Mother injuring kits?

[RachelM]

I'm having the occasional problem with moms hurting their kits, generally just first timers though. Is she just picking them up too roughly? Although our latest injury, discovered at tonight's feeding (The first time she's left them uncovered, at about 2 weeks age), one poor little kit has a fairly bad looking cut across its whole back. It looks like she tried to pick it up sideways and just bit him/her instead. Are there any ways to prevent this? I've found often the injured little one dies or is rejected by the mother. I have little hope for this latest one to survive, as it looks quite bad.

 

[Bunnylady]

It is an unusual doe that actually tries to pick a kit up. Most rabbits lack this instinct, which is why a baby that gets out of the nest usually dies on the cage floor. Some kits get injured by the mother's claws as she jumps in and out of the nestbox. A box that is long enough that the babies can pretty much get out of the way helps, but you don't want the box so big that the doe decides to sit in it. Keeping things as quiet as is (reasonably) possible around the rabbitry will make for calmer mothers, which hopefully will enter and exit the nest box in a calmer fashion.

Sorry to hear about your injured kit - I hope the little guy makes it!

 

[RachelM]

We don't usually use nestboxes. For some reason, our does like to throw them off to the side even when we do give them. We just give them extra straw or hay, and some deep bedding, and they dig a little burrow and hide them. Sometimes they like to dump their feed pans and use them as a lid. Strangely, this doe dug a new burrow a few inches from the one they're in, as if she intended to move them.

The boxes we tried using aren't solid bottom or really even boxy. It is 2 sides and a roof, and hooks onto the cage walls (we have a big wooden cage for babies and moms), so it makes a little room.