We have our second litter now. They were born yesterday. I fed at 7:00am yesterday and she was frantically making a nest and pulling fur. I figured she would have them that night. Nope. At 9:00 am I checked again and she had 1 live one and 1 dead one in the box, uncovered. I called a friend to ask what to do and she said give her a chance, but make sure it was covered by night fall. So at 2:00 pm, I checked and she had at least one covered and 2 dead ones in the front of the box. I fed her some hay and got the dead ones out when she wasn't looking. Today I had a chance to peak under the fur. She only has 2 live ones. I hope they stay warm enough to survive. So that's where we're at. They both look like the buck, a french lop. I'll try to post a picture tomorrow.
You'll want to leave the nest as undisturbed as possible. Is she a first time mother? Sometimes they just don't know what to do. We wait until our does have a 2nd litter before deciding to cull her. If she continues to have her kits on the wire of canabalizes them, she's in our freezer.
I think she is a first time mother, by the way she's acting. I got her last year and didn't know enough to ask. We're going to give her away to a lady anyway, because she's mean when she's pregnant and I don't want to deal with that. the babies are still alive though.
Sounds like she's at least trying. A friend really struggled with her first time doe and had to keep the babies seperate. They'd flip the doe onto her back, let the babies latch on and nurse, the seperate them again.
More baby rabbits
Posted - May 16 2007 : 8:21:34 PM
