Nymphadora
Well-known member
I finally snapped some pictures of our mamas and their babies on Friday, but due to a busy weekend I haven't had time to post.
A little background:
We didn’t initially plan on breeding past April. However, we had a doe that was finally old enough to breed and I was admittedly a bit impatient and didn’t want to wait until after the warm season (could be October-November before I get another chance to breed). It was also cooler than usual this spring, and I was hoping it would last. Next year I don’t intend to breed later than early April, regardless. Not that it was the worst thing in the world, but my nerves probably didn’t appreciate my fussing about the weather any time it got up to or over 80 degrees. We bred two does, in case the first timer had trouble. The doe we chose as the “potential foster” was Jane, our opal girl who does better when she’s bred relatively consistently anyway. Both got bred to Odin, our castor buck (it was his first time, too… again, I was excited). Due date was the Wednesday after Father’s Day, June 20.
Jane was very clearly pregnant by week 3… the week of her due date, I could have sworn she swallowed a mini watermelon. She kindled more or less right on time, the morning of June 21. This is Jane's 3rd litter with us... first litter was two, second was eight (and lost one, so seven?), and this time... she had ten kits! Unfortunately we lost one early on, and there's one more that's not doing great and absolutely refusing to eat when I put it next to mama’s teat. I’m bracing myself for the eventual probability that it will not survive. We’ve decided to not interfere (beyond holding mama and letting the smallest ones have extra time without competition) so that we do not keep any potentially weaker rabbits for breeding. It still sucks seeing a fader.
And then there was Juvia. She kindled on Saturday, 3 days past the due date. When I first checked the nest I thought she’d only had one… upon closer inspection, she had a total of three. Two were DOA, and one looked a bit stretched, so I’m thinking it may have gotten stuck and the other one was probably after it. Poor Juvia, she pulled so much fur and made a lovely nest… my heart was a bit heavy that morning. Since I think Jane does better with slightly smaller litters, I added three of her kits to Juvia’s nest, to keep the little singleton warm. And Juvia’s been feeding them insanely well, they’ve always got big milk bellies when I check on them! Even the runt of Jane’s litter, who I initially didn’t think would make it. He’s catching up a bit now, thanks to Juvia’s enthusiasm with the babies.
I’ll keep y’all updated on the little ones, our summer babies are certainly well-loved. I missed having itty bitty kits to snuggle. And I’m crossing my fingers that Juvia has a better second litter… I think she’d be a great mom if she had more babies, she’s tending the extras we gave her so well!
A little background:
We didn’t initially plan on breeding past April. However, we had a doe that was finally old enough to breed and I was admittedly a bit impatient and didn’t want to wait until after the warm season (could be October-November before I get another chance to breed). It was also cooler than usual this spring, and I was hoping it would last. Next year I don’t intend to breed later than early April, regardless. Not that it was the worst thing in the world, but my nerves probably didn’t appreciate my fussing about the weather any time it got up to or over 80 degrees. We bred two does, in case the first timer had trouble. The doe we chose as the “potential foster” was Jane, our opal girl who does better when she’s bred relatively consistently anyway. Both got bred to Odin, our castor buck (it was his first time, too… again, I was excited). Due date was the Wednesday after Father’s Day, June 20.
Jane was very clearly pregnant by week 3… the week of her due date, I could have sworn she swallowed a mini watermelon. She kindled more or less right on time, the morning of June 21. This is Jane's 3rd litter with us... first litter was two, second was eight (and lost one, so seven?), and this time... she had ten kits! Unfortunately we lost one early on, and there's one more that's not doing great and absolutely refusing to eat when I put it next to mama’s teat. I’m bracing myself for the eventual probability that it will not survive. We’ve decided to not interfere (beyond holding mama and letting the smallest ones have extra time without competition) so that we do not keep any potentially weaker rabbits for breeding. It still sucks seeing a fader.
And then there was Juvia. She kindled on Saturday, 3 days past the due date. When I first checked the nest I thought she’d only had one… upon closer inspection, she had a total of three. Two were DOA, and one looked a bit stretched, so I’m thinking it may have gotten stuck and the other one was probably after it. Poor Juvia, she pulled so much fur and made a lovely nest… my heart was a bit heavy that morning. Since I think Jane does better with slightly smaller litters, I added three of her kits to Juvia’s nest, to keep the little singleton warm. And Juvia’s been feeding them insanely well, they’ve always got big milk bellies when I check on them! Even the runt of Jane’s litter, who I initially didn’t think would make it. He’s catching up a bit now, thanks to Juvia’s enthusiasm with the babies.
I’ll keep y’all updated on the little ones, our summer babies are certainly well-loved. I missed having itty bitty kits to snuggle. And I’m crossing my fingers that Juvia has a better second litter… I think she’d be a great mom if she had more babies, she’s tending the extras we gave her so well!
