Checked on one of my nest boxes and 3 of the kits have moved to the front of the box and have made their own nest. They are all bunched together. They seem warm. Mama is guarding the box like a hawk and charges if anyone comes near. Should I move them back into the original nest?
Help.. Kits on the move
- Thread starter Jennamah
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MamaSheepdog
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Sometimes they do that. I have found that most of the time if you move them they just move themselves back anyway.
I had this happen once and upon investigation, I found a dead kit under the bedding in usual nesting spot. It was beginning to decompose and I think the mom moved the kits to the front of the box to get them away from it. Once I cleaned out the nest box and gave them fresh materials, things returned to normal.
Ok I will go check it out. If I can get past mama. You guys are the best! <br /><br /> -- Fri May 09, 2014 11:54 am -- <br /><br /> Well checked the nest. The other 2 kits were fine so I moved the three from the front back to the nest. We will see if they move forward again. Mama was not happy with me but we used cardboard to keep her away. It is funny because our other doe can careless if we play with her kits.
If you had a temp spike there like some other areas of the country sometimes they will move to the front of the box and spread out during the day. Then when they go to condense again for cooler temps they may not end up in the previous nesting location. I used to get a lot of litters during the summer than ended up in the front of the box. Does don't move kits. The kits do it themselves to stay the correct temp, clean, dry, and in position for feeding. They may look helpless but they move around pretty well when they want to.
Akane, you are perfectly right that rabbits do not move their kits by picking them up the way a dog or cat would do, but they are perfectly capable of nudging, pushing and rolling kits the short distance from one part of the box to another. Perhaps the kits moved themselves in the case I was mentioning... It was too long ago to remember details, but the impression I had at the time was that the doe had done it.
I really don't think the does are nudging them anywhere. I've had orphaned kits get in all sorts of positions in the box with no help. I overheated one litter with an electric blanket and they all took steps to survive. Some moved quite far in the large nestbox and then burrowed themselves back in to the hay.
MamaSheepdog
Well-known member
I think there is a wide range of behavior on the part of both does and kits.
We had one member witness a doe pick a kit up and move it. Another member mentioned watching a doe cover and uncover kits with fur.
I have personally never seen either behavior. I believe that most of the time it is the movement of the kits that rearranges the fur "blanket" over them, and that when they are in different parts of the nest it is usually they themselves that moved there.
We had one member witness a doe pick a kit up and move it. Another member mentioned watching a doe cover and uncover kits with fur.
I have personally never seen either behavior. I believe that most of the time it is the movement of the kits that rearranges the fur "blanket" over them, and that when they are in different parts of the nest it is usually they themselves that moved there.
