Two kits born this morning

[AClark]

I'm new here, but I've been reading for awhile. It's my does first litter, and not only did she only have 2, but she didn't make any sort of a nest. I gave her a nest box days ago, and hay to situate, but she never pulled any fur or made any sort of nest.
The kits are in my house, which stays around 70 - it's too hot for them to go outside at over 100. I was up at 4 this morning and checked on her, and no babies, and when I got up at 7, these two had been born on the wire and managed to get down in the pan with a bunch of shavings. They weren't chilled, actually very warm to the touch, so I'm thankful the pan was full of shavings. They're pretty wiggly and seem healthy, and it looks like she's feeding them at least now that I stuck them in the nest box.
I'm pretty surprised that there are only 2, I don't feel anymore retained. These are meat rabbits (Californian/ NZ crosses) so I definitely expected more than this.

So, back story aside, I don't want these little critters to get too cold. I tried seeing if any of her fur was loose enough to give them some, but it's not, and she wasn't happy with the whole ordeal. I've been thinking of adding some shredded paper, any other ideas? I raised Holland Lops for 4H/FFA but that's been quite awhile, so this is the first litter I've had in about 10 years.

 

[Hens and Roos]

congrats on the kits. How about some dryer lint or cotton balls pulled apart to make a thin layer to cover them with. Maybe she will pull some fur to cover them with!

 

[AClark]

Ha! Brilliant! We are a family of 6, soon to be 7, so dryer lint I definitely have a mass supply of. I hadn't even considered that. Thank you!

 

[Hens and Roos]

We had to use dryer lint once when a doe didn't pull and within a day or so, she pulled fur and used that, so maybe your doe might do the same.

 

[AClark]

Also, any ideas on what color mama is? She has split brown and blue eyes, my guess was fawn? Actually "breed" unknown. Dad is a black Californian cross.

 

[Hens and Roos]

They are cute! Not sure maybe your doe is a dutch mix

@Bunnylady @promiseacres and others might have a better idea

 

[Latestarter]

Congrats on the new kits! And welcome to BYH! Glad you finally joined in Hope you'll stick around and make yourself at home!

 

[AClark]

I thought Dutch mix originally (Craigslist buy, lol) but I was reading up on color genetics and that pattern with the weird split colored eyes is some kind of color thing, like a mutation, I don't remember exactly. She's a bit big for a dutch at 6 lbs. Breed doesn't matter to me considering the purpose, and if she was a lop I'd have said a broken fawn, but the eye color is totally weird.

I will probably stick around. We are about to do a PCS move and plan on buying a place out of town, so I have big goals of chickens and goats. I grew up on a horse ranch and around cattle, but the smaller livestock is pretty new to me.

 

[Bunnylady]

Welcome to BYH!

Your doe is a red or orange. She is also what we call Vienna Marked. There is a gene, called the Vienna gene, that results in the color known as Blue-eyed White (BEW). It's a rather strange gene; it takes two copies (one from the father, one from the mother) to get a white rabbit with blue eyes. One copy of Vienna usually gives you a Vienna Marked rabbit, which may just have a little bit of white on the face and/or feet, but it can look surprisingly like the markings of a Dutch rabbit, too. The giveaway that your doe has the Vienna gene is those baby blues - Vienna Marked (VM) may have blue eyes, or partial blues or one blue, one brown. or normal brown eyes, but there is no other gene that can create eyes that are that shade of blue. There aren't a lot of commercial-type rabbits that come in BEW, though there are quite a number of "pet" breeds that do . . . . For some reason, Lionhead breeders seen particularly enamored of BEW; almost makes me wonder if this doe might have some Lionhead in her (though it could have come from a larger breed like the Beveren or Vienna, too)

 

[AClark]

I remember reading that but couldn't remember what it was called, thank you. My best educated guess is that she was an "Easter" bunny that someone got tired of. They sold her with her cage and a big bag of pellets for what the cage would have cost to purchase. But, she was good sized at 6 lbs so I figured for the purpose I wanted, a good choice (esp with a 30x30 cage to go with!). That and she was already really friendly.
I'm pretty sure both the babies are does (I'll confirm when they are bigger but right now, they both look female from the sexing guide on babies), so they'll be spared for breeding stock (at least if they make it that far and momma takes care of them) instead of the freezer. If the litter had been bigger it would be different, but with only two it seems a waste to be bothered if they're both female.