WHY!!!

[sarai]

why???
i have 10 rabbits 2 i got as a gift and then i bought 9 moor and 1 ran away
but anyway so far i had 3 litters ALL DIED my first was 9 mom ATE them she finished all but 3whitch had no arms leggs or tails OR heads uppet: verreaction: verreaction: uppet:

 

[Preitler]

Impossible to tell from a distance, if this were 3 different does I would look at what they had in common. Food: Any possibility that there'S missing something, like low on protein or something? Or that something is in there that shouldn't, like mold?.
Environment: Is it safe, and stress free? No nightly visits from predators they can't hide from? How are temperatures, and your setup? Can you put up a camera? Of my last litter of five 4 kits disappeared - found out it was a rat. Neighbour lost all his litters last year and blamed the does that they have eaten the kits, but I suspect rats too, he is an old guy, not capable to do anything about it. Last year we had masses of all kind of rodents, about 10kg of mice went into my compost heap.

There's always the possibility that it's just a string of bad luck. I lost 14 of my 15 rabbits in the first year to Myxomatosis, but was quite lucky since. Well, not entirely, had a problem with a fox, but it met the same fate as the rats that bothered my rabbits.

 

[Ghost]

Environment: Is it safe, and stress free? No nightly visits from predators they can't hide from? How are temperatures, and your setup? Can you put up a camera?

I don't know if it holds true for rabbits, but I know that it has been "proven" true in some rodents. Stress from predators can trigger a mother to eat her own young. From an adaption strategy it makes sense, if a predator is certain to eat your young, it is better to eat them yourself, because you can get back some of your investment, rather than letting the predator eat them.

 

[Zass]

Environment: Is it safe, and stress free? No nightly visits from predators they can't hide from? How are temperatures, and your setup? Can you put up a camera?

I don't know if it holds true for rabbits, but I know that it has been "proven" true in some rodents. Stress from predators can trigger a mother to eat her own young. From an adaption strategy it makes sense, if a predator is certain to eat your young, it is better to eat them yourself, because you can get back some of your investment, rather than letting the predator eat them.

Predator stress seems to be one of the few things proven to cause a doe to eat kits. Another cause is babies that are stillborn.

One person had a problem with does eating kits and discovered it was their rooster causing the stress. Many many people have suffered damage from rats. Definitely try to think from a rabbit's perspective when trying to discover the cause.

Also, just in case it's something identifiable, what are you feeding, and what does their housing situation look like? Do they have nestboxes?

 

[sarai]

nest boxes in cages . check.
diet= bermuda hay that grows here / timothy based hay pellets / clover / grass / foliage / fresh sapling twigs / apple (very rarely once a week)

rats cant get in there.
we do have chickens that hang around to see if they can get a bite to eat.
no predators around.
all alive when born.


second litter it was my fault they died i forgot to cover there cage and they froze :t_oops: :sorry:
3rd she ate them and i have a 4rth on the way. ill fill you in later

 

[hotzcatz]

You could bring the nest box inside and just take them out to the doe twice a day to be fed. If you're supervising their feeding she won't be eating them.

So the babies are born live and then something happens to them that day or during the night? If it's daytime, it could be the doe. If it's during the night time, I'd suspect rats. But, either way, taking the nest box inside will keep either one from eating them.

 

[Zass]

Are there multiple rabbits in each cage? Are bucks and does housed together? Are the timothy hay pellets just timothy, or are they a complete rabbit feed pellet?

 

[sarai]

complete rabbit feed pellet
tried taking them in and letting the mom feed them she woudn't feed them.
they woudn't eat the fourmula so i gave them back and mom ate them.
it hapens bolth day and night and rats cant get in there

 

[hotzcatz]

Are all the does related to each other? Maybe they're from a high strung line of rabbits that can't handle any stress at all or something? Are they in a quiet area with nothing going on around them? My friends tried breeding rabbits near a dog kennel, that didn't work well because the bunnies were too stressed by the dogs.

Do the does have a hiding place? A box they can go inside other than the nest box? Some sort of tile or carpet square they can sit on, being up in the air is stressful for some rabbits. Maybe even feed them chamomile or some sort of calming herbs? And perhaps some soy of some sort, that's a high protein, I don't know if they'd be eating the babies due to lack of protein?

Hand feeding baby rabbits is difficult, but I've found a recipe that works. It's mostly household items with the exception of bone meal, but I have that for the garden so it can be made up as necessary. Feeding them works best (so far) with an eye dropper instead of a hypodermic (with the needle removed). They only need to be fed twice a day and they will eat until they are round.

Here's a link to the recipe: http://hillsidefarmhawaii.com/blog/2018/20180801.html

 

[Zass]

You didn't state if they were house separately, or if you had several to a cage, but if they are together I strongly suggest keeping pregnant does by themselves.

 

[sarai]

i don't have a phone to get pics so i used my moms and am waiting for her to send them to this computer so i can post them i'll update you later.

__________ Sun Mar 29, 2020 11:20 am __________

got a litter today this is the dad

this is the mom

dont have pics of babes yet . <br /><br /> __________ Sun Mar 29, 2020 3:12 pm __________ <br /><br />
this is my first litter. all were eaten.

this is the mom.

this is the mom of m third litter. she ate them all.
View attachment 2
this is the mom of my second litter. it was my fault they died it got reel cold one night and i did not cover the hutch properly. :cry_baby: :cry_baby: :cry_baby: :cry_baby: :cry_baby: :cry_baby: :cry_baby: :cry_baby:

this is an expecting rabbit. no idea who the dad is. :?

this is an expecting mom too

 

[squidpop]

I've had rabbits 8 years now and I've never had a doe eat a baby. All of my litters have lived, only a few random (one in a litter) babies have died. I think I have only lost three babies in 8 years.

I agree with others it could be a spooked by a preditor thing. Also rats can get through way tinier wholes than you would think and the mesh wholes in your pictures on bottom of cage might be big enough.

Other thing is your pellets may be not good enough and I think if I where you I would chose a different brand of high quality ones to see if the problem goes away. Also, I think giving a teaspoon- or two of flax seed everyday is really good for does- there are vitamins in flax like E that is hard to get from other foods.

Here is a list of best pellets- maybe you could chose a better one from the list.

http://www.therabbithouse.com/diet/rabb ... arison.asp

 

[sarai]

litter is still alive
absoloutly beutiful
:bunnyhop: :bunnyhop: :bunnyhop: :bunnyhop: :bunnyhop: :bunnyhop: :bunnyhop: :bunnyhop: :bunnyhop:

__________ Sat Apr 04, 2020 2:24 pm __________

another litter yesterday there still alive so-far-so-good
<br /><br /> __________ Thu Apr 09, 2020 9:14 pm __________ <br /><br /> another litter 5 days ago 4 in it all alive

 

[GBov]

Yay, good news indeed!

With rabbits you can have a string of bad luck lasting for years but on the upside, you can have an equal string of GOOD luck lasting for years as well.

Still stuck on bad luck here so glad yours has changed for the better.

 

[hotzcatz]

Where there any changes made from when the litters were being lost to now where they are surviving?

Does time of year have anything to do with litters? We seem to get more of them in the spring, maybe length of daylight or something triggers some sort of stress on the doe? I wish the rabbits could send us memos.

 

[sarai]

i think its our dog another mom ate another litter 2 days ago and our dog was close by when it happend
thank for all your imput!!!

 

[GBov]

I know this is an old thread but my dogs once got to the rabbit cages and managed to get most of an entire litter, through the bottom wire, one bit at a time.

They would bang into the cage, a kit's leg would fall through and they would pull it off and eat it.

Horrible, truly awful.

Only managed to save one but if I had not caught the end of the massacre I would have blamed it on the doe and "over-cleaning" even though she was an experienced doe.

I suspect that a doe I blamed for that many years ago was actually a raccoon underneath the cage as well.