Now What?

[Curly]

I've been lurking for a few months and learned a lot from you all before I purchased some Dutch rabbits. One of my does had her first litter sometime today. She had them all along the wire and they all died. She also partially canibalized one of them. She moved the nestbox away from the side of the cage and built a nest with fur between the box and the side of the cage. She only had one of them on the nest.

Did she do all this because it was her first litter? How long do I need to wait before breeding her again? I'm wondering if she will do the same thing next time or if she will know what to do next time.

 

[currituckbun]

Just from my small amount of experience I have more or less made the nest for them with the straw and when I have noticed any pulled fur about the cage I put it in the nest box. I am not sure if this helps but most of the kits have ended up in the nest box. I had one kindle the other day and I think I interrupted her. She had 9 in the box and I came back that evening and another two were dead on the floor in her potty corner. This is her 2nd litter and she is a good mom but I think she just had to go and well...out popped the other 2. I felt bad for not keeping more of a watch. My point is during kindle time I have gathered that we have to "help out" as much as possible, keeping an eye on things and make sure they stay in the nest.
Of course taking off from work is not an option for me, but I wish I could have.
I think your doe will be fine next time and as an added measure save her fur from this time to put in the nest box. This might encourage her to build on it. The right smell marks the spot so to say.

 

[akane]

If the one kit survived you can put it and the nest material in the box then slide it over her nesting spot. She should understand after that. If not you will have to prepare the box again and hope she uses it or else builds a warm enough nest they stay alive until you move them. Usually they improve by the 2nd or 3rd litter. I've also found that when you have 1 torn up kit and a bunch of dead ones it often means the first kit got stuck and the doe had to pull it while it slowed up all the others too much for them to survive. It's a common theme to have 1 partial or torn kit and a bunch of stillborns in a failed litter because the doe had to pull one out herself. After the first litter stretches things out the doe often has better luck with the next litter and it makes them more likely to put all the kits in one spot rather than scattering them about from the discomfort of difficult labor.

Give her a few days to make sure she's no longer swollen and uncomfortable then you can try breeding her again.

You should not need to babysit and help a doe much if at all. I only check most of mine every other day because they are a 30min drive away. We may lose a litter here and there from a first time doe or someone not building a good enough nest in winter but otherwise we do nothing. Throw some pine pellets and straw in a box and a few days later kits are in it. In hot weather I pull them all out to make sure there are no dead ones in the box but in winter I often just pull a random kit each day to see if they have been fed. They don't get disturbed and handled until they get closer to 2 weeks. The does can do things just fine on their own once they have figured things out and aren't having physical problems. If a doe can't handle things herself by her 3rd litter then she gets culled and replaced.

 

[Curly]

Thanks for your replies. I'll give her a few days rest and try breeding her again.

 

[Bramble Hedge]

I on the other hand tend to drive my does crazy those last few days of gestation lol ... (not a patient waiter of popples). I am looking in the nest a couple of times a day, I have a doe who will not use a nest box for love or money, but she is one of my best mothers and rearly losses a kit from bad nest making. I would totally agree with akane they really can do it all on their own.