# interesting momma behaviour



## PinkFox (Mar 23, 2012)

my rex doe had 6 kits on the 18th, all lovely healthy little wigglers, and there all lovely healthy little wigglers now almost a week later...
and she is a very attentiove mother...

but over the past few days ive observed something "odd" with this does behaviour...not in a bad way, just something i havent personally se in buns before.

when she delivered she built a beautiful thickly lined nest... and had her kits nice and tihglty tucked inside
then not yesterday but the 2 days prior the temps climbed into the upper 80s and both ays when i checked on the babies, shed removed all the fur from the top, spread out the top of the nest walls (straw and hay) and kinda spread out the babies...the first time i checked and saw this i put them all back a little closer together anc vocered them up thinking theyd just escaped...whent back and the fur was all moved over into a pile next to the nest and the babies had been again spread out...they were comfortbaly warm and none was fussing so i left them...
then yesterday we had a cold front come through, lots of rain and a temeprature drop...go and check on the babies and shes tightend up the top of the nest gathered them together and covered them all back up with a good thick layer of fur...

ive NEVER known a doe to be so attentive of temperature in the nest to actually adjust thier kits if it got too warm...but i think thats what she was doing...
has anyone else noticed this kind of behaviour from their girls?


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## flemish lops (Mar 23, 2012)

It sounds like you have a great mother rabbit! I haven't had that happen before, only on a warmer day when one of my does had a nest of kits the kits would wiggle away from each other. (guessing they must have been a little to warm).


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## KDailey (Mar 23, 2012)

Wow she sounds like a wonderful mother!


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## brentr (Mar 23, 2012)

PinkFox said:
			
		

> ive NEVER known a doe to be so attentive of temperature in the nest to actually adjust thier kits if it got too warm...but i think thats what she was doing...
> has anyone else noticed this kind of behaviour from their girls?


Yes, my NZ does do this type of thing with all their litters.  They cover/uncover the nest as need be based on temps.  

Congratulations.  You've got a great momma rabbit there.


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## PinkFox (Mar 24, 2012)

lol glad its not some weird ocd thing...
the babies are definatly doing great, theyll be a week tomorrow and have trippled in size...
i think daddy must have resessive somewhere way down in the lines as the gentics are a little off...

mommas a broken opal from blue and opal lines (though only have a 3 gen on her) and daddy is a black otter, all black otters in his 5 gen.
so i was expecting black otters and castors
but it looks like at least 2 babies are blue shaded (silver) would that make them opal or blue otter?! lol.


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## DianeS (Mar 24, 2012)

Are you all sure it is the DOES that are doing this behavior? 

When I had winter litters in Colorado I would keep them indoors and return them to mom for nursing twice a day, and observed this behavior being done by the kits themselves rather than the does. When it's warm, the kits "swim" to the top of the fur, and as they all get up there the fur naturally gets moved to a pile on the side (or around in a circle, I've seen both). the hotter it is, the further apart the kits get from each other and the further the fur gets spread. When it cools off, the kits snuggle down into the fur, pulling it along behind them (and pulling the straw along with it) until it is a compact ball of fur covering the whole litter again. All of this without the mom even being there. 

If you've seen the doe doing the moving in your case then of course I'll believe you, but I wanted to mention this so not all movement gets attributed to the doe when at least some of it is instinctual behavior of the kits themselves.


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## RPC (Mar 24, 2012)

She sounds like an awesome momma rabbit. A keeper for sure.


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## PinkFox (Mar 24, 2012)

see i was thinking that too,but the fur was in a pile a god 8 inches from the nest rather than just being pushed aside and then i saw her actually moving the fur back ontop of them just before the temperature dropped


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## brentr (Mar 24, 2012)

DianeS said:
			
		

> Are you all sure it is the DOES that are doing this behavior?
> 
> When I had winter litters in Colorado I would keep them indoors and return them to mom for nursing twice a day, and observed this behavior being done by the kits themselves rather than the does. When it's warm, the kits "swim" to the top of the fur, and as they all get up there the fur naturally gets moved to a pile on the side (or around in a circle, I've seen both). the hotter it is, the further apart the kits get from each other and the further the fur gets spread. When it cools off, the kits snuggle down into the fur, pulling it along behind them (and pulling the straw along with it) until it is a compact ball of fur covering the whole litter again. All of this without the mom even being there.
> 
> If you've seen the doe doing the moving in your case then of course I'll believe you, but I wanted to mention this so not all movement gets attributed to the doe when at least some of it is instinctual behavior of the kits themselves.


Could be some of the litter's doing, too.  Especially in warmer temps to cool down.  But when I've seen a litter at night that are huddled together to keep warm, and then see them first thing in the morning covered by more hair (and some of it freshly pulled and clumpy), I attribute that to the doe.


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## secuono (Mar 24, 2012)

My babies will move away from the pile and fur when it's hot and then wiggle back together when it gets cold. They move the fur with them as they go. 
I wouldn't think it's the mom, until I get a video of it or see my own do it with my own eyes. 

Wild rabbits dig a hole and it stays cool all the time. She only visits the nest 2x a day. Thus it's not natural for the mom to worry or fix the nest randomly when it's too warm or too cold. Just not built into the rabbit.


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## PinkFox (Mar 24, 2012)

well i can say shes VERY attentive, her hutch is 4ft long and she spends much of her day activly checking her babies...if i go neer the hutch too she runs into the house and watches what im doing, shell let me check them and then once ive put them back shell go over to the next check them all over and cover or uncover them depending (if the nest was uncovered when i opend up to check them and i cover the kits with fur shel uncover them, and visa versa.
i swear she gives me this look like "ugh silly human messing up my hard work" she certinaly doesnt need to be anywhere neer her nest (relitivly) shes a rex in a 48" long hutch) but i spend alot of time outside and i do see her popping in and out frequently, sometimes ill see her rearranging her nest ect.

Rex are commonly refered to as "good mommas" though, they tend to be "overly attentative" in some cases (can be a problem in none secure colonies) so i wonder if the heavy domestication of some breeds, particularly breeding for mothers who raise large healthy litters with high survivor rate in fur and meat breeds) has effected their natural instincts in such a way that there more attentive than wild rabbits would be nder normal circumstances.

I noticed with my grams rex too (she raised hers in a colony) that her rex does checked the nest alot more frequently than her mixed breed does, eventually she phased out the mixed bred girls for rex because their litters tended to do better overall...but she also noted that had it not been a secure area, it would have been very detrimental because of the extra activity going into the nest boxes...they would have been much easier prey for predators and thier nests were much more "public"

but i do understand its not "normal" which is why i posted here...you dont have to belive me, though...ill try to record it but the camera freeks her out...the only time ive heard this bunny thump is when i broke out the camera when she was in with the babies, she thumped and dove at the camera...once i removed the camera she stopped and came right over for ear scritches...
I think she was a dog in a past life LOL. i certaintly dont think without being somehow sneaky about it id be able to get it on vid, but ill try lol.


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## EggsForIHOP (Mar 24, 2012)

I believe ya   2 of our does kindled today, and the black doe ALWAYS goes back to "rearrange things" when I finish poking in there...the brown and white girl..eh...not so much...but my all black mama...DON'T move HER stuff!  She gets to pulling more fur, dragging over more hay...and shooting me the stink eye the WHOLE TIME like "WHY did you mess up my work of art over there huh?!?!"

I think you are on to something that perhaps with domestication, and more and more people over time only sticking with the "good mamas" that MAYBE SLOWLY behaviors could change over many generations...I know I have no intentions of keeping bad mothers around here...it's possible I suppose 

I do know one thing for sure - DO NOT MESS WITH MY BLAck DOES NEST! She has to practically redo the whole thing!


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## PinkFox (Mar 25, 2012)

Lol, mabe its bunny OCD


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