Deer Heart
Well-known member
Figured I'd make a new thread for this. (NOTE: I LIVE IN FLORIDA, It is still mid 80's - low 90's during day with lows at nights still in the 70's, but humidity is very high) I presently have 2 nests, nest #1 has 5 kits born Saturday morning (8/29) and nest #2 has 8 kits born the night before Tursday (9/3) (I am unsure on exact times for either kindling, if they were night/early morning as neither doe was actually due to kindle so soon, nest #2 wasn't technically due until around today >>)
Nest #1 is doing great except for being rained out thoroughly. I tried changing nesting material but babies are still sticky and discolored 24 hours after the fact. They are very warm but they look gross and I don;t think this is healthy for them.
Nest #2 is in bad shape. I discovered babies Thursday morning, assuming mom had them early that morning, we are past the 72 hour mark now - if she had them the night before, we are reaching the 90 hour mark now (this is 3 days going on 4). Fur was never pulled and babies have not been fed. I have been giving her a tablespoon of calf manna every day since (she will woof it down) and gave her a tablespoon of parsley yesterday (she took a nibble and ignored it. I later found the dish tipped over so I don't know if she ever ate more than that) I held momma bunny on her babies yesterday evening for 15 minutes. Mom seemed okay with this and even groomed several kits. Once the time was up, I let her leave on her own accord. Not one kit appeared to have any change to their tummies. I offered another teaspoon of parsley today and mom sniffed it but seemed disinterested. I offered her calf manna which she gobbled up. She is also barely touching her normal feed but is drinking her water normally.
I have no pulled fur for either nest but I am working on a load of laundry right now to obtain dryer lint as a substitute.
What could I possibly do at this point? Is it possible for her milk to come in this late? Did the fact her litter was early by several days partly to blame? I didn't think much of it before but now I'm really confused.
Worse yet, I just caught a rat snake an hour ago attempting to get into nest #1 (it was trying to go in through the baby wire, thankfully it did not realize just a few inches higher and it would have had the normal wire to squeeze through). I love rat snakes but much to my anguish I had no choice. I killed the snake in question (I still feel horrible). This is not even a day after I caught an entirely different rat snake because it squirmed into my rat tub, killed and ate my rat Marty, then was too fat to get back out. I still have that one confined. I was worried about it killing buns and was planning to release it back outside once I arranged for it's release elsewhere... but now I'm just shell shocked. Apparently they do target buns and the rains have been making them crawl up everywhere and come into peoples houses right now. This one already proved too that it has no qualms coming into human homes and eating human pets... but it targeted a rat. Not a bunny. Two different smells and it looks extremely healthy.
Killing one was bad enough. I'm moving ASAP though So even if she does turn into a bunny killer, I wont be here much longer.
Nest #1 is doing great except for being rained out thoroughly. I tried changing nesting material but babies are still sticky and discolored 24 hours after the fact. They are very warm but they look gross and I don;t think this is healthy for them.
Nest #2 is in bad shape. I discovered babies Thursday morning, assuming mom had them early that morning, we are past the 72 hour mark now - if she had them the night before, we are reaching the 90 hour mark now (this is 3 days going on 4). Fur was never pulled and babies have not been fed. I have been giving her a tablespoon of calf manna every day since (she will woof it down) and gave her a tablespoon of parsley yesterday (she took a nibble and ignored it. I later found the dish tipped over so I don't know if she ever ate more than that) I held momma bunny on her babies yesterday evening for 15 minutes. Mom seemed okay with this and even groomed several kits. Once the time was up, I let her leave on her own accord. Not one kit appeared to have any change to their tummies. I offered another teaspoon of parsley today and mom sniffed it but seemed disinterested. I offered her calf manna which she gobbled up. She is also barely touching her normal feed but is drinking her water normally.
I have no pulled fur for either nest but I am working on a load of laundry right now to obtain dryer lint as a substitute.
What could I possibly do at this point? Is it possible for her milk to come in this late? Did the fact her litter was early by several days partly to blame? I didn't think much of it before but now I'm really confused.
Worse yet, I just caught a rat snake an hour ago attempting to get into nest #1 (it was trying to go in through the baby wire, thankfully it did not realize just a few inches higher and it would have had the normal wire to squeeze through). I love rat snakes but much to my anguish I had no choice. I killed the snake in question (I still feel horrible). This is not even a day after I caught an entirely different rat snake because it squirmed into my rat tub, killed and ate my rat Marty, then was too fat to get back out. I still have that one confined. I was worried about it killing buns and was planning to release it back outside once I arranged for it's release elsewhere... but now I'm just shell shocked. Apparently they do target buns and the rains have been making them crawl up everywhere and come into peoples houses right now. This one already proved too that it has no qualms coming into human homes and eating human pets... but it targeted a rat. Not a bunny. Two different smells and it looks extremely healthy.
Killing one was bad enough. I'm moving ASAP though So even if she does turn into a bunny killer, I wont be here much longer.
