If she is what do I do?

ButtonsPalace · Dec 10, 2014

Ok, so my doe may be pregnant... Not sure yet, too early to palpate and no nesting signs. But if she is should I bring her and her babies after she has them seeing as it gets down into the teens and below at night or should I leave them alone seeing as she has a covered box that she would be having them in and it protects her from the weather and such and just give her tons of hay to keep them warm?

grumpy · Dec 10, 2014

Don't over-react. LOL.

If she's a first-time mama, you need to do one thing first. It's easy, but hard.

DO NOT expect her to be successful. If you have that mindset, you'll not be
extremely disappointed if she lives up to the "first-time-mama" syndrome.
She's gonna be nervous....don't add to her problems. Keep doin' what ya
been doin'. And don't make a big fuss over her. She'll pick up on that.

Make sure you've got the right size box. Give her plenty of straw for nesting.
CRAM that puppy full. She "may" make a good nest. She may not. She may
pull plenty of fur. She may not. She may have the kits in the nest. She may
not. It's a roll of the dice with any first time doe. You won't know how they'll
do, until they do it. She may be a complete FLOP on her first try. Don't hold
that against her. From then on, she may be outstanding.

If she isn't....then consider the freezer. You surely don't want to sell her
without letting the new owner know of her issues. Or, just keep her as a pet.

Zass · Dec 10, 2014

Leave the doe outside unless she's very comfortable in the house. Make sure her cage is large enough for her and a nextbox to fit in comfortably.

You can take just the kits in if it's really cold, and just bring them back to the doe for nursing. It's even easier than it sounds.

I've yet to have a first time doe completely fail, but Grumpy raises a lot more rabbits than I do, so I'd take his word for it.

ButtonsPalace · Dec 10, 2014

Should've mentioned this will be litter 2... Her first litter she was a wonderful momma to 10 beautiful little kits -- Wed Dec 10, 2014 7:11 pm --

Zass":37zfki3i said:
Leave the doe outside unless she's very comfortable in the house. Make sure her cage is large enough for her and a nextbox to fit in comfortably.

You can take just the kits in if it's really cold, and just bring them back to the doe for nursing. It's even easier than it sounds.

I've yet to have a first time doe completely fail, but Grumpy raises a lot more rabbits than I do, so I'd take his word for it.

She isn't a first time but I can bring the babies in and she won't like abandon them

This will be her second litter... I mean she is cool with being in the house but I think I would just take the babies in less mess, and stink (Our house is small)

Zass · Dec 10, 2014

ButtonsPalace":3q8pelv4 said:
Should've mentioned this will be litter 2... Her first litter she was a wonderful momma to 10 beautiful little kits

She isn't a first time but I can bring the babies in and she won't like abandon them This will be her second litter... I mean she is cool with being in the house but I think I would just take the babies in less mess, and stink (Our house is small)

Did her first litter survive? If no, what happened to them? Maybe someone can help troubleshoot.

Bunnies do not abandon their babies easily. It's not really natural for them to be confined in close proximity to their nests.
They behave more like deer, hiding their babies and only returning once or twice a day to nurse.
I keep my nestboxes inside routinely during very cold weather and have never had a doe abandon a litter..

ButtonsPalace · Dec 10, 2014

Her first litter all survived except for 2 which died early on then we had one fall out of the front of the cage when they started crawling and we think it got ate and the other 7 survived till weaning.. We sold three and had 2 pass away from sickness we think -- Wed Dec 10, 2014 7:37 pm -- Honestly not to toot my own horn but I think she is an ideal mom she was very protective of her babies but trusted me enough to handle them straight away... But anytime we would go to look at her babies she was there checking on us to see what we were doing but I mean when she first had them I had just got out of the hospital from having my gall bladder removed so I would kinda hobble out there and look at them sometimes