What is it about Hormones????

[ladysown]

Nellie, quiet docile doe....

NOW ... a demon doe. Total claws, teeth, and down right...down to the business of wanting to kill me!

Why you ask?

She just had five kits (alive) and at least one dead (found parts).

I dislike pinning new moms down but I don't need missing digits just because I'm making sure parts are all gone from the cage.

I'm really hoping tomorrow she'll be much more relaxed. Otherwise...how will I feed her???

 

[Silver Star Rabbitry]

Try getting a towel and throwing it over her as soon as you open the cage.
My first rabbit got very territorial when she reached maturity. I would toss a towel over her head when it was time to feed and water her or take her out of her cage. It calmed her right down.
Thankfully I have not had the first problem with aggression with my Silver Martens though.

Emily

 

[Half Caper Farm]

Otherwise...how will I feed her???

There's a lot to be said for J-feeders and water bottles - certainly in a case like this.

In winter, a lot of my rabbits have water crocks, because I don't have enough bottles to do two per cage. The stressy ones and the prima donnas who like to flip crocks get the bottles, as do the does with litters.

What breed is she? Be careful with her - you don't need your arm ripped to shreds.

 

[ladysown]

she's a big holland lop doe....like seriously...big (6 lbs) I don't understand why once in a while I get these 6 lber does. she's normally a nice doe. people friendly and all that...but my oh my....not a friendly girl at all right now.

 

[Half Caper Farm]

Well, let's hope she settles down in a few days - she's just being a protective mother, which is a good thing!

 

[ladysown]

nellie is just NOT chilling out, if anything she's becoming worse!!!!

i've not had a doe this bad in a long time and she's getting a tad hard to manage.

Any thoughts????

I did the towel thing and that just resulted in one freaked out rabbit.

 

[DevonW]

Can you stick her in a cage that opens from the top? It's easier to put a hand over her face that way while you fill the feed dish and crock that way.

Or else a big stick keep her in one corner while you feed.

Scarlett has suddenly been hit by hormones. Yesterday she was fine when I gave her the nestbox, today after she pulled enough fur to make an angora proud, she's being all growly.

 

[MaggieJ]

A flat piece of wood (plywood or whatever) that you can use as a partition works well. Use it to confine the doe to one part of the cage while you feed and water her.

 

[avdpas77]

Just curious, why keep a large Holland Lop?

 

[Devon's Mom Lauren]

If she keeps up that behaviour it will be a bad influence on the kits when they come out!

 

[ladysown]

Just curious, why keep a large Holland Lop?/quote]

why keep her?

- because normally she's a sweetheart.
- she was the best of the litter.
- the buck I bred her too tends to throw small kits and I'll keep a small one and then will sell this doe to a pet stock breeder who buys all my proven does (regardless of who they are) for the pet market.

the fact that she's become total miss nasty was a total surprise, and i"m blaming it on the father. I have another doe, lovely thing until she becomes hormonal, and then she's miss growler. NOT as nasty as this doe, but both are from the same sire and my loppies I've never had an issue with. I've always been able to check their kits and they raise them well and could care less. MOST are like...HEY!!! stop touching them PET ME!!!! So I"m tending to think there's a genetic component to this....so I'll keep a kit back, sell this doe, and handle the kit kept even more often.

But for now I just need to be able to feed and water her and check her kits. AND that job is getting tougher, not easier. And by now I would have expected it to be getting easier...if I had does that I could foster her kits to they'd be fostered. But what I have right now the does have what they can handle.