first time mommas ~pics~ update

[gardenbunny]

yay!! my girl CeeCee Bobert ( cali NZW cross) and buck Leon black( rex) gave me 13 popples today!!! it was CeeCee's second try, she's about 7 months old. its both of our first litter.
this morning i went to check i found one kit in front of the nest box in a little fur nest and one kit outside of the nest box. i put that one in the fur nest with the other and went in to record the two popples. then i went back out and noticed the real nest in the back of the nest box.
11 more popples!!!! 13 in total!!! so proud of my CeeCee girl and Leon the stud.

my question is did she make two nests, the real one and the small one because 13 is too many for her? i planned to have both my girls give birth the same week but coral( Florida white first try only 6 months old) doesn't seem to be giving birth, she's on day 32 and no haystaches yet( before i found this site i called it muppeting), i thought she was pregnant because she had teats, could she still foster if she doesn't have any babies herself? i checked their bellies today and only a few looked unfed and tiny so i put them on her and she let them nurse so i know she can nurse them i just worry its too many for her. i'm being a nervous first time momma lol

 

[Miss M]

We're all nervous wrecks with our first litters! So you're in good company.

my question is did she make two nests, the real one and the small one because 13 is too many for her?

No, most likely she had two before she quite expected them, or she had two more after she thought she was finished. They can go in with the others.

i planned to have both my girls give birth the same week but coral( Florida white first try only 6 months old) doesn't seem to be giving birth, she's on day 32 and no haystaches yet

The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley... :lol:

Don't take her nest box away. She may be late, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have any. We have usually counseled members to leave it in to day 36, but there have been a few litters born past that. (Record is day 42, all alive.)

could she still foster if she doesn't have any babies herself?

I would not think so, especially since by the time you knew for certain she wasn't going to have any, she'd probably be dried up, if she had any milk at all.

before i found this site i called it muppeting

Cute! Feel free to continue, though you may have to explain yourself.

i checked their bellies today and only a few looked unfed and tiny so i put them on her and she let them nurse so i know she can nurse them i just worry its too many for her.

That's great that she let them feed. Just keep checking for full tummies. If you have a few that are not getting fed without special sessions, you may want to break the litter up into two boxes that you keep inside. One gets fed in the morning, one in the evening. But I'd give her a fair shot at all 13, myself. She may rise to the occasion and produce enough milk for them all.

 

[Marinea]

Miss M hit all your questions, I just wanted to add "Congrats!".

They are so cute.

 

[gardenbunny]

thank you so much for being supportive and answering all my questions! the people on this site have helped me so much. thank you everyone , i'm beyond excited so watch them grow.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Adorable babies! It looks like the little one in front of your finger might be a blue one!

If my line of Rex had 13 kits, I would be worried about them all getting fed, but a Cal/NZ should be up to the job. Still, it is not uncommon to lose a couple, so don't be alarmed if you do.

It really depends on your lines. Caroline, another member here, has Rex that often have huge litters and they manage fine.

Sometimes I find kits in two different nest hollows. Sometimes they seem to do it themselves since it can be a day or two after birth that I find them like that. As long as it isn't really cold and there are at least two off on their own, I don't worry about it. Usually, even if returned to the main group, they wiggle back out to their separate nest anyway. :roll:

 

[gardenbunny]

this hobby has given me so much! i look forward to coming home , nothing at work gets to me because i know i will get to play with my rabbits ( and quail). my whole life i wanted to be surrounded by animals and now i can be without adding to over population of pets. one of my bucks ran away and came back the next morning haha. thank you everyone for the support and much needed advice <br /><br /> -- Wed Jul 02, 2014 8:32 pm -- <br /><br /> we're down to 12 out of 13 found a dead one in the bottom of the pile. now that i look at the fed unfed kits pics from the forum i think they are all underfed. non have a full looking belly all are kinda flapped skinned wrinkly , should i take a couple out to sacrifice so the rest can get full tummies? i flipped her and had each one latch so i could see if any were too weak to latch.

 

[Zass]

Feeding her some black oil sunflower seeds might help with milk supply.

 

[Sagebrush]

You can try splitting the litter into two separate nest boxes and take one out in the morning and the other one out in the evening for her to feed. That along with the BOSS that Zass suggested should help her feed all those kits.

 

[gardenbunny]

do I put the nest box in a leave it there a few hours or do I manually nurse them all like hold them up to her?

 

[Sagebrush]

When you put the nest box in she should hop in almost immediately and nurse them for just a few minutes. Maybe try an hour incase she is not wanting to nurse them infront of you though.

 

[gardenbunny]

omg great news!!! my other doe had babies on day 34( thank you to everyone who said leave the nest box in there) she had blood on her so she may still be birthing but there is 3 so far. i'm so excited!! now i can foster and each doe can have a reasonable amount!!! way to go coral castle( florida white 6 months old) and Leon Black my rex stud, how long should i wait before i foster? i'll have to read up on fostering never really thought i woudl need to do it but 12 for one and 3 for the other doesnt seem fair to the tiny babies struggling to get teat time.

 

[ek.blair]

WOW!! Congrats! I would suggest fostering as well but have not had to myself yet, so yea, read up on it and if you have questions I am sure someone can answer them. That pinky in the foreground seems HUGE!

 

[gardenbunny]

okay i picked 4 kits and brought them to Coral's cage, put them in the pile of her 3 kits. there was some squealing but then each doe jumped into her nest box and nursed a little bit. i'm no longer worried about the kits getting enough milk. so thankful Coral really was pregnant and didn't have like 10.
CeeCee had 12(1 died) but now has 8 and Coral had 3 but now has 7. since CeeCee is the skiddish one and she nursed them in front of me without me forcing her, i am really happy. thanks for the advice and support everyone

 

[Marinea]

Yay for more kits!

Just a note- keep an eye on Coral. She may not be done.

 

[ilovehome]

Congrats on your first kits and good job!

 

[Miss M]

:congratulations: again!

Glad you were able to foster some over. I think it was 3mina recently who bred three does at once, so she could foster if she needed to, and they had litters of 13, 14, and 16. :roll:

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Congratulations on litter #2!

Now that you fostered some, do the first kits look better? They didn't look good in the picture you posted on the 2nd- the doe's milk must not have been in yet.

 

[gardenbunny]

wow 13,14, and 16!! thats alot of babies!!

yes they do look more plump,thank you for asking. they came out plump but soon became wrinkly empty belly babies, i was worried. it was sad to see them all wrinkly and starving i would have to hold each one up to her to nurse but now that there is fewer i saw her nursing them.

i'm so happy coral only had 3 because it was too many for poor ceecee to handle. when i moved them she nursed her new litter and looked relieved they could all drink not fight over who gets to drink. she's usually a skiddish little brat but she's become so calm now. both are first time mommies so a manageable amount will help them get used to motherhood. thanks for the help and support everyone, ppl don't usually get my hobby/passion

my question is when can i put coral back in her exercise pen? before she was in it everyday for a few hours and the week she was due i stopped putting her in it. ( i was afraid she would give birth in the pen) she's always been very social, she loves ppl petting her and will rub her chin on you. when i took the nest box out to check the babies she wouldn't move out of the spot it was in , is she telling me to remove them during the day?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I think that you can let Coral back into her exercise pen anytime. If she was a wild rabbit she would not stay close to her nest anyway. She just needs to be able to nurse her kits morning and evening, although some does only nurse once daily.

 

[gardenbunny]

oh i lost another 2 :S so confused, ceecee now has 6 instead of 8 and coral still has 7 (in two nests) coral is superior in all way she's my star girl. should i just make her nurse them all in two shifts if ceecee won't? ceecee's babies looks plumper but not as plump as coral's, i'm confused i saw her voluntarily nurse her babies when i fostered some of her kits yesterday.