Baby Rabbit Vanished!?!

[GypsyG]

Ok, my doe had 12 kits in her nestbox. One I was very concerned about because it was really runty was not there when I went out to check! Gone. Not a trace. Vanished.

Did Wendy eat her baby?!? I've had does do that, but usually only moments after they are born... and usually you will find some trace. There is no evidence in the nest box or on my doe. It just vanished without a trace. WTF?!?

 

[promiseacres]

I would pull the box out and triple check the box. Often if one passes it can be crushed and under all the other kits. That's been our experience but yes she could have eaten it. Or not impossible pulled it out of the box and it fits thru the cage bars.

 

[GypsyG]

I would pull the box out and triple check the box. Often if one passes it can be crushed and under all the other kits. That's been our experience but yes she could have eaten it. Or not impossible pulled it out of the box and it fits thru the cage bars.

I searched and double searched the nest box and all around inside her hutch.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

Yikes, hope you find the bun...

 

[GypsyG]

Found it. She'd pulled it from the nest and it was wedged against the wall under her hay manger.

 

[Pioneer Chicken]

Oh no! I'm not sure what I can add other than to agree with you and PromiseAcres. If a doe eats a kit, I usually see evidence or some part of the kit left. Usually, it's the other kits that smother the missing kit and after a few panic-y searches, I find the kit all flattened. : ( What kind of cage / wire do you have? I had one kit manage to get out of one of our first hutches, sadly already dead. Hope you find your missing guy.

 

[Pioneer Chicken]

Aw, I'm so sorry.

 

[GypsyG]

Love a happy ending

It wasn't happy. It didn't make it.

 

[GypsyG]

Oh no! I'm not sure what I can add other than to agree with you and PromiseAcres. If a doe eats a kit, I usually see evidence or some part of the kit left. Usually, it's the other kits that smother the missing kit and after a few panic-y searches, I find the kit all flattened. : ( What kind of cage / wire do you have? I had one kit manage to get out of one of our first hutches, sadly already dead. Hope you find your missing guy.

I found it. It had teeth marks and was dead. It was wedged under her hay manger against the wall.

The hutches I use for bred and nursing does and litters are untreated oak with three sides fully enclosed and baby saver wire on bottom and front, about twice the size of a standard x-large commercial cage.

 

[GypsyG]

Oh no...did i misunderstand ? Is the bun ok ??? I thought it was ok ? .....

No. It was dead when I found it. It had teeth marks like mom had already hauled it out of the nest herself.