# 6 cold babies saved 2



## Citylife (Jan 26, 2012)

Like so many I am fighting keeping kits alive in the cold and getting does bred.  I had 6 very nice FW's born this morning.  All of them appeared dead despite the hay and fur, they were all cold.  I brought them in and started the process of warming them......  2 have made it.  They have been in the house now for almost 4 hours.  Just took them out to mom for 1/2 hr. and then will take them out again tonight and in the morning.  Is dusk and dawn best?  or before be go to bed at night?  This is a first time for me to bring them in the house.  I am just real tired of loosing babies.  LOL  didnt have this problem the first year.  I guess its my turn.


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## oneacrefarm (Jan 26, 2012)

So sorry! I lost two litters recently that way. Dusk and dawn for feedings seem to work best...


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## Wabbit Wancher (Jan 26, 2012)

I live in Northern CA where there are no hard freezes. I tried a method of placing them in an open sandwich bag and floating them in warm water. Worked for only 1 of 5 last year. I would only do once a day at dusk and you can hold the doe, tip her over and have a partner hold the baby at the right spot to be certain they are getting nutrition. They will instantly look "nonwrinkly" and feel warm. Don't overdo it!


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## Citylife (Jan 26, 2012)

Wabbit Wancher said:
			
		

> I live in Northern CA where there are no hard freezes. I tried a method of placing them in an open sandwich bag and floating them in warm water. Worked for only 1 of 5 last year. I would only do once a day at dusk and you can hold the doe, tip her over and have a partner hold the baby at the right spot to be certain they are getting nutrition. They will instantly look "nonwrinkly" and feel warm. Don't overdo it!


I thought about doing something similar but remembered how my hands felt when thawing from freezer burn............  I guess I must be a "momma" at heart as I snugged them on my stomach and warmed them slow with body heat.  It actually bothered me a bit as I had to push out of my mind how many others I may have been able to save in the past.
Now, I realize we cant all do this.  But, right now I can.......... and I am tired of loosing babies.  :/  My other girl was a miss.........  and like everyone else it seems.........  I need to light candles, play music and serve wine to get the others  in the mood for love. 
And to think they are supposed to breed like rabbits!   LOLOL

I will hold the mother here and dusk as I know she did not feed one of the two earlier when I took them to her.  Thank you for your thoughts and input.  
Last year I had to bring babies in for the hot summer days and leave out at night.........  
This is a bit different.    Hope it works.


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## Citylife (Jan 29, 2012)

We have one healthy baby we keep in the house in a heated nest box since he has noone to cuddle with and help keep warm.  He is just starting to get a bit of fuzz.  I am concerned though......  when I take him out to nurse it seems like she may be drying up.  I move him from nipple to nipple to stimulate milk production.  She gets real testy about being held for 5 minutes while he nurses.  And IMO he gets milk but not a big fat belly like I would like to see.  He is not wrinkly so that makes me feel better.  Time will tell what happens to this lil guy.


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## brentr (Jan 29, 2012)

If your circumstances permit, you might try what I did.  I was concerned about a doe kindling in nighttime temps of 20 deg (F).  Daytime highs were only mid-30s.  I brought her cage into my garage, which is attached.  Just the difference of being in the garage was probably 10-15 degrees warmer, with zero draft of any kind.  I used a cardboard box for the nest, attached to the cage.  I set the box on a piece of plywood, and put a heating pad between the bottom of the box and the wood.  I put it on low, and just left it.  Mother didn't make a great nest, but the heating pad warmed up the box just enough.  I know it made it warmer, because this doe spent more time in the box than with any previous litter!   So the baby (started with two; one died) got a warm floor and warm mom to nestle into.

I had to rig up a spot to deal with waste, but some plastic on the floor and sawdust worked just fine.  After it warmed up a bit, moved mom and baby to outside cage with no issues.

This works better for me than shuttling a nest box in/out of the house.  But that is just me.


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## DKRabbitry (Feb 1, 2012)

How are things going?


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## Citylife (Feb 3, 2012)

Unfortunately she dried up on me and baby did not make it.  Really stinks!  We have great weather for babies and NO babies.  
Very frustrating.  But, I know I am not alone.

p.s.  I am assuming she dried up.  The weather has been great here, so he went out to mom and at night I plugged in the heated nest box.
       Found him dead warm.


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## DKRabbitry (Feb 3, 2012)

That is unfortunate.  I was looking up some information and came across this article.... not sure how credible it is, but this bit of information struck me as interesting and maybe something to look into if you are interested. 

It can be found here http://www.rabbitfarming.org/rabbit-feed/rabbit-breast-feeding-and-weaning



> The rabbit doe comes into the nest box to nurse her litter. This is usually once or twice in a day and the sessions last about 3 to 5 minutes. *Suckling alone will not provoke the secretion of milk as the mother must also want to nurse.*


If that is true, then maybe she just wasn't feeling maternal and releasing the right hormones so she dried up?


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