my doe is building her nest on the wire--please help.

[portia]

My doe who is due to have her first litter tonight refuses to use her nest box. I have refilled with straw three times now and it all gets pulled out. The good news is she is trying to build a nest in the corner of the cage, but every time I move it back into the nest box she just rips it out again and rebuilds on the wire. It is still a little chilly at night here and I'm worried that the kits won't make in a nest on the wire. If she insists on kindling on the wire in her own nest, can I move them into the nest box when I find them or is that likely to cause problems? She has been digging in the nest box, ripping the cardboard to shreds, and pooping in it

 

[ek.blair]

Can you move the nest box to the corner that she has been trying to build the nest in? Maybe even put what she has been using to build the nest into the nest box after you move it.

 

[portia]

I feel like I have been chasing her around the cage with the nest box. I keep scooping the nest she makes up and putting it in the box and moving the box into whichever corner she was building her nest. She just picks a new corner and starts again!

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Can you move the nest box to the corner that she has been trying to build the nest in?

I keep scooping the nest she makes up and putting it in the box and moving the box into whichever corner she was building her nest. She just picks a new corner and starts again!

I had a doe once that did that too! It was so frustrating! :angry:

You need to take her out of the cage and line the floor with cardboard. Also do the sides up to about 4"-6" if you don't have baby saver wire, securing the cardboard to the wire with zip ties. Then just load the cage up with hay and shavings so even if the kits wander away from her "nest" they will be able to stay warm.

Once she is finished kindling you can move the kits to a proper nestbox and remove all of the cardboard and bedding that you put in the cage. She should accept the new nest situation at that point- just make sure to put the box where she kindled.

 

[Dood]

Assuming you have baby saver spacing along the bottom you can stuff her cage with straw and once she has kindled you can move them to a nest box.

 

[Miss M]

I had a doe do this once. The exact same thing, with me moving the nest box with her latest nest in it and everything. Thank goodness we actually caught her in the act of kindling (on a pile of hay on the wire). We basically rescued them as they strayed away from the nest, and put them in a bucket with hay and dryer lint. When she was finally finished, we AGAIN moved her nest into the nest box, and put the babies in there. She finally gave up and used the nest box.

But you may not be so lucky. The others have great suggestions. You may also try giving her an open-top cardboard box, instead. Maybe she'll take to it better, and you can move her to the nest box after the babies are born? :shrug: But definitely the others' ideas. It may give them enough time for you to find them and warm them up.

 

[portia]

Thank you all for the great suggestions!! I just came in from lining her cage with cardboard and filling it up with 6 plus inches of straw, it looks quite comfy. She is back in and poking around happily . She did NOT like being moved to a new cage while I got everything sorted, is it likely to affect her kits? I am paranoid about aborted pregnancies (not that I have ever had it happen). I guess either way something had to happen because they weren't going to survive on the wire unless I got lucky and got to them quickly.

 

[Miss M]

It is remotely possible that she could abort, but not likely at all. Many members have moved pregnant does with no problems at all.

You are right, the only way to save babies born on the wire is to be there during or VERY SOON after they are born. You have done all you can do to extend the amount of time you have to find them.

If she does not have them in the nest box, and they seem dead when you find them, remember the saying we have here: "They're not dead until they are warm and dead." Stuff them in your shirt next to your skin, snuggle them up to a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel, put them on top of a ziploc bag of hot water, with something thin above and beneath them. Put them in a freshly-tumbled towel, inside the dryer. Warm them up. Many kits have been saved that seemed dead.

Fingers crossed that all goes well! :clover:

 

[squidpop]

I'm glad you found a solution. When my doe did the same thing and kept pooing in the nest box no matter where I moved it, and building her nest somewhere else, I just imagined she decided the nest box was a litter box and it was crazy for me keep putting her nest in the litterbox! I finally just put a cardboard box in the cage and she happily built her nest in that.

 

[portia]

I went out and checked on her this morning and sure enough there were babies in two separate nests in the straw. She had 5 in a nicely made nest in the corner all covered in fur and well fed, and another three less well fed, uncovered, in a little depression in the center of the cage. I wonder if she got surprised :shock: . She was really concerned about the three when I found them, kept going to check on them and seemed relieved when I moved them into the real nest.
So as soon as the kids get dropped off at school I will move everyone into a new cage and transfer the nest and babies into a nest box. I hope it goes well! What are the chances that she is going to rip into the box like she did earlier? I am a little worried about it .

 

[Dood]

It's hard to say but usually once the kits are born the does stop fiddling with it and leave the nest alone except to feed the kits.

My sisters doe often has two nests and doesn't get upset when we put them togeather.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Wow, eight kits? Nice litter! I'm glad you were able to save them!

What are the chances that she is going to rip into the box like she did earlier? I am

They shred the box when they are in the "I am digging a burrow for my kits" stage of nesting... so as long as she is past that now she wont shred the box. However, since she is a little confused, apparently, I would check on her periodically through the day to make sure she doesn't begin digging again. Since she pulled fur she is probably beyond that point, but better to err on the side of caution and watch her anyway.

If she does start to dig or otherwise rearrange the nest, just remove the kits to a safe place and bring them back to her this evening to feed. Some people will just take the nest and kits out, but I feel it is better for the doe to have the opportunity to go through all the steps (even if out of order) so she will hopefully get everything right the next time.

 

[portia]

Thank you everyone for your help! I am just getting ready to go move everything around, so I will let you know tomorrow how it goes. Those kits would have been goners without the cardboard and straw in the bottom of the cage.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Those kits would have been goners without the cardboard and straw in the bottom of the cage.

Yes, unless you found them soon after. They can last longer when it is warm, but they don't regulate their temperature very well, so kits that wander away from the others lose body heat rapidly. As Miss M said, though, even seemingly dead kits can revive once warmed up.

I myself was very lucky on Sunday night. We were out all day and didn't arrive back until about 10 p.m., and I immediately went to check on the does that were expecting litters.

I found one of my Satin does sitting on the wire with 10 kits under her. She was eating placentas so had clearly just kindled. I reached under her and took the kits one by one and placed them in the nest and covered them with a handful of grass hay.

The following morning she still hadn't pulled any fur, but the kits were warm and well fed. I ended up manually pulling fur from her for the nest.

Hopefully she will do better next time. :roll:

 

[Comet007]

It is stressful when they don't build a nest in their nest box that you so thoughtfully provided! We are new to rabbits and installed the Sani-nests, which are the subterranean nests, and one of our does just put hay in it but wouldn't build a nest there! I was fortunate and had gone down to check on her, and she immediately started haystaching and running from corner to corner, trying to dig through the wire to start a nest. :? I finally just put her nest box in that corner and she gave birth soon after. When she had most of the clean up done, and as soon as she hopped out and started cleaning herself, DH and I pulled the nest box, finished cleaning it and disposed of the stillborn kit in their. We weren't sure it was the right move, but we put her nest box with the kits down in the sani-nest and decided to just watch closely. Just like you, I was concerned that she might dig in the nest again and harm them, but in the end she seemed to just accept it and has been taking good care of them. Whew! Don't they know they are stressing us out?? I don't know if it's usual, but both of our first time does continued to pull new fur every day for the first five or six days, so all silliness aside they are doing what comes naturally and caring for their kits. I hope that yours does the same!