Doe ate and killed her 4 day old kits

[Bunnylady]

Quote: Golden Mantled Ground Squirrels eat nuts and insects, which are high in protein, so a hot dog (which may also grain fillers) isn't such a stretch.

I have heard people recommend salt pork or hot dogs with the idea that the doe eats the babies because she needs protein. I suspect that the does that do eat the pork or hot dog may be doing so because of the high salt content, rather than the protein.

(Not that it has anything to do with anything, but I once knew a horse that would eat chicken bones, and I own a miniature horse that I have caught eating eggs more than once!)

It doesn't sound to me as if this doe savaged her litter, if there were babies that were dead but intact. It's possible that the babies died of other causes and the doe was trying to "clean the nest" by eating the dead baby. I have had does that accidentally stomped their babies to death in a panic over, for example, a snake in the rabbitry. The only doe that I have ever owned that I know was deliberately eating her babies started in the middle of the baby, she didn't start with the feet (sorry if that is too graphic).

It made a gory mess. If the nest area is relatively clean, my thought is that the baby was already dead when the doe started working on it.

I don't know what the temperatures are like where you are, but I have lost litters when the temps were even in the 50's here. Are you sure the kits were getting fed? Over the years, I have had a couple of does that had no milk, or very little. Day 3-4 would be about when the babies would starve to death. Just a couple thoughts on what might have happened.

 

[nayeli]

They weren't super wrinkly like one that I KNEW wasn't fed so I assume they were fed, although it was my first litter as well..

An experienced doe I bought, the red one, just gave birth. I'm going to leave them alone though since I bought her a month ago and don't want to stress her out. Or should I at least count and check on them once today?

 

[terriw]

We got surprised with bunnies the beginning of this year. We thought we had 2 female rabbits and found out that the one we had in the beginning was a male. The first litter died. We think she didn't know really what to do and it was in January so it was cold outside. When she had the next set they were all fine. Unfortunately I did not get her and the babies out in time and she was already pregnant again. This was the same day she gave birth. Which from the person I have been talking to about rabbits said is very rare. My male and female got along great and now my male is depressed because they are separate. It has gotten better over time. When she gives birth again make sure to remove her and the babies from the male. The male will kill the babies. Even if the two are in love. I was also told to remove the female and not the male. With her next set she gave birth to only one died because it was the runt. It was really sad but that happens a lot too. The mother just refuses to take care of it. If you do check on the babies make sure only one person is checking. Also give the mama something to eat to distract her while you are checking. If they have round bellies then mama is doing what she is supposed to. After 10 day or so when their eyes are open then you can have others pet them. Only spend maybe 10 minutes with them. Then put them back in with mama bunny. The more you love on the babies the tamer they will be. We have many people who are surprised at how tame our bunnies are.

 

[KimTatum03]

I personally, pet Momma, then give my Doe a small piece of banana or timothy hay to distract them while I remove the nest box everyday. I just pull if out of her cage for a few minutes... pull each kit out onto either the front mound of hay or onto a clean soft cotton towel. Then one by one count them making note of which ones have full fat "frog bellies" I do this once per day for the first week. I feel this is important because if one dies, you definitely do not want rotten, maggot filled babies in with your live ones. TRUST ME! ewww Then I just put them back into their nest how I found then, and return their nest to the cage where it was. Pet Momma and tell her thank you. She will probably jump right in and check on her babie (who can blame her right?) She won't mind at all. With that being said, If the prior litters kit was sick, and momma was cleaning it, things could have gotten aggressive. OR If the kit died, she could be eating it..... Just like she did the placenta.

 

[Dutchgirl]

We got surprised with bunnies the beginning of this year.  We thought we had 2 female rabbits and found out that the one we had in the beginning was a male.  The first litter died.  We think she didn't know really what to do and it was in January so it was cold outside.  When she had the next set they were all fine.  Unfortunately I did not get her and the babies out in time and she was already pregnant again.  This was the same day she gave birth.  Which from the person I have been talking to about rabbits said is very rare.  My male and female got along great and now my male is depressed because they are separate.  It has gotten better over time.  When she gives birth again make sure to remove her and the babies from the male.  The male will kill the babies.  Even if the two are in love.  I was also told to remove the female and not the male.  With her next set she gave birth to only one died because it was the runt.  It was really sad but that happens a lot too.  The mother just refuses to take care of it.  If you do check on the babies make sure only one person is checking.  Also give the mama something to eat to distract her while you are checking.  If they have round bellies then mama is doing what she is supposed to.  After 10 day or so when their eyes are open then you can have others pet them. Only spend maybe 10 minutes with them.  Then put them back in with mama bunny.  The more you love on the babies the tamer they will be.  We have many people who are surprised at how tame our bunnies are.

Putting aside the fact that you should not leave a buck and doe together unsupervised, I would think it would be better to remove the buck. Does can get very confused and upset when their surroundings change (which can even cause them to abandon their babies).
As I'm sure you know by now, rabbits breed like rabbits. The buck and doe don't need to be together for more than 5 minutes.

 

[Bunnylady]

Quote: Does frequently rebreed right after kindling, given the chance. In fact, if a doe loses a litter, taking her back to the buck within a day or two practically guarantees you the largest litter that doe is capable of conceiving. I did that this morning with a Netherland Dwarf doe that had only one (very large, therefore DOA) baby a couple of days ago. It took him all of about 5 seconds!

The problem with "runts" isn't that the doe doesn't care for them, it's that a runt usually isn't strong enough to care for itself. When the doe enters the nest box, she may nose at the babies, but she stands in the box and it is up to the babies to crawl under her, find a nipple, and nurse. There will be some pushing and shoving among the babies, and a weak kit may not be able to latch on and get a bellyful before the doe leaves. When the doe decides she's done, she just leaves, and any kit that didn't get a good feed is just out of luck until the next visit by the mother. As does usually only nurse once or twice per day, that can be a long time, and a kit that wasn't strong enough one time will most likely be even weaker the next time.

I'm one of those weird people that brings the nest box and the babies into the house when the weather is cold, and only return them to the doe a couple time a day for feedings. Most of my does have had no problem with this program; quite a few have even kindled in my hall closet (I call it my "maternity ward") without any problems. It's surprising how tolerant of interference some does can be.

 

[Dutchgirl]

I'm one of those weird people that brings the nest box and the babies into the house when the weather is cold, and only return them to the doe a couple time a day for feedings. Most of my does have had no problem with this program; quite a few have even kindled in my hall closet (I call it my "maternity ward") without any problems. It's surprising how tolerant of interference some does can be.

As am I. I know does are usually very good with their babies being touched, removed, etc.

But changing their whole environment can still have bad results. I won't move a doe anytime close to her kindling anymore.

 

[nayeli]

Well I checked on the red does litter and she pulled lots of hair and seems to be taking care of them. There is one runt, so I'll check tomorrow on how its doing.

 

[terriw]

Quote:
I was told my info from someone who raised over 6000 bunnies. So I did what I was told and all bunnies are now happy. Anyway the only reason they were left together after the first set of babies who died was because we were leaving for vacation the next day and we did not have a separate cage. We had to buy the material and all when we got back to build a new one. We were trying to build before she had the new babies but apparently he got her pregnant when she was already pregnant. Which I was told was rare but could happen. We have had an experience for sure raising bunnies lol

 

[terriw]

Quote:
Yes I know. Like I said in the last post we left them because we were leaving the next day and there was no time to build a new cage. When I found the litter that did make it I took mama and babies and moved them inside. Right now we have happy bunnies all around.