New mini rex litter..advice needed

[parkersmom120106]

Hey all

I'm going to try and keep this short and not write a novel. I'm sure the answers to my questions are elsewhere on the board, I'm just nervous and want to know what to do here lol.
I finally got my first litter of mini rex babies today. I tried all summer with no results, I'm guessing because of the heat. Anyway..I must have put this doe in with the buck and then didn't write it down because I don't remember breeding her. She had 4 kits on the wire this afternoon. I'm pretty sure they were born not long before we found them because one still had a little blood on it and the does hind end was still wet and there was a little blood on her leg. Luckily it was warm out today. All 4 are active and seem healthy. I put them in a cat litter pan with pine shavings. She didn't pull much hair so there wasn't much to put in there with them. I have 2 other does I bred on the 26th..today I was actually going to check them and try to find what I could use for a nest box besides the expensive pre-made metal ones. I don't know what I should do for the babies. Mom has hopped in and out of the box several times, sometimes roughly. She actually thumped and hopped out fast. One of the babies has a little scratch on it. I don't know if she's being too rough. It's supposed to be 52 tonight..should I bring them in? Can anyone advise me here? I want these babies to make it. I used to have rabbits about 15 years ago when I was a teenager and had horrible luck with my litters not making it. I've done so much reading and thought I knew what I was doing. All that went right out the window when I saw these babies. Ugh...

 

[TigerLilly]

It's been a while since I've had rabbits, but when any of mine "thumped' they were upset about something. Personally, I would leave them in the pen with her and see how the night goes. I used wire boxes with hay in them, but as long as it's not cedar shavings in there, what you have may be ok, but I would put newspaper in the bottom. I've had some does that didn't bother to pull fur to make a nest until after the kits were born. If you have any others that you don't remember breeding that deliver today or tomorrow, you could put the kits with the other does if this one doesnt seem to be a good mama. Has she been bred before or is this her first litter?

 

[parkersmom120106]

Well...I check them this morning and we had lost one. The other 3 are still active and moving around, but I can't tell if she's fed them. Their bellies aren't big, but it's 11am..so she may have fed them earlier this morning. I put a heat lamp on in the cage last night because they aren't staying covered in the nest and she still hasn't pulled any fur. They're staying warm with the light though. This stinks..my other 2 aren't due til next week. I don't know anyone that breeds rabbits. There are other breeders in the area though. Maybe I could put a craigslist ad up and see if any have a doe that could foster these?

 

[PattySh]

They sometimes go for awhile without feeding them right after birth. I'd just leave her be and see what happens. Changes in her cage (adding the strange box) might have upset her. Try to save hair from a few litters if you can (or pull some off a rabbit you butcher), you can add to nests if you ever have to.

 

[parkersmom120106]

Well..another doe had babies today. I think I figured out what happened. I have 3 mini rex does. I put 2 of them in with the buck on the same day, but didn't write it down. I could have sworn I did it on the 26th of December, but it looks like it was earlier than that. I was also mistaken on which does I put in with him. Ruby and Jana had babies, but thought I put Jana and Michelle in with the buck (yes I have started naming my rabbits after the Duggars lol). This is an example of why keeping records is sooo important. Luckily I put nest boxes in with Jana and Michelle when I found Ruby's babies, so Jana had babies in the box. She pulled plenty of fur and everything. It looks like there's 3, but she may still be having them, so I'm leaving her alone.

So as far as Ruby and her babies...they don't appear to have been fed. They don't have fat bellies and they're squirming around the box. When I checked this morning one had died. I tried to hold Ruby in the box, and the babies went nuts trying to find a nipple when I put her in there. Ruby wanted no part of it though. I'm thinking of putting them in with Jana's babies. My only issue is that Jana's nest is really messy. There's no afterbirth that I see, but the bedding is wet and yucky. Should I take the fur out and replace the bedding then put all the babies and the fur in the box and give them back to Jana? Maybe rub Jana's fur on Ruby's babies?

 

[terri9630]

I don't know anything about fostering babies, but I use a covered cat box as a nest box. The does seem to like it and it gives them somewhere to hide when the babies start comming out of the box. At least until they can hop up there after her.


The covered cat boxes are about $20 at walmart but I found 2 of them at the local flea market for $5. I just brought them home and cleaned them with bleach. My buck has one to and he loves hiding in it. It's like a little cave.

 

[DianeS]

For Jana's nestbox, I'd give her an hour or so to see if she cleans up the mess herself. If she does not, I'd remove anything wet/damp but leave the rest alone. You can add fresh bedding if you need too after the wet stuff is gone. But don't take out any dry bedding unnecessarially.

You may have to force Ruby to stand still for the babies to nurse. That might be your brst bet at this point. If she has milk and you can make her stand still (I'm thinking one hand around front legs, one hand around back legs, and don't let her move...) then both batches of babies get what they need without all having to be crowded in with just one doe.

If she will not cooperate with that, you may want to flip Ruby over on your lap and hold her still that way. She'd have less room to move. Then you can hold the babies up to her to nurse while she's upside down. Not ideal at all, but still possibly better than 6 babies on one mother. See if it works. If the babies get what they need then its OK.

If nothing works, then putting all 6 in with Jana should be better than trying to bottle feed any of them. If you do that, I've heard that you should do something to Jana to make it difficult for her to smell for a couple hours - a drop of vanilla extract on her nose should do the trick. Then quickly add the new kits to her nestbox. By the time she can smell again, all the babies will have been together for a few hours and will smell similarly.

Hang in there! I had a litter recently that the mom rejected, and she didn't have milk so I couldn't force her to feed. I eventually had to foster them out with someone I had never met. (They're doing fine, 10 days old today.) Hopefully something from my experience helps you!

 

[parkersmom120106]

I don't know anything about fostering babies, but I use a covered cat box as a nest box. The does seem to like it and it gives them somewhere to hide when the babies start comming out of the box. At least until they can hop up there after her.


The covered cat boxes are about $20 at walmart but I found 2 of them at the local flea market for $5. I just brought them home and cleaned them with bleach. My buck has one to and he loves hiding in it. It's like a little cave.

I was thinking those would work well too. I'll keep my eyes out for them.

Jana (the 2nd mama) seems like a better mom than Ruby. She had 3, but one was dead..of course it was the blue one. She was actually in the box with the babies, and had pulled lots of fur to make a nest. I took a handful of fur and rubbed it all over my hands and then rubbed in on Ruby's babies. The nest wasn't as messy as I thought so I left the bedding alone. I put Ruby's babies in with Jana's and put the box back in with Jana. She hopped right in, sniffed the babies and then sat there calmly. So far, so good. Lets hope that she takes care of everyone.

 

[terri9630]

6 isn't a big litter and one doe should be able to feed them with no problem so I wouldn't worry about that if you need to add the 3 to the other litter. My smallest litter has been 5, largest was 11.

I've read that some will put vanilla on the doe or kit and others say it's not necessary. It depends on the doe I guess but it wouldn't hurt to rub the foster moms hair on them.

 

[terri9630]

I don't know anything about fostering babies, but I use a covered cat box as a nest box. The does seem to like it and it gives them somewhere to hide when the babies start comming out of the box. At least until they can hop up there after her.


The covered cat boxes are about $20 at walmart but I found 2 of them at the local flea market for $5. I just brought them home and cleaned them with bleach. My buck has one to and he loves hiding in it. It's like a little cave.

I was thinking those would work well too. I'll keep my eyes out for them.

Jana (the 2nd mama) seems like a better mom than Ruby. She had 3, but one was dead..of course it was the blue one. She was actually in the box with the babies, and had pulled lots of fur to make a nest. I took a handful of fur and rubbed it all over my hands and then rubbed in on Ruby's babies. The nest wasn't as messy as I thought so I left the bedding alone. I put Ruby's babies in with Jana's and put the box back in with Jana. She hopped right in, sniffed the babies and then sat there calmly. So far, so good. Lets hope that she takes care of everyone.

You need a big cage for these things to fit, I use 2 1/2'x4' wire dog kennels for my rabbit cages. You can kinda see the cat boxes here. I also use a horse feed pan as a litterbox since the kennel has a solid floor.