SuiGeneris
Member
My wife and I began raising meat rabbits back in August of 2017, starting with young rabbits that we raised to breeding age, and recently started breeding. We got two New Zealanders does (Mackenzie and Rose) from different breeders, and a Californian buck (Moose).
The first litter from Rosie had many issues - out of 9 kits, 1 was stillborn and 4 others died within a week. Close inspection of the dead kits revealed that they had all had hydrocephalus (swollen brains/heads), while those that survived did not. The survivors were otherwise healthy and reached butcher weight in 8-9 weeks. A little reading revealed that the hydrocephalus was likely due to one of two factors - genetics or Vitamin A deficiency. At this time we switched feed and started supplementing all our rabbits with vitamin A-rich foods (small amount of sweet potato or carrot) a few times each week.
Next, Mackenzie gave birth to a good sized litter (10), all healthy, although we did loose a few due to new-mom & cold weather issues. Right now she's sharing her cage with 8 3-week old bunnies. Because Mac is from a different breeder we still didn't know if we had a food issue or a genetics issue with Rosie.
Last week Rosie gave birth to her second litter; this time 11 kits. One was born ~18 hours prior to the other 10, and was still-born. We had not heard, nor did we find, any info on this happening. The next day she gave birth to the other 10. Nine currently live and are growing well (no hydrocephalus); the second one we lost was our fault - our cat grabbed it while we were weighing & checking the kits. The good news is that our initial problem with hydrocephalus was probably dietary, but we're unsure what to make of the premature birth of the one kit. One other thing that stood out about Rosies 2nd pregnancy is that she all but stopped eating and drinking in the last week, and then resumed normal eating/drinking within a day of giving birth to the full litter.
What I was wondering is if anyone knows what is going on with Rosie - especially in regards to that one kit that was stillborn a day early.
Thanks
Bryan
EDIT: I have a photo of the hydrocephalus somewhere; I'll see if I can dig it up & append it to this thread
The first litter from Rosie had many issues - out of 9 kits, 1 was stillborn and 4 others died within a week. Close inspection of the dead kits revealed that they had all had hydrocephalus (swollen brains/heads), while those that survived did not. The survivors were otherwise healthy and reached butcher weight in 8-9 weeks. A little reading revealed that the hydrocephalus was likely due to one of two factors - genetics or Vitamin A deficiency. At this time we switched feed and started supplementing all our rabbits with vitamin A-rich foods (small amount of sweet potato or carrot) a few times each week.
Next, Mackenzie gave birth to a good sized litter (10), all healthy, although we did loose a few due to new-mom & cold weather issues. Right now she's sharing her cage with 8 3-week old bunnies. Because Mac is from a different breeder we still didn't know if we had a food issue or a genetics issue with Rosie.
Last week Rosie gave birth to her second litter; this time 11 kits. One was born ~18 hours prior to the other 10, and was still-born. We had not heard, nor did we find, any info on this happening. The next day she gave birth to the other 10. Nine currently live and are growing well (no hydrocephalus); the second one we lost was our fault - our cat grabbed it while we were weighing & checking the kits. The good news is that our initial problem with hydrocephalus was probably dietary, but we're unsure what to make of the premature birth of the one kit. One other thing that stood out about Rosies 2nd pregnancy is that she all but stopped eating and drinking in the last week, and then resumed normal eating/drinking within a day of giving birth to the full litter.
What I was wondering is if anyone knows what is going on with Rosie - especially in regards to that one kit that was stillborn a day early.
Thanks
Bryan
EDIT: I have a photo of the hydrocephalus somewhere; I'll see if I can dig it up & append it to this thread
