Doe distressed by screaming babies

Imogen Rose · May 24, 2014

Hello, this is my first hands on litter, so im a little unsure/worried about a few things!
I handled my babies today, the same as every day, they are 9 days old and one of them screamed alot!
This distressed the doe, who thumped and got upset. So I took her out of the cage and cuddled her to get my smell on her. I finished checking the babies and put the box back in with her. Im worried that she will desert them?
Is she past the point of abandoning them? I didnt think the baby would scream after being held every day since birth...
Someone please tell me im worrying over nothing :blush:

Zass · May 24, 2014

Someone please tell me I'm worrying over nothing :blush:

I think you are.

I've had a couple kits scream for various reasons. I've never had a doe totally abandon a litter.

MamaSheepdog · May 24, 2014

Imogen Rose":1p0sfckt said:
I handled my babies today, the same as every day, they are 9 days old and one of them screamed alot!

I didnt think the baby would scream after being held every day since birth...

Maybe it screamed because now it could see- "Aaaaahhh! The ground is wa-a-a-y down there!"

Actually, I have no idea why it screamed this time. :? I have only ever had one "screamer" kit in a litter, but it screamed the first time I picked it up.

Imogen Rose":1p0sfckt said:
Im worried that she will desert them?

I'm sure she wont do that. She heard the scream which means "rabbit in distress" so her instinctive response was to thump to warn others of danger.

Imogen Rose · May 24, 2014

Thanks

It just really caught me by surprise! I was sitting on the floor holding him to me... same as every morning for the last nine days of his life.
I guess he saw this weird giant staring at him.

They all have open eyes today, which was very pleasing but earlier than I expected.

Should I change the nest box materials? I want too because of the pee, but didnt want to upset mamma buns.
Every time I pick up every single kit they pee... will they stop doing this at some point??

MamaSheepdog · May 24, 2014

You can change the nesting material if you think it needs it. A lot of our members do so right around the nine day mark to prevent "nestbox eye". I personally don't because when my kits are born I put a handful of pine pellets in the nest hollow and that seems to absorb all of the urine and keep the nest dry. However, if a nest gets wet (sometimes the does push it under the water valve) or soiled in some other way, I do change it out, and none of my does has ever been upset by it.

I always try to save as much fur as possible to replace in the nest, but at this age they should have enough fur of their own to keep warm, so if you lose some of it that should be okay.