other is that no nervous animals are left in the rabbitry, and their diet contains a lot more forage than previous years. :shrug:

 

[FourRingCircus]

2 chilled but alive in the nest box - one of which is half the size of the other... grrr! She kept digging around in the back corner of the nest so I searched some more and found a head. Blech. I am thinking that if the other doe has hers soon I am going to foster them out. Or should I give it some time and see how she does? With the one or two she has left?

Funny story - My 4 year old commented that she had blood on her. I told her that she had babies last night!

DD - "Out of her FOOT?"

Evidently there was a little blood on her front paw, and that's what she was talking about :lol:

 

[myrkari]

My doe "Grump" never seems to eat non-viable kits. She kicks them over into her poop corner and goes about her business looking after the remainder.

I suppose it's possible she's eaten some and tidied up the rest into her toilet, but I've never seen her do it nor seen any signs of it. She just moves any born dead (or that she deems not worthy of care) to the farthest corner away from the nest, and looks after the others as if nothing happened. There's a reason I call her Grump. She is a little witch sometimes and I'm sure she ignores healthy kits just to spite me She always culls her own numbers down to six! I occasionally find one tiny runt on her "reject pile", but several times I've found what looks to be a healthy baby or two that she'd decided her nest was too full for. She'd be on thin ice with me with behaviour like that but the six she raises are always six chunky healthy bombproof monsters, so... I trust her judgement, I guess. For now.

Crossing my fingers for either a few more delivered soon, heritage (maybe there are more to come), or that she settles down well, or for a successful foster - whichever you decide.

 

[FourRingCircus]

Still just the two... she has been in and out of the nest box a LOT for some reason? Still pretty wrinkled babies... hopefully just waiting on her milk to come in at this point.