New litter Question

[Wesley]

I have recently started raising meat rabbits a second time. I raised them as a kid. My second doe just had a litter Saturday night or early Sunday morning. That makes the kits a little over 3 days old. My second doe pulled a lot and I mean a lot of hair. Looks like a gallon ice cream tub full. It is really hot right now in Mississippi (lower 90s) and I am afraid her six babie are staying to warm. Should I remove some of the hair so they stay cooler? I have two fans blowing on them but I fear that she may have went over board on the hair.

Thanks,
Wesley

 

[Smith's Rabbits]

I will often remove some of the hair during hot weather. We have a mini rex doe who always seems to over do it and she has black hair too. I will put some out, sometimes if it is really clean looking I will save it in a ziplock bag, that way if I need fur for her or another doe ( they don't seem to notice if its been stored for a while that it isn't theirs) I have it. I have been trying to think of a easy way to store some from all the does so I have some of their own, but I can't think of a way to store it that doesn't take up a lot of room and still lets me easily find who's is who's. ( With 20 plus does it would suck to have to just look through them all till I found the right one).

Good luck with the new babies.

 

[Miss M]

Welcome to RabbitTalk, Wesley!

It does sound like you've got a good mama doe there, pulling all that fur! In these temps, though, it is possible for the babies to overheat.

You can definitely remove some of the fur. Probably at least half of it. You can store the clean fur in a baggie for later use... maybe in the winter.

Kits will move to the top of the fur and bedding when they are hot, and burrow into it when they are cold, generally. Very young ones can chill easily, even in the heat. You may need to reorient your fans so they still move the air, without blowing directly into the nest box, if you remove some of the fur.

If it starts approaching 100* again, though, feel free to turn some air back on them.

Kits are very resilient. They aren't really easy to lose, and you will lose them to chill more easily than to heat, it seems. Several members have lost litters to heat this summer, though.

Once they're about 10 days old, they are much better able to regulate their own body temperature.

Good luck!

 

[Wesley]

Thanks for the information! My first doe had 9 and this does has 6. So far they have all survived.

 

[Miss M]

Smith's Rabbits beat me to the "Submit" button! :lol:

I have been trying to think of a easy way to store some from all the does so I have some of their own, but I can't think of a way to store it that doesn't take up a lot of room and still lets me easily find who's is who's. ( With 20 plus does it would suck to have to just look through them all till I found the right one).

You can press all the air out of the bag, and it will compact very nicely. The fur fluffs right back out once you fool with it. You could label each bag, and put them into a shoebox. Alphabetical order, maybe, to make for a quick search. Freezer bags keep air from creeping back in better than others.

It really shouldn't be an issue, putting all the fur together, though. You can use fur from another doe in a nest box, and the mama might give it a few more sniffs, but she won't really think much of it. I actually used molted fur from a buck in a nest box once, and the doe couldn't have cared less. :lol:

You can also use other things, like dryer lint and even shredded paper in a nest box.<br /><br />__________ Tue Aug 14, 2012 11:09 pm __________<br /><br />

Thanks for the information! My first doe had 9 and this does has 6. So far they have all survived.

That's great! (By the way, we thrive on pictures here... hint, hint! :lol: )

 

[dragonladyleanne]

Now I don't feel so weird for keeping the fur I finger-combed from my Argent doe's first (with me) moult! At first, I was just thinking how itchy and hot she looked, so I ran my fingers through and came up with a HUGE handful, with plenty left so I kept doing it until I got it all. She seemed happy and perky with the attention, but I had nowhere to put the fur that it wouldn't either blow around the bunny garage, or maybe entice the dog into thinking the bunnies were for snacking (she seems to view them as her charges at the moment), so I shoved it in my pocket and then bagged it when I got in the house. I got half a gallon baggie full! I figure if/when the others moult, I will keep theirs too, for either nests, or spinning.

 

[AnnClaire]

Oh, yes, does will use hair from a buck!!! I have a satin doe that plucked a massive amount of her hair (I thought) for a nest back in December, but when I brought it in to do a head count, I realized that not all the hair came from her as it was 3-4" long ... from the angora buck next door LOL Someone commented that it was "child support" from the buck :cheesysmile:

 

[Secuono]

If you pull fur and see her pulling more, I would not pull fur again from the nest. When I did that, I had a doe that would pull more fur each time I took out the extra. Eventually, she was totally bald and died from exposure. So, I wouldn't risk it. If she has the kits and also keeps pulling fur, I would bring the nest in during the day with little fur and only bring it back for her to feed them and not let her have the chance to keep pulling fur.