# Dang Rabbits.



## chickygirl55 (Jan 2, 2010)

So my rabbit was due the 31st and no babies, so i kept waiting. Today there was a bit of blood in the nest box so i kept checking back in on her throughout the day. In the afternoon when i check sure enough 4 babies but they almost didnt make it. She had them out of the box and wouldnt take care of them so i had to bring them inside. I thought they were goners but put them inside near the heater to see what would happen. Went in to check on them and they were moving around like crazy so i fed them and now they are nice and warm in my room lol! Idk why she wouldnt take care of them? Any advice on caring for them would be greatly appreciated. I fed them some canned milk with a couple drops of kayro syrup on the advice of a friend that used to be a vet asst. Here is a pic.


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## Bunnylady (Jan 3, 2010)

Congratulations! You have just experienced what many long-time breeders refer to as "Lazarus babies!" 

You said your doe wouldn't take care of them. I'm not quite sure what it is she is doing/not doing. In my experience (20 years or so,) the usual pattern goes pretty much like this:

Doe arranges hay in nestbox
Doe pulls fur, puts in nestbox
Doe goes headfirst into nestbox, delivers babies. As babies are born, doe eats membranes, licks babies clean, eats afterbirth
When the last baby has been cleaned off, doe leaves nestbox
Doe does not return to nestbox until next morning
Next morning, doe jumps in nestbox, stands for about 5 minutes while babies nurse, then leaves. 
Doe does not return to nestbox until evening, or next morning

Sometimes the doe lingers a bit, and lets all of the babies get a good nursing before she leaves. These are the best mothers; first-time does often don't do this. A lot of does improve as they go along. Is this your doe's first litter? I think that anything that you get from a first litter is gravy! Most does manage to make a hash of things the first time out.
I had a Jersey Wooly that I had to breed 5 times before I got any live babies from her, she messed up the first 4 (but each time she got closer!)

Your doe may not be a lost cause yet. Does are often an emotional/hormonal basket case after their litters are born. It could be that whatever you were doing was upsetting her. She may take care of her babies yet (that would be the absolutely, completely, 100% best-case scenario. No disrespect meant to you, but however diligent you may be, your efforts can't be as good for the babies as hers should be.)

I have never yet seen a doe put a baby back, if it gets pulled out of the nestbox. I have actually only heard of one doe doing it, and she belonged to a friend of mine. Most people will tell you that a baby on the wire is just out of luck, the doe seems incapable of figuring out what to do about it.

My does put up with an amazing amount of interference from me. In all my years raising rabbits, I have had exactly 1 doe that savaged her litter (after she did it a second time, I culled her,) and 1 that abandoned her litter because of too much interference. That one turned out to only have two functional teats, so she was no great loss as a mother!

I don't know what sort of set-up you have, but maybe you can find something useful in what I do. During cold weather, I usually put the expectant mother and her nestbox in a carrier, and put the whole business in a closet. Most of my girls carry on and have the litter in the box, just like nothing's happened. Even if they don't, it's warm enough in the house that the babies usually survive, anyway. I put the little guys in  the box if I need to, and check to see if their tummies are full. A first-time mother may get to stay in the closet for another day or two, but after that, Momma gets returned to her cage in the rabbitry. The nestbox and babies stay in the closet. Every morning, I take all the nestboxes out to the mommies. I give each doe her box, and get on with my other chores. Most does pop right into the box, some take a couple of minutes. I've only had a few does that didn't figure this system out. If the doe hasn't nursed her litter by the time I got done feeding (about 20 minutes) I put her nestbox in a carrier that is too small for her to get out of the box, and put her in it (this way, the doe doesn't get riled because I'm physically restraining her.) She may jump around a little when the babies first find her, but usually stands still and lets them nurse. After a few minutes, I put the doe back in her cage and check the babies for full tummies. I had to do this every day for a week with one doe, most "got it" after one or two sessions in the carrier. When the does leave the nestboxes, I take them out of the cage, and back to the closet they go. I do this every day until the babies are two weeks old, or until I think they are no longer in danger of dying as a result of getting out of the box.  

Good luck with the little ones! They're cute, what breed are they?


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## chickygirl55 (Jan 3, 2010)

She didnt make a nest in the nest box and didnt pull any fur at all. she had them outside the nest box but they were barely alive when i found them. Very cold. Her cage is in a building outside the house with a heater.

I tried today bringing her inside with them to see if she would take to them and idk. I put her very gently on top of them and she stayed  there for a bit before she jumped off. I was thinking id bring her whole cage inside and put the babes in with her and see what happens. I do have a pet carrier that would probably be about the right size for what you described.

They are mixed bunnies. The mom is a dwarf and the dad is a lop of some sort not really sure.


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## Bunnylady (Jan 4, 2010)

When a rabbit mother goes to nurse her babies, she jumps into the nestbox and maybe nudges/licks the kits to let them know she's there. She stands in the box, the babies have to crawl to her, stand under her and reach up to nurse. In most cases, she'll only be there for a few minutes, once or twice a day. Newborn bunnies have rather translucent skin, so you can see the milk in their tummies. There'll be a pea-sized white blob right in the middle of the bunny if he's gotten a good nursing.

That Wooly I mentioned? This is how it went with her:

1st litter - She made no nest, completely ignored the nestbox. Babies were born on the wire. No fur pulled, babies not cleaned up.

2nd litter - She did make a nest, but the babies were still on the wire. No fur pulled.

3rd litter - Nest made, babies in nestbox, cleaned up but no fur pulled.

4th litter - Nest made, babies in nestbox and cleaned up, fur not pulled until the next day (arrrg!)

5th litter - Success! Nest made, live babies in nestbox with full tummies, clean and covered with a thick layer of fur! I could have cheered!

Some rabbits (and their owners! ) have to do a lot of learning!


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