Kits opening eyes at 7 days?!

[ButtonsPalace]

I thought I was insane when I saw one of my kits peeking at me yesterday, told myself there was no way it had already been 10 days, so this morning I look on my phone calendar and in my notebook to find they are only 8 days old today!!! What in the world?! How are their eyes open already?, I would've understood if the litter came a few days late but nope she kindled day 31 on the dot, andI thought I was insane when I saw one of my kits peeking at me yesterday, told myself there was no way it had already been 10 days, so this morning I look on my phone calendar and in my notebook to find they are only 8 days old today!!! What in the world?! How are their eyes open already?, I would've understood if the litter came a few days late but nope she kindled day 31 on the dot, and she was only bred once, only had one fall off, it was her first breeding so I didn't think she took, she laid in one spot in her cage for all of 2 weeks and then we moved her into a bigger space for when she kindled, sure enough she had 11, but that has nothing to do with my issue, are these kits going to be ok? Is there something I should know about having kits that start opening their eyes at 7 days. Also this isn't the first litter to do this but all the others were 2-3 days late so I expected them to open their eyes a bit early, but not these. she was only bred once, only had one fall off, it was her first breeding so I didn't think she took, she laid in one spot in her cage for all of 2 weeks and then we moved her into a bigger space for when she kindled, sure enough she had 11, but that has nothing to do with my issue, are these kits going to be ok? Is there something I should know about having kits that start opening their eyes at 7 days. Also this isn't the first litter to do this but all the others were 2-3 days late so I expected them to open their eyes a bit early, but not these.

 

[KimitsuKouseki]

Well see I have the opposite issue right now. The kits that were born on the 4th have yet to open their eyes. The ones on the 5th are open, the ones from the 7th are open.

The doe who gave birth on the 4th got sick, so she had very little milk. I had to foster some of her kits for a while to the one who gave birth on the 5th, but that one is a bad mom so they got neglected though at least they got fed a bit. Now they are back with their own mom but still no open eyes.

My theory? it comes down to how well they were fed. If the doe feeds em a ton it probly speeds up development, but since mine are somewhat starved from the mom being sick it slowed down their growth. The 10 days thing is a norm to use as guidelines, but theres variations some times. Yours were most likelly just very well fed.

 

[ButtonsPalace]

Good to know my girls are feeding their kits well, I free feed them all the time so they probably make more milk than the babies can drink most days. Glad to know my does and kits are ok. For the ones with their eyes still shut, I'd buy some organic black tea and make a cup of it without sweetener or anything and rub it gently across their eyes to help them open them up. Black tea is good for nest box eye and I've used it to help open their eyes as well

 

[2CrazyFools]

We normally get eyes opening at day 9-11, but Della Rose was peaking at me at day 7! By day 10 they all had their eyes open. In my case it certainly had nothing to do with how well momma was feeding them Sorry kits..

But I wouldn't worry about it, I just assumed my kits aged a little longer in the womb since they also seemed to be getting fuzzy quicker than the others. Clover's litter came out on day 30 for her, and if they should have been out by day 28 (I'm just making a boatload of assumptions) then add 2 days to Della's eyes opening and you've got peaking at day 9, had she been born on day 28. But again, that was just my thought process on why they were all early, especially her.

 

[KimitsuKouseki]

I'm not worried about mine, their developpement was slow due to the low milk, I'm lucky I managed to save 4 out of 6 at all. I almost lost the mother to that diarrhea and the foster is a bad mom I'm about to cull afterall. Some started opening their eyes today, as long as there's no infection or anything worrysome I see no point in doing anything. I just mentionned mine to compare to yours.

Doesnt mean your doe is overfeeding yours per say, just means they are well fed and their devellopment went smoothly and they are a bit early thanks to it. Just smile about it ^^ it's a good thing

 

[ButtonsPalace]

Day 31 is the average kindling day, with 28 being earliest and 39 so far being latest I've heard of. All the kits seem to be growing way faster than my normal kits, but I've got very good about writing down exactly when I breed in multiple places, so I know for sure they were born exactly day 31, funnily enough the other doe had hers on day 33 and they still haven't opened their eyes, although I have noticed a pattern amongst late kindles being faster developing, these guys came right on time, they were some of the tiniest babies I've ever seen to be honest, they were like little mice, no longer than my pinkie and no thicker than my thumb, once I split them into a litter of 6(2 of older does and 4 of first time moms) and 7(remainder of first time moms) they really started growing fast, the runt is still about half the size of the rest so I switched one of the bigger kits from the 6 in with the 7 and put the runt in the smaller litter, he's grown quite a bit since