# I got my first-time mom to nurse



## DianeS (May 11, 2012)

I'm so relieved. She kindled yesterday, and did things mostly right, except she kindled on the wire. I got to the kits before they got too cold - yay! All eight lived. Mom was curious about them, but was way too jumpy for me to try to get her to nurse. I took them inside for the night, to eliminate the possibilty of mom tipping the nestbox or making other mistakes. 

I tried again this morning, with partial success. I tried just putting the nestbox into her hutch, she was curious but wouldn't get in. I tempted her with grass, and she'd put her front feet in but jump back as soon as the kits moved. So I picked her up and put her in it, and she ignored the grass and jumped out. I put her in it and tried to hold her still, and that almost worked, but the angle was all wrong and I couldn't hold her. So I finally put the nestbox on the ground, sat on a box next to it, and put mom in the nestbox while holding the scruff of her neck, and quickly shoved a handful of grass in front of her. It worked! She started munching the grass and mostly ignoring the kits. She was quite twitchy, obviously not used to all the movement underneath her. And she only tolerated it for a few minutes. The kits were still hungry, but I decided to quit while they were ahead and not create a bad association for the mom.

I did it again tonight, going straight to putting the nestbox on the ground like I did that morning. Put mom in it, held her by her scruff, and put lots of greens in front of her. She dug right in and let the kits nurse a full 20 minutes. Yippee! I didn't even have to hold her the whole time. I let go a few times to test her out, and she stayed right there. Much calmer and less twitchy this time too. 

She doesn't seem to notice when she steps on a kit, though. I won't put them in her hutch to nurse unsupervised yet, because of that. I want her to move (from instinct) when she is standing on a kit, because not doing so keeps that kit from nursing. Even when the kit struggles she keeps standing on it until I move her foot. So I'll continue to supervise a while yet.

But all in all she's doing quite well. Especially for a first-time mom!


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## DianeS (May 12, 2012)

This morning I got mom started nursing like yesterday, and then had an emergency. Nestbox and mom all got pushed into the hutch as quickly as possible. Hubby checked on them 10 minutes later and mom was nursing on her own! Yippee! 

Sometimes with a little encouragement, even first time moms can get it right.


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## WhiteMountainsRanch (May 12, 2012)

*Just out of curiosity, why all the extra helping? Why not just let her do her thing?*


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## yankee'n'moxie (May 13, 2012)

White mountains ranch,

First time rabbit moms, often will kill their litter or leave them to die (not having the instinct to feed them). So, often people will just account for a first litter death, or help the mom to understand what she has to do. 

Dianne, great job! I would say that I will try this when we breed my doe, but we found out yesterday that it is NOT a doe!


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## DianeS (May 13, 2012)

WhiteMountainsRanch said:
			
		

> *Just out of curiosity, why all the extra helping? Why not just let her do her thing?*


yankee'n'moxie has it right. This is a first-time mom, and I decided to give her some encouragement to do things right when I first put the kits back in the hutch and she didn't react correctly. An experienced mom would have hopped right in to relieve the pressure on her teats. She didn't do that, so it meant she didn't have the instinct that said getting next to her babies would make her feel better. So she had to be taught. 

She has it now. I take the kits to her twice a day, and leave them there while I do chores, and take them back to the house after. I could leave them in with her IF her cage had baby saver wire, which it does not. That's my bad, not her fault, so I'll just be a kit transport for a few more days until they're bigger.


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## WhiteMountainsRanch (May 14, 2012)

*That makes sense if she wasn't showing you she was doing things correctly. 


I raise Cali's and have never lost a litter to a first mom *yet* *knock on wood*. I just let them do their thing!


I know it can happen just doesn't seem to as much as people say; it could be the breed though, maybe some are more prone to it than others. *


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## DianeS (May 15, 2012)

Yes, it's that some are more prone to it than others. It can be genetic, too - if the mom was a good first time mom then her daughters have a higher chance of being good even on their first try too. But even that isn't perfect.

Here's the rundown I've experienced with first timers, in order: Angora mom rejected her litter, Cali mom didn't know what to do, Cali mom did perfectly, Angora mom didn't know what to do, American Chinichilla mom prepared but had kits on wire and didn't know how to nurse, and Angora mom that did perfectly. Quite a mixed barrel at my house!


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