One Kit... New Zealand Red

[xlt]

OK, my NZR kindled while I was at work in the past couple hours... only one kit so far, no blood though ANYWHERE... what are the chances she's not done yet? She's kind of wandering around the cage, and this morning looked very big for there just to be one kit in there...

I can foster the one kit to my black NZ who kindled Tuesday night I think, but I don't know if I should wait to do that for a couple hours to see if more kits are on the way...

TIA,

XLT :!: :!:

 

[ladysown]

you can always foster and then move back if need be.

 

[xlt]

well, the dilemma with that, is that he is as far as I can tell a black kit... and I would be mixing him with black kits... was hoping (if he is a "he") to breed him back to his dam to keep my reds going... so it could be kind of important to be able to identify this kit.

The others are actually CA/NZW/NZB crosses as well and I don't want to put the CA genes in my reds at all, from what I understand... of course, live rabbits are more important than all of this .

 

[moonkitten]

Rabbits usually only feed their kits once a day and sometimes the milk doesn't come in for up to 48 hours. As long as you keep him warm for the first day or so, he should be fine to either foster or put back with his dam. If it was my situation, I'd put him into a nice warm box in the house overnight and leave the nestbox with the doe. If she's going to have more, she'll probably do so during the night and you can decide where to place him tomorrow. If she doesn't have more, then foster him; if she does, then slip him in with his siblings.

 

[MaggieJ]

I've used blue or green food colouring on the hind foot of black rabbit kits. It seems to last reasonably well... and you could renew it when it gets faint.

 

[akane]

I use nontoxic colored sharpies to mix chicks in the brooder. You'd have to find something that would show up on black though. I wonder if white out would be safe instead. I know some people have used a bit of nail polish on the head of rodent pups like gerbils to tell the difference.

 

[arachyd]

One of the most reliable ways I know to tell a fostered kit apart is to snip a bit of hair off it. This might be difficult with a newborn. Maybe just the faintest bit of bright nail polish on the tiny little toenails would last long enough with touch ups. I'd start to be concerned that a kit is stuck if she's still big but had no more kits if much more time goes by. I wonder what the longest time between live kits being kindled in one litter has been.

 

[Pickles]

Hope everything works out with the lone little one!

 

[xlt]

He was still very lively this morning... I took a bit of the fur and some hay in a small (electric can opener size) box and brought him inside for the night.

No other kits this morning, so I fostered him to my NZ black doe.

I presume I can breed back the red doe as if she lost her litter?

XLT

 

[moonkitten]

I presume I can breed back the red doe as if she lost her litter?

XLT

I would wait until day 36 just to be sure she hasn't still got kits cooking in there. Once she's past the reasonable kindling period, then I would breed her back.