DIRTING IN THE NEST BOX

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

THanks ...<br /><br />__________ Fri Apr 20, 2012 5:50 pm __________<br /><br />Well, i guess i was jumping up and down to much and ginks myself. I did my chores for the night and checked on the new babies. Well, i am glad i did. She peed in the box on the babies and 6 dead .Cold. I save 3 babies i took them on her and move the remaining 3 to another mom who only had 1 baby which is 3 times the size of the ones i put in there . And it was only 3 days old. I will know in the morning if she feed all of them if not i guess i will be taking over . I am bumbed about it.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Oh no! ((Hugs!)) What a disappointment.

I hope the last three make it. Better luck with doe #2.

 

[skysthelimit]

I'm so sorry.
This is one of the reasons why I take all of my nest boxes from the does after feeding and into the house with me. I guess I just don't trust them in that space, too easy to empty a nest box in a cage, just moving it around.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

YOu know stythelimit. I just told my husband the exact same thing. I told him for now on i am taking the nest box out .I am waiting for the other doe to kindle and i am doing that.
I have others that i am waiting on. And no more nest boxes staying in the cage.
The other three babies with the other mom is doing good, She feed them. At least i have some.
I have a question for you. When do you starting leaving the box in with mom?

 

[skysthelimit]

YOu know stythelimit. I just told my husband the exact same thing. I told him for now on i am taking the nest box out .I am waiting for the other doe to kindle and i am doing that.
I have others that i am waiting on. And no more nest boxes staying in the cage.
The other three babies with the other mom is doing good, She feed them. At least i have some.
I have a question for you. When do you starting leaving the box in with mom?

Usually somewhere after they start opening their eyes and can get in an out of the box by themselves, when they are able to maneuver. Happens between 16-24 days for my rexes.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

Doe #2 had her babies last night. SHe had 4. All broken reds. I am so happy. SHe is looking after them. But i do Bring all of the nest boxes in at night. So i dont get any more surprises in the morning. lol

 

[Jessykah]

if i were you i wouldn't put the boxes indoors if you are taking them from the doe. too much temperature fluctuation. i take the box & put it in an empty sterile cage with door closed so that it remains outside, but protected from predators. when i had a doe that peed and pooped in the nestbox, i just removed it and let her nurse them once every morning, early. you can do it twice a day if you want. they eagerly start nursing for me.
how are they doing now mary ann?

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

I stopped bring in the other ones and i still bring in the one that means allot to me. I bring it in at night only. Back out early morning, And i keep the nest with mom until i am done for the night. Around 730 or 8 pm. I bring it in. I am scared of losing this litter. I paid allot of money for doe and buck and got them ship on a plane from California. SO i guess you can say i am bit paranoid. ..So far it works. She is a good mom. But the weather lately sucks. Only it stop rainy and snowing and warms back up. Then i will starting leaving them with mom again. The temperature changes dosnt hurt them.
But ,thanks anyways jess

 

[skysthelimit]

if i were you i wouldn't put the boxes indoors if you are taking them from the doe. too much temperature fluctuation.

I don't heat my house at all, only the room where I sleep, mainly because I spent most of my day at work, no sense heating the house then, and I only use one room. The big difference is the insulation, that's about it. But I don't think it's much of a big difference, especially if they are in most of the time and only out in the barn the time it takes for me to do chores. The inside of the box is pretty warm, much hotter than I keep any room.

 

[Jessykah]

if i were you i wouldn't put the boxes indoors if you are taking them from the doe. too much temperature fluctuation.

I don't heat my house at all, only the room where I sleep, mainly because I spent most of my day at work, no sense heating the house then, and I only use one room. The big difference is the insulation, that's about it. But I don't think it's much of a big difference, especially if they are in most of the time and only out in the barn the time it takes for me to do chores. The inside of the box is pretty warm, much hotter than I keep any room.

Makes sense.

 

[Jill]

Wow. So sad to lose those six babies. Do things like this happen often? I haven't bred my rabbit and when I read about all that can go wrong (freezing to death, stomping, cannibalism, stillborn litters, etc) I don't know if I want to. Too much death and sadness. I don't know what I would do with all the little rabbit bodies anyway. I like to think about breeding American Sables in the future. But I don't know how much I would actually enjoy it if deaths are so common. How common are we talking? Especially the stomping and cannibalism thing? I don't know if I would like my rabbit as much if she ate her babies.

 

[MaggieJ]

Jill, things can go wrong, especially with young, inexperienced does (and owners) but most kits born grow up just fine. It is fairly common to lose one or two out of a litter and, of course, chilling can be a problem in colder months if the doe doesn't pull enough fur.

A true cannibalistic doe is rare. Most does, however, finding a dead kit in the nest, will eat it in an effort to clean up the nest. It's just nature's way of protecting the living kits from disease due to rotting flesh.

On a forum like this one, you do find a lot of posts about problems people are having. Naturally they want to learn to prevent them in the future. Don't let this skew your view of raising rabbits. Go to the Random Rabbit Ramblings section and you will see all kinds of happy stories about members' healthy bouncy popples.