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Heritage Homestead

Heritage Homestead

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Hi Everyone!
I felt very realived when I saw how many of you are on here right now. Hopefully I will get a quick answer.
It has been a pretty miserable day here. Upper 40s, lower 50s and raining. Since it was so cold I figured that the rabbits water would be fine and not freeze so I hadn't checked on them since about 10 this morning. I went out to make sure everything was fine before it got dark and found that 2 of Dough's litter were missing. I started looking and found one under the straw that is underneath the cages. It was cold and stiff as a board. I think it might be dead, but thought I would check here to see if anyone thought there might be hope. I did put it underneath our heat lamp. I had read a couple weeks ago in a thread that someone had heard of it taking up to 2 hours to snap out of it. I was just wondering if anyone thought there was a chance. As I said, the kit was very cold.
Thanks so much.
P.S.
I never did find the other kit. I think they must have fallen out of the nesting box and fell out of the wire on the side, though I don't know quite how it fit. Any ideas on how to stop this from happening again?
 
Don't consider them dead until they are warm and dead, if you know what I mean. They will be unresponsive when still chilled and stiff, but if they don't snap out of it when they are warm and limp, there is little hope. It never hurts to wait a bit longer, just in case, but that is the guideline I use.
 
Thank you ssoo much! Any idea how I can keep this kind of thing from happening again? Anyone else as well?
I am ssoo grateful for you all!:)
HH
 
Chances are that they got pulled out of the box because they did not release Momma's teat when she finished feeding them. It happens... I think just about everyone loses the odd kit this way.

Two safety measures come to mind. Some people add a strip of wood to the low end of the box to knock the kits off when the doe exits. It is called a kit scraper and it not as brutal as it sounds. The second measure you can take is to retrofit the doe's cages with a strip of hardware cloth all around so that any kits that do end up out of the box are at least kept in the cage. Some cages come equipped with what is called baby-saver wire but it is fairly easy to add to any cage.
 
I always like to bring in the whole litter if I find one chilled and whichever ones are chilled I'll hold wrapped in my hands until they are warmed this way I can feel for any movement or sign of life.
 
I had 3 one day old kits get dragged out of the nest, and when I found them they all seemed dead. I put them under my shirt, against my belly, and miraculously one came back to life. I kept them there for about 30 mins. When the others didn't revive after 30 mins I figured there was nothing else I could do.
 
yes-- and bra cleavage works well, too. The microwaved rice in a sock is a good warmer-- BUT-- one wants the kits to warm evenly-- best to have the whole ventral area (the underside) of a kit on something warm, so that organs warm up evenly. When I was at my 'Big Brothers' plACE, I found putting the kits directly on the warm floor tiles, with their rumps closer to the stove, warmed them evenly. Once they started squirming, I would place them in a box with insulating materials that had been similarly warmed.
 
i just plop cold kits into the warmest litter I have. Saves them EVERY TIME (unless they are warm and not moving). But cold kits with even the slightest hint of life...I plop them into the nest. They warm up quickly and evenly and better than anything else I have ever tried.

Saved two this morning that way. Took one 10 minutes to even move. The other wasn't quite as cold but it was nicely warmed through in about 2 minutes.
 
Thank you all for your wonderful ideas. After a couple hours in front of the heating lamp I figured there was nothing I could do. It was warm, but still not responding. It had probably been out of the nesting box for too long.
It was kinda sad since this was the first one I lost, but it wasn't too bad since I was bracing myself to lose at least two incase the doe couldn't take care of all ten (I don't have another doe to foster them off to), so the two I did lose weren't too upsetting. Well, live and learn. I think we might build up the wall a bit on the nesting box.
Thanks again!
 
Heritage Homestead":14xobqd0 said:
Thank you all for your wonderful ideas. After a couple hours in front of the heating lamp I figured there was nothing I could do. It was warm, but still not responding. It had probably been out of the nesting box for too long.
It was kinda sad since this was the first one I lost, but it wasn't too bad since I was bracing myself to lose at least two incase the doe couldn't take care of all ten (I don't have another doe to foster them off to), so the two I did lose weren't too upsetting. Well, live and learn. I think we might build up the wall a bit on the nesting box.
Thanks again!
Click to expand...

Sorry you lost them, I had a similar thing happen with one of my first litters...if you don't have babysaver wire on your doe cages, you should put a 4" strip of hardware cloth around all four sides. If you don't, this WILL happen again eventually.
 

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