Oh rapture!

[Stephanie]

I posted a few weeks ago about my doe, Molly, being unsuccessfully bred twice and adamant about not lifting. She grunts and whines endlessly every time I put her in with Buster. I tried tabling her, and that didn't give a litter either. I had just about decided that she wasn't gonna get another chance. But, realizing that she had only had one litter, (before I got her), and that her first litter was 9 kits, I couldn't let her go that easily. So, a little while ago I figured she'd get one more chance. I put her in with Buster, intending to leave them until tomorrow evening. As usual, she was grunting and whining at him, though he was as amorous as always. He mounted, she grunted.....and then lifted. Then, Buster fell off. WooHoo! I'll leave them for a while longer, in the hopes that she'll get a little more accepting of him for the next time. But, it really looks like I've FINALLY got a litter on the way. You can imagine my frustration after all the researching I've done to learn all I could to be able to have a successful backyard rabbitry, and then getting this pair 4 months ago and still not having any kits. I'm happy today.

 

[MaggieJ]

Congratulations!

Hope you find a nest full of healthy popples in a month's time!

 

[Marinea]

*fingers crossed for healthy kits*

 

[Stephanie]

A bit of an update. At the earlier unsuccessful breedings, I found that I had built the nestbox about a 1/4" too big and it wouldn't fit in the door. So, I had partly loosened the top panel and slid it in. After the unsuccessful attempts, I didn't bother to remove the box, since she seemed to enjoy sitting on top of it. Last week, I stuffed the box full of hay. During the morning feeding a few days ago, I saw quite a bit of freshly pulled fur and a nice neat hollow in the box. It seemed a bit early still, since she wasn't due for almost 2 weeks. But, I've done a bit of searching online and found that that isn't all that unusual. Some does do pull fur early. I also weighed her yesterday, and found that she has gained a bit of weight in the last 3 weeks. So, I'm now beyond simply hopeful and beginning to get impatiently excited. I can hardly wait! I'm expecting kits a week from tomorrow. <br /><br /> __________ Tue Dec 29, 2015 4:05 pm __________ <br /><br /> ALLRIGHT!
Molly kindled last night and had 9 nice plump little popples. I tried to get a pic, but my camera needs batteries. I'll try to get a pic up by week's end. One thing surprises me though. From everything I have read, I expected Molly to get a bit onry as her time neared. She has always been a bit cage defensive, even stomping at me sometimes when I opened her cage. But, I noticed during the last 2 or 3 days of her pregnancy that she actually got friendlier. She doesn't even flinch if I scratch her head. Seems to enjoy it rather. She has been fearful since the day I got her. It shows in her eyes when the secondary eyelid exposes itself, and her breathing gets quick. But, not now. She was a bit concerned as I lifted each of her litter up to count and check for any dead ones. But, she was not the least bit aggressive to me. I sure hope this change in her demeanor stays.

 

[Marinea]

Congratulations! Hoping this is the first of many healthy litters!

 

[alforddm]

Congratulations!

 

[Zinnia]

Yeah! :cheer2:

 

[Stephanie]

Just checked on Molly's litter an hour ago, pulling each out of the box to check health. They are 5 days old today. I found one dead and one that is not doing well at all. The other 7 are growing quickly, and very active. The weak one I brought into the house to try and nurse it back to health and re-introduce him back to the nest tomorrow. Not sure he'll make it, but I do wanna give him a chance. He's just thin and weak at this point. The dead one had a swollen belly, but was very thin towards the tail. Kinda made me think maybe some kind of intestinal blockage was going on. Any comments?

Update:
The weak one didn't make it. I had my doubts he would. He was pretty much a runt.