Question about my does

[Delighted]

I posted a "help" topic already concerning the babies one of my does had, but it's a long post and i don't think it's getting read much--too long. So the questions i have about the does, I'm going to post in a new thread. Hope that's okay.

I'll try to make a long story short. I had 4 bunnies, thought they were all male. We were raising them for meat. A month ago, one gave birth, it took awhile for us to figure out which were females. I took the babies inside because they were cold. Eventually brought them out, but they died within a day--I'd also had them for a day. Second girl had babies 3 weeks later--all dead when we found them-- they looked beat up. First doe had a second litter a couple days ago. We didn't know to look for pregancy.

It seems like she's rejecting them--but I don't know rabbits' behavior that well. She made a nest, I think she may have fed them once, but they were getting cold last night so i brought them inside. Took them out this morning, she's totally ignored them, one has already died of cold. I brought the last 4 in and bottle fed them-- they were hungry.

I have read up enough to know first litters don't do well, and bottle fed babies don't do well, because we can't come up with a replacement formula that's rich enough.

I've checked mama's teats and don't see any milk, no swelling like there might be milk, no fur pulled from around the teats.

This rabbit is not people friendly at all, holding her down to make her feed the babies will result in injury to us, and I am guessing to the kits. (I'm already scratched up from checking her teats)

So, do I breed her again? Her first two times, she had less than ideal conditions-- males all over her, lots of adults in one pen, too much confusion, no nest box. Doe # 2 may have killed her babies, or Doe#1 may have killed them. Doe #1's second litter, she was sharing a cage, no nest box (Because we didn't know she got pregnant again). So these losses might not be "her fault" if she had ideal conditions.

On the other hand, she's not freindly, so working with her is an issue.

Since these were supposed to be meat bunnies, and we planned on breeding for meat and possibly pet sales, I'm wondering if we sould go ahead and cull these, and start over with does we raise up (handling them a lot) and then breed those new ones?

 

[chickadee]

Does your doe have a private pen for her and the kits, this is important. Is there a low watt heat lamp on them? Also important. She may be feeding/taking care of the babies and you're just not seeing it, they do not cuddle with their offspring like dogs or cats. They only feed the kits once or twice a day, which is norma usually at dawn or dusk. She will only do this if she feels safe enough so if she doesn't she may actually not be feeding them.

Did she pull fur, or bedding, or otherwise make a nest for them?

Her being "friendly" or not has nothing to do with her caring for her kits, something is causing this problem we just have to figure out what.

 

[currycomb]

sounds like you need to give each rabbit their own cage. this way you will know when a doe is bred, because you will have put her in with the buck and watched him "do the deed". you will then put a clean well bedded nest box in her cage about 3 days before she is due. then leave her alone except to feed and water her.

 

[Delighted]

These two does didn't each have their own cage til the birth of this second litter. I didn't know #1 was pregnant again. I wasn't going to breed them again til I had two separate pens. I feel bad for the #2, she's in a small open wire cage, with just a roof over it.

At least next time, I will know when she was bred-- and breed both does in case we need a foster care situation (provided one of them is nursing!)

Chickadee, I sure didn't know about the low wattage lamp-- might have saved the one babie's life. I have the babies inside right now, wrapped in a small towel, placed in a plastic bin (just big enough for 4 newborns). They were getting cool to the touch again, so i put a heating pad, wrapped in a towel, under the plastic bin. The heating pad is on low. I have only a candy thermometer to measure the temp in there, and it says about 70 degrees. (I have better thermometers--in the egg incubator!) I've fed the babies twice in 6 hours--they only take a drop or two apiece. I think I might be losing them--they're pretty skinny.

I am worried that taking them away made her milk dry up. Also, she was spooked right after she'd had them. Her cage is wire on three sides and the floor, with a plastic dog carrier as the house. We had a high wind storm warning and we put pieces of plywood and one transluscent peice of plastic to help block the wind and rain from her cage. the plastic freaked her out, but we had to leave it there for half a day, as a door stopper because her latch broke on her door.

I really think she was at a disadvantage with both litters, so i want to try her one more time, with a decent pen, a nest box on the right day, and now i see, a low watt heat lamp.

She did pull fur, although I don't know from where-- her underside is still furry--it was hard to find her teats to check for milk. The nest she made wasn't deep and the bunnies got cold, but maybe a proper nest box would take care of that.

I'm afraid it might be too late already with this litter--I did advertise in craigslist to try to find a foster mother rabbit, but no replies. While they are alive, I'll do what i can, but they are skinny lil buggers!

 

[chickadee]

If you can find this @ any pet store it's your best shot if you're losing them... I've had good success with it when I've rescued/fostered herbivore babies... it's called Herbivore Critical Care

Just one of many places that have it online...you might find it locally? But I never have...

http://www.calvetsupply.com/product...Banana_5oz/Veterinary_Nutritional_Supplements

 

[Delighted]

Thanks Chickadee, I'll get that onhand asap. Nice to see it's for turtles, too, we have 5. (We just lost our oldest last week-- we think he was about 10 years old, we'd had him for 4 years. We think he choked on something--it was heartbreaking to see him floating in the tank that morning )

Question: I now have separate pens for each girl, and the boys live together in a much larger run with my two Silkies. I love seeing them be able to run around a bit and play in the amount of space they have. Their pen is on the ground, with wire across the bottom so they can't burrow away. (A 4'x8' run with a 4'x4' house)

The girls, well, #1 has a nice enough enough place--It's raised off the ground, 4'x4' by 4' high at the tallest part of the peak. It has a plastic dog crate for a house. At least she has some hop around space-- she hops up on top of the crate and sits there during the day. I plan on giving her shelves to hop up onto like the boys have in their pen--they love racing around the pen, hopping on the shelves, hopping down and racing back again.

The last girl, #2, has just a normal rabbit cage. There's space to turn around, lay sprawled out. There's a nice little hutch, big enough to turn around in, but definately not big enough to have a separate nest box-- it is the size of a nest box, in fact. I feel bad she has to lose all that play space. Should I put the two girls back together til I breed them? (In the bigger pen with the other doe?)