one of my does had 11 kits almost 2 weeks ago. their eyes are open at this point. i gave 4 to another doe to foster. she was down to 5 kits as of this morning and they were all fat juicy and healthy. late this afternoon, 3 were dead . they keep doing this thing where they burrow down into the nest in different areas. i have been finging them and putting them back in place. the other two litters don't have this problem. the way the nest is built? they are drop down nest boxes. anyway i checked on them and three were buried at the bottom and dead. 1 was fine and the other was fading. so now there are 2 left. i assume it was heat that got them. its july in central florida.
bunny heat exhausted
- Thread starter Gary
- Start date
AmberLops
Herd Master
It's definitely because of the heat...when kits start separating it means they're too hot and usually if you look at their mouths, they're gasping for air. I'm sorry you lost all those kits 
I like to wrap a flat freezer pack or 2 in a paper towel and put it in the nest box and put the kits back on top of it.
Make sure there's no fur in the box too...they don't need it. You can take out all the hay and put in 1 inch of wood shavings instead. That will keep them cooler.
I like to wrap a flat freezer pack or 2 in a paper towel and put it in the nest box and put the kits back on top of it.
Make sure there's no fur in the box too...they don't need it. You can take out all the hay and put in 1 inch of wood shavings instead. That will keep them cooler.
- Thread starter
- #3
GypsyG
Loving the herd life
I lost three kits on Tuesday because of the same problem. Since then I have been bringing all three of my litters inside the house where it is cool between the hours of 10:30am to 6pm and just returning them to their mothers after it starts to cool off for the evening. I have not had any problems since.
