Surprise!

[Genipher]

A few weeks ago we bought a Netherland Buck for the doe we're bunny sitting (we had permission from the owners to try breeding her). The people selling her had a Netherland doe they "tossed in" with the sale. Woohoo! It was a win-win for us.

I knew the new doe had been living with the buck (not sure if they're related or not, the seller's sister was the one who handed them off to me and she had no clue) and realized it might be possible for the doe (whom my daughter named Nemmy) to be pregnant. Buuuut...time passed and she didn't appear to be getting bigger. We held her all the time and I never felt any babies. Not that I'm good at palpitating...

Surprise!

This morning I go out to check on the rabbits, change bedding, etc. and found three dead babies in Nemmy's cage. Nemmy had a plastic box I'd been filling with straw so she could have a warm, cozy place to sleep; she usually used it as a litter box though. And that's where the kits were.

I didn't realize it until later but, Nemmy NEVER pulled any fur for a nest. It's no wonder the kits froze to death!

I suppose it's for the best, as I strongly suspect Nemmy and PB the buck are siblings. Still...the kids are rather sad over the loss.

And now I need to do some research and find out if straw is enough for a nest. It's been a long time since we've had pregnant rabbits and I've sort-of forgotten protocol...but our other doe, Ebony, has been sharing a large cage with the buck. If she's pregnant, she'll probably "pop" by the end of the month. And I really want some live kits!

Polar Bear (white buck) and Ebony (black doe) share a cage (above).

Nemmy the doe. Sister to Polar Bear?

 

[DutchBunny03]

Straw is great nest material. If the Dow hasn't started pulling fur by the 28th day, pull some from her yourself. Though some does wait until the last second, but do pull fur, it is just a good precaution to pull some fur a day or so before kindling time. Make sure the best box isn't too big. The kits could spread out and freeze. But don't make the beatbox to small either, or the doeccould step on them while nursing them. Good luck!!

 

[Genipher]

Thanks for the advice! Ebony actually had a false pregnancy last month. She pulled out fur and made a nest...all for naught. So I have a feeling she, at least, will prep a good nest. But Nemmy? She appeared to be clueless. Must've been that first-time mom thing.

I thought I'd made a mistake with the straw as nesting material. I'm glad to hear that it'll work for the future. I also was reading that dryer lint can make a good substitute for fur. That'll be good to remember...

I

 

[DutchBunny03]

My New Zealand doe has false pregnancies all the time. She pulls fur, makes a nest, and is really mean to her cage mate. Rabbits also run around with hay or straw in their mouths. Be careful with dryer lint. It could cause respiratory problems because of all the dust.

 

[Bunnylady]

If the Doe hasn't started pulling fur by the 28th day, pull some from her yourself.

Never, EVER do this. All you will achieve is upsetting and possibly injuring the doe. The vast majority of the hundreds of does that I have handled in the 30 or so years that I have had rabbits do not pull fur until the day they kindle. I might see a mouthful or two a day or two before they are due, but if I see a box with a lot of fur in it, I expect to find babies under the fur. Rabbits may go to town ripping fur from themselves, but if you ever watch one trying to pull fur off of another, there can be no doubt that it is traumatic for the one having the fur pulled. The last thing you want to do to an about-to-kindle doe is upset her; she might even miscarry from the stress (and though babies sometimes get born on day 28, if the litter wasn't on schedule to be born then, they will be effectively premature, and may not make it as a result). It should go without saying that a traumatized doe doesn't usually make a good mother . . .

 

[DutchBunny03]

From Storeys Guide to Raising Rabbits by Bob Bennett - "You can help her[the doe] out, if she doesn't cover her babies well with fur, by plucking some from her yourself and covering the young." The author of this book has raised rabbits for decades, and knows his stuff. I have also met countless raisers who have saved many litters by plucking fur from the doe early.

 

[DutchBunny03]

Rabbits are not as easily traumatized as you or others may think. Mine have had their cages tipped over by a bear, and they are fine, with no problems. They play with my dog, no problems. There are little kids running around all over my house, and I have never lost a litter because of that. More often, what happens is that owners are so scared of "traumatizing" the dam that they do not intervene or help when they should.

 

[Bunnylady]

Just because Bob Bennett mentioned it doesn't mean he does it. He probably talks about doing forced breeding, too, but that doesn't mean he does it on a regular basis. Even if he does try it, that doesn't mean he's any more successful than anyone else. If you dig up some of the older ARBA publications, you will see very respected rabbit experts talking about wry neck and identifying it as an inner ear infection; I can think of a few other issues that are 'old knowledge' that are looked at a bit differently these days.

Rabbit 'experts' are just as bad as the rest of us about repeating things that they have heard or read, without ever testing the validity of something that "everybody knows." Sometimes when someone actually does test it, the results are not what they expected at all.

Plucking loose fur from a rabbit that is actively shedding is not the same as pulling it out of one that isn't. Most of the people who try it get an awful lot of scratches and only a little bit of hair - and maybe a rabbit that runs and hides in the back of the cage when they come near her.

How easily are rabbits traumatized? Well, that kinda depends on the rabbit, and the circumstances. I have learned to speak before walking into my rabbitry, because just walking in the door without speaking first results in rabbits hitting the walls. If they hear me coming, they don't even bother to get up. I have seen rabbits jumping in terror when a glass lizard crawled across the floor several feet away. I have had occasional rabbits that were found huddled against walls and in corners with broken necks, that apparently startled so badly they killed themselves, and the odd rabbit that was fine in the morning and turned up with a broken back later in the day that I have to assume had a foot through the wire and jumped up and pulled when something unexpected happened near them. I can remember nailing shingles on the roof of my rabbitry, and feeling the whole structure shaking from panicking rabbits bouncing around when a piece of tar paper got caught by the wind. I have seen rabbits duck down, wide-eyed, when someone rode past the rabbitry on a go-cart or lawn mower. And though several rabbits survived without injury when a goat butted their cage to knock their food out where she could get it, it was clear that they didn't enjoy the experience. When you are a small herbivore, stress is everywhere.

Rabbit does can be very tolerant - I regularly take litters in the house overnight during cool weather, and may even bring expecting does in if they are due during a cold snap. But the only doe I have ever had that I know savaged her live, healthy kits did so after I moved her and her litter; something she didn't do when left in her own cage. And the one doe that abandoned a litter after she had been caring for it did so after I messed about with her and her kits a lot, more than I usually do (and I do a lot of handling and checking). Most does put up with a lot, but not all will, and one can't assume that a doe will blow off anything until she has a track record of doing so.

 

[DutchBunny03]

I have pulled fur, and know many raisers who have. It works magnificently, especially with does who have been known not to pull fur. I don't know about other people's rabbits, but my rabbits and the rabbits of people I know can be plucked very easily. You said so yourself that plucking does not hurt rabbits on a post about Angoras. If done incorrectly, it will hurt the rabbit, but if done correctly, you could save a litter by plucking fur from the dam.

 

[DutchBunny03]

You must have really nervous rabbits. Maybe mine are just used to it. They live right next to where we chop our firewood and do our hutch building, so hear table saws, circular saws, wood splitters, etc., and sleep right through it. The most freaked out mine have gotten was when they were tipped over by a bear. Thankfully, they live in better hutches now. What size rabbits do you have? I have heard that smaller rabbits are more nervous, at least to some degree.