Moved babies into house because of heat. Have a question?

[matthewsfamily90]

Hello everyone.

The heat wave hit and killed my 2 day old litters. So I moved the newborns into the house and have been taking them to the mom every night and I bring them in before I head off to work for the last 14 days. My question is while they are inside do they need water or some pellets? This is my first litter so I guess this is learning the hard way. Thank you for any information.

 

[SatinsRule]

IMHO, you really should be keeping the mom inside with the litter at all times, and yes, the mom needs water at all times. Being free-fed (having feed in the feeder pretty much around the clock) while she's nursing the litter isn't always a bad idea, either, but that can vary based upon what breed she is.

 

[MaggieJ]

Twice a day feeding would likely be better than once a day... although a lot of does only feed once. If they are two weeks old and their eyes are open, they are likely beginning to be active and leave the nest. It would be a good idea to make solid food and a shallow dish of water available to them so they can slowly begin to take an interest in them. Grass hay is the best first solid food for rabbit kits, but you can also give them whatever you feed the adults. The fibre in the hay helps the kits to make the adjustment from just milk to solid foods.

 

[Legacy]

I disagree about the mom needing to be in the house with the litter. She is acclimated to the heat and if you start bringing her in, she would loose her ability to manage the heat. When I bring my babies in, I try to keep them in the warmest part of the house so they don't get used to the a/c. I also only bring them in when when it gets too hot around 12 or 1. I know you don't have the ability to do that if you are at work during that time. And I only bring them in until they are big enough to be out of the box.

 

[SatinsRule]

Legacy, I was talking about more of a continual basis (i.e., the mom being with the litter all day). IMHO, there is a socialization issue involved here, and when you start taking the mom away from the bunnies for extended periods of time, you may lose that.

 

[ilovehome]

I left a pregnant doe in the barn until 2 days before she was due. She and the week old kits are in the garage now. I was not worried about the kits so much, but it takes a lot out of the does to nurse, and I just do not expect them to do that in this extreme heat. Usually, I will not breed for summer deliveries because of it, but this was an exception.

If it is hot enough to kill kits, then I would keep an extra special watch on nursing does still in the heat.

 

[ladysown]

once the kits are two weeks old, leave them out with mom. Tilt the box on the side after removing all the gick of the nestbox. They should be just fine at that point. The box and fur hold in the heat. once the fur is gone and all the straw and the closeness of the box they should do just fine.

What I did with mine over the hot days was took out ALL the fur that was covering them and left them outside. They all did just fine. Might be something to consider for next time.
\
and yes, it's all a learning curve.

 

[matthewsfamily90]

Thank you all for the information, they will be two weeks tomorrow. I will try leaving them outside in the next few days with the nest box on its side and update how things go. Thanks again. P.S. I was hoping that the babies could handle the heat, but I did not take out the fur and the moms pulled a bunch and the newborns were not ready for it. I plan to only breed from Sept. to April from now on.

 

[akane]

My younger rabbits seem the most durable to the heat. So long as they don't get covered up in fur or something they don't seem to even notice it. Most of my litters in late spring flattened all the fur down and laid on top of it in a loose pile so even the series of 2 or 3 90-100F days we kept having periodically didn't bother them. My early summer litters actually left the nest before their eyes were open to lay on the patches of cleared off rubber mat the other rabbits had created. However my litters are in colonies and usually in large open nests rather than nestboxes unless I move them to the nestbox or my creme doe in winter would bury the nestbox in a huge mound of bedding and use it. After using a nestbox without fail and building huge nests over winter my creme doe switched to building her spring and summer nests in a low sided stock tank full of sand I gave them for digging. It's impressive how the colony rabbits can adjust to the different temperatures and weather extremes to keep their litters healthy. It's the does and especially the pregnant ones that stress in the heat. I am definitely not breeding my champagne doe until fall because she has heat issues as is. My creme doe is the only one pregnant right now and seems to be doing ok aside from very inactive and eating less than would probably be best.

 

[matthewsfamily90]

Hi everyone, once again thanks for all the help. I gave the babies some sweet grass hay and pellets and a small dish of water and they starting chewing on that stuff right away. Last night I placed the nestbox on its side and the babies had a feed from mom and curled up in the corner of the nestbox.

 

[MaggieJ]

Great! It sounds like all is going well now.

 

[PulpFaction]

If they are opening their eyes and starting to pop out of the litter box, I would start leaving them outside again. Tip the nest box on its side and take the fur out and just leave a little clean bedding to absorb any urine...

Just read some of the other responses. Glad it's going well!

 

[matthewsfamily90]

Sad ending to the story. wife called me at work and at 10 am they had a small bowl of water and were sleeping in the nest box turned on its side and at 1:30pm she called me back and said 2 of five babies are dead and 3 are hot and having trouble breathing. It was 100 F at the time. My son brought the rest in the house, by the time I got home they were all dead. Like I said before will only breed from Sept to April.

 

[MaggieJ]

Sad ending indeed. So sorry you lost them. Perhaps the change to the hot temperatures was too abrupt for them to cope with.

 

[fuzzy9]

Awww, I'm so sorry. This weather has been so miserable lately, I wish it would just cool down!

I had 2 new nestbox litters born right before the heat hit this last time, and I chose to leave them in the barn with mom. Risky, yes, but to me it was a better option than pulling them in the home. We have central air, and the temps in the home vs. out in the barn were just to drastically different. It would have been too much of a temp change for their little bodies to get used to, and perhaps, as Maggie said, that is what happened to your kits. I just pulled the top layer of fur that was covering the kits off each morning, and during each check that I did during the day if mom put it back. I held each to make sure the heat wasn't to much for them once in a while, and that they were active. I didn't lose any, and they all made it through ok thankfully, so it seems to be working this way.

 

[ilovehome]

Oh, that just bites! Especially when it's one of your first litters and you are trying so hard to do what is best for them--so sorry for your losses.

 

[Legacy]

Yes, that is sad. Sorry to hear about your loss. That is one reason I leave my babies outside until the temps get up there pretty high and then only leave them in the house until the temps drop below 100. I am thankful that I am blessed to get to stay home so I can cater to their needs. It's hard to do that when you work and can only deal with morning and night. This heat is awful.

 

[ilovehome]

Boy, I sure was irritated yesterday. I was looking forward to some mid 90 degree weather for a few days. Got on line to check the 10 day forecast-they had changed it. 99-103 the next 10 days straight! Ugg. I feel sorry for those even farther south.