Doe's 1st litter on the wire :(

[shumes]

Hey guys!

Jeesh I haven't been on here in a while!! I lost my last username and password so I just ended up having to create a new one. I'm glad to be back on here

Anyways, I had bred my absolute two favorite rabbits recently. Brynn, a 7 month old chestnut agouti F2 Lionhead doe and Grayson, my 8 month old black banded Dwarf Hotot buck. I saw super excited to see the babies but knew better than to get my hopes up too much about her 1st litter.

Well, 2 days late (today) I went out and low and behold, she had her babies on the wire. I'm guessing like most 1st moms she was confused about what was happening. The nestbox was untouched but she did pull fur and try to make a nest for them between the nestbox and cage wire. She had 4 perfect little babies. One looked to be all black and the other 3 were almost pure white except for a couple spot ANNNNNND black bands around their eyes!! Exactly what I was hoping to get.

Even though she obviously has mothering instinct (she made a nest and looks like to cleaned them up after they were born) it is still sad to find babies on the wire. I plan on rebreeding her to Grayson again and hope that her next litter will be a success. How long should I wait to rebreed her?

Thanks,
Savannah

 

[MamaSheepdog]

First make sure the kits are really dead- they can be so cold as to be unresponsive. Put them under your shirt or in your bra, and then get a towel into the dryer to warm up so you can wrap them in it. Or use a hair dryer on a warm setting.<br /><br />__________ Mon Apr 16, 2012 11:37 am __________<br /><br />Just wanted to get that posted quickly! Continuing... you can also put hot water into a glass jar or wine bottle and wrap that in cloth or put a sock on it as a heat source, or put them under a light.

If they are truly dead, you can rebreed her right away or in the next couple of days as long as her "parts" are not torn from the birth.

I hope they are still alive! It is so sad to find a litter on the wire- poor little guys.

 

[shumes]

First make sure the kits are really dead- they can be so cold as to be unresponsive. Put them under your shirt or in your bra, and then get a towel into the dryer to warm up so you can wrap them in it. Or use a hair dryer on a warm setting.

__________ Mon Apr 16, 2012 11:37 am __________

Just wanted to get that posted quickly! Continuing... you can also put hot water into a glass jar or wine bottle and wrap that in cloth or put a sock on it as a heat source, or put them under a light.

If they are truly dead, you can rebreed her right away or in the next couple of days as long as her "parts" are not torn from the birth.

I hope they are still alive! It is so sad to find a litter on the wire- poor little guys.

Thanks so much for the help. If they were still alive I think they would have reacted since I had them under a heat lamp for a while. (I own snakes and I'd rather these little ones go to good use so I was warming them up) They had no reaction and seem very much dead :\ *sigh*

I think I may wait a day or two before rebreeding. I was just checking Brynn to make sure she was ok and she seems quite confused. She'll go back and forth from checking her make-shift nest to jumping in the nestbox and looking around in there. There was actually a bit of blood inside the nestbox. I think maybe she had started giving birth in there and jumped out? Pretty weird.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

If you haven't already served them to your snakes, give the a while- some people have had them revive after about 2 hours, but I'm not sure what they used as a heat source. I would think a heat lamp would revive them pretty quickly.

Your doe may not be done yet, so leave her nest in the cage. I agree that waiting a couple of days is a good idea- she may even surprise you with more kits up to 2 days later. Hope springs eternal!

 

[shumes]

If you haven't already served them to your snakes, give the a while- some people have had them revive after about 2 hours, but I'm not sure what they used as a heat source. I would think a heat lamp would revive them pretty quickly.

Your doe may not be done yet, so leave her nest in the cage. I agree that waiting a couple of days is a good idea- she may even surprise you with more kits up to 2 days later. Hope springs eternal!

Oh jeez. Well two are in the freezer and two have already been served. Man, I hope I didn't mess up I had never read anything about kits "waking up" after being frozen. It's hard to believe that something that was so cold, especially a baby, could revive from it.

I moved some of her hair into the nestbox so maybe she'd get the idea in case she has any more babies. She didn't seem nervous or anything about me moving her "nest" at all. I topped up her water and food and she'll go from eating and drinking a little to jumping back in her nestbox and sniffing around. She is certainly acting like she possibly might have more babies in her. We'll see!

 

[MamaSheepdog]

At least they weren't "wasted". Live and learn. I had no idea about them being capable of it either until RT.

At least you know what your cross is capable of producing, and you wont have too long to wait before she has another litter. She will likely do fine on round two!

 

[shumes]

At least they weren't "wasted". Live and learn. I had no idea about them being capable of it either until RT.

At least you know what your cross is capable of producing, and you wont have too long to wait before she has another litter. She will likely do fine on round two!

I'll definitely keep that in mind with the future litters.

Some interesting news. I had to run out and fill up some of the rabbit's water bottles and Brynn is sitting in her nestbox pulling fur and rearranging her nest in there! I didn't get a good look because I want to leave her alone for a while but it looks like she is preparing a new nest.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

She probably just got taken by surprise with the first ones....I bet she has some more in there!

 

[shumes]

Ok then, I just went out and checked on her and she's taken all of her fur that was in the nestbox and is carrying it around her cage!! Is there anything I can do to make the nestbox more inviting for her? Or am I going to have to just wait and see what happens and hopefully catch the babies in time to put them in the nestbox?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Someone posted that they put a towel on the cage wire for does that may not kindle in the nest- I think it was SatinsRule... one of the "Satins" anyway!

 

[shumes]

Someone posted that they put a towel on the cage wire for does that may not kindle in the nest- I think it was SatinsRule... one of the "Satins" anyway!

I was thinking about putting a small box with only a slight lip in there. Do I move the babies into the nestbox afterwards or ??

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Do I move the babies into the nestbox afterwards or ??

Yes.

 

[AnnClaire]

A towel, or spread hay all over the outside floor so that if she does make a new nest outside the nest box, she will have hay to help with construction.

Any more babies?

 

[Miss M]

 

[curlysue]

I have been offering two nest boxes and too my suprise most does prefered the small cat litter boxes with no top.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

This is normal activity after she lost her litter. Allot of Does still pull more hair after kindling.Even up to 3 days later. . I dont think there is anymore babies. Just rebred her and hope for the next litter will be more of a success.