My first litter! Also a Queastion

[VStillman]

So....I am very, very excited for my first litter of meat rabbits from my American white! There were 8 babies kindled and none have died thus far.
This is day 3 for the little ones. When I checked on them this morning they were laying on top of the fur that has been covering them since their birth. They werent cold at all, as a matter of fact they were quite warm to the touch. I read on a website to check the nestbox to see if there were wet spots and/or poop in it and if there was to remove it. Well, ALL the pulled fur was underneath them and it was all very damp, and so was the hay and some of the shavings. So I just cleaned out the whole box and put fresh in...(there was also some poop, very little amount.)
So, finally my questions.... First, did I do the right thing? Second, they have no fur or hay covering them at all, should I cover them with hay? I have no extra fur...Should I try pulling fur from the mom? They are in my Garage at the moment, and are not subject to the elements right now...temps where i am are suspose to be in the low 70's during the day to the high 40s in the evening...any comments are extremely appreciated....Thanks!!!

 

[DianeS]

Congrats on your litter! Yes, you did the right thing. Wet things seem to suck all the warmpth out of the surrounding area, you should always remove damp and wet items from the nestbox, even if its the entire contents of the nestbox.

If they're cold, they'll dig into the hay on their own. Alternatively, if you cover them and they're too warm, they'll dig themselves up out of the hay on their own. So as long as you give the kits the option, and they're strong enough to kick if you pick them up, then they'll regulate their own temperature by digging.

But plain hay isn't very warm, and small breeze can blow right through it. So I would recommend some artificial fur. If you have cotton balls, you can pull those into small pieces and use them. Or dryer lint works well too.

You just want to avoid anything that a kit could get underneath and not know how to get above in time to nurse (like pieces of cloth), and you want to avoid anything long and stringy that could get wrapped around a kit's neck and choke it.

So add some of that artificial fur to the nestbox in the next couple of hours, and it should be fine. hang in there!

 

[VStillman]

Thanks! That makes sense! I will definetly add some in there. Yes, they are kicking and there little tummies are full! The momma is doing well too!

 

[VStillman]

Well, when i went out to add some artifical fur, the momma already added more fur! Not a whole lot, but thet were under a small amount of fur!

 

[BriteChicken]

Good Momma! and good luck!