holland lop first litter all dead

[palmettolop]

My holland lop had her first litter today while I was at work. All were dead and seemed to have bruising on their heads. She had 3 good size kits. I guess this is pretty normal for first litter? She didn't try to eat them or anything which is good. How long should I wait to rebreed? I found two in the litter box with pulled fur and one in the nest box with more pulled fur. She was sitting on the two in the litter box. Not sure if that means anything b/c I don't know how long it had been. I'm guessing they were born dead due to the head bruising. Feel sad for her

 

[Bad Habit]

You can rebreed right away - it'll give her a larger litter, and smaller kits. The babies might have been lost because they were too large for her first birth. I know that my one doe, when she had her first litter, stepped on two of them and they passed because of that - it may have been something similar for your babies.

Sorry that you lost them, but hopefully she produces a nice litter for you after her next breeding.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

First off, make sure the kits are truly dead. The saying here is "They aren't dead until they are warm and dead." - so warm those kits up! I usually warm up some towels in the dryer and then put them inside and close the door to keep the heat in. Other people dip them in a bowl of warm water, making sure to keep their mouths and noses out of it.<br /><br />__________ Fri Dec 21, 2012 3:35 pm __________<br /><br />It sounds like she has pretty good instincts- she was just a little confused. She will likely do much better next time.

You can rebreed right away as Bad Habit said, but you might want to wait until tomorrow just in case she hasn't actually finished delivering yet.

:welcome: to RabbitTalk, by the way! I hope you will have a happier post to share with us soon!

 

[palmettolop]

I did try and warm them up and they remained dead. Next time I'll try and take the day off she is due. She had them on day 31 like clockwork.They did appear large to me and had purple and red bruising on their heads. Could be from her jumping on them or from delivery. Not sure. Thanks for the tips.

 

[tm_bunnyloft]

Welcome to RT. I hope that her next litter goes better for you. And I also have heard that if you rebreed right away the litters with be larger with smaller kits. I couldn't say about the bruising. When I have had stuck kits before, they were really stretched when finally delivered. Maybe someone else here will have an answer for you on that.