SilverFeather
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- Joined
- Jun 30, 2020
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Hello all, I am new and hope this is the right place to post this question.
One of my does had her first litter a couple of months ago. At the 2 week mark she started digging furiously at the corners of her cage every night, though she wasn't hay-stashing. In an attempt to settle her down, we gave her a nest box. She set to work building a nest for a couple of days, then settled down without any more digging. It was so early that we thought it might be a false pregnancy, but on day 31 she had a healthy litter of 6 kits, who all grew up and are all weaned at this point. She never used the nest as a litter box, and once she built her nest she pretty much ignored it until the night of.
A week ago we bred her again, along with another doe. I am starting to see both of them scratching at their cages now, though not as desperately. It is so early, it seems really abnormal to give my does nest boxes now. Are they really trying to make nests this early? and is that tendency genetic? Should I give in and give them both nest boxes, or should I wait?
I bought my breeders four months ago, and the first litter I mentioned was my first time breeding rabbits. Any advice would be very welcome!
I have American Chinchillas, all of my rabbits came from the same rabbitry. My does are related, one's grandmother is the other's mother. I have my rabbits setup so that I can see them through the window, so I spend a lot of time watching what they are up to.
One of my does had her first litter a couple of months ago. At the 2 week mark she started digging furiously at the corners of her cage every night, though she wasn't hay-stashing. In an attempt to settle her down, we gave her a nest box. She set to work building a nest for a couple of days, then settled down without any more digging. It was so early that we thought it might be a false pregnancy, but on day 31 she had a healthy litter of 6 kits, who all grew up and are all weaned at this point. She never used the nest as a litter box, and once she built her nest she pretty much ignored it until the night of.
A week ago we bred her again, along with another doe. I am starting to see both of them scratching at their cages now, though not as desperately. It is so early, it seems really abnormal to give my does nest boxes now. Are they really trying to make nests this early? and is that tendency genetic? Should I give in and give them both nest boxes, or should I wait?
I bought my breeders four months ago, and the first litter I mentioned was my first time breeding rabbits. Any advice would be very welcome!
I have American Chinchillas, all of my rabbits came from the same rabbitry. My does are related, one's grandmother is the other's mother. I have my rabbits setup so that I can see them through the window, so I spend a lot of time watching what they are up to.
