Fostering Older Kits

[Desert Rose Rabbits]

Question for you guys. I have a couple kits who just aren't gaining. They look, and feel, healthy but their weight gain is very marginal. Mama seems to be drying up, which is fine since her litter is pretty much weaned right now. Anyways, I'm going to leave the two little bucks with slow gain with her, but remove all the larger kits.

In the future, though, since Kitty seems to be near bursting (and the growth rate on her kits is amazing, would it be possible to foster an older kit with her? For example, Mama's kits are just over 5 weeks old, and Kitty's kits are just over 4 weeks old. Would it be possible to foster the older kits for a few days, or would it be a disaster?

 

[Dood]

Totally possible as long as she tolerates it and doesn't try to kill them.

I have a doe who will nurse any kit of any age but she is the exception and not the rule for female rabbits.

 

[Demamma]

It all depends on the doe. I have a doe who will nurse older and younger kits along with her own kits. She is a excellent mother. The biggest age difference she cared for is about 10 days older than her own.

 

[Desert Rose Rabbits]

What's the best way to introduce them, then? Earlier in the month I fostered various kits with her by putting them in her nestbox and she fed without an issue. Now, all of the kits from all of my litters, except for the smaller guys, are going into a growout cage together during the day and they share a wall with Kitty. She never seems upset about it, or to really notice.

 

[Dood]

If that's the case then just put them in the next box.

When I try to foster to a less tolerant doe I rub down the new kit or kits with used nest box bedding of the does babies and put them in with 2-3 of her own. Works for nearly all does (I have one who really doesn't like her own offspring, let alone another's )