First Time New Zealand Rabbit Mom

[MarandaLynn93]

I have a year old New Zealand doe that was bred and had her first litter of 11 on Monday, February 17. She did not build a nest and had the babies on the wire, around 7 pm. Thankfully since she had them when we were home and we noticed right away we moved them off the wire into her nest box. She did not pull any hair at all until the day after the babies were born and she did not add the hair to her nest, then on the following day she was running around with hay in her mouth, like she was attempting to make a nest. One Wednesday night when I checked on the babies I noticed that a few of them had gotten thin, but I figured she would feed them into the night since the doe only feeds once or maybe twice a day and the babies were still warm and all 11 were still alive. Thursday it was snowing and when checking on the babies I noticed all were thin, and in just bad shape. The nest was not as warm as it should be, and the doe kept trampling on top of the babies. This is when we intervened, I tried holding her over the nest so the babies could nurse, this was really unsuccessful, as she kept getting away and not letting them nurse. We felt of her belly and we could not feel any swollen bumps or anything in that nature to indicated that her milk was in. We attempted hand feeding kitten milk and goats milk, but at that point I think the babies had gone too long without any food and we were unable to save any of them.

Since this is her first litter, will it be okay to try again in a few months? Or is it likely she will just not be a good mom? I do have another doe, that I am planning on breeding at the same time I bred this doe again in case the same thing happens again.

 

[cassie]

I will tell you what I did. When a first time doe had the babies on the wire or otherwise neglected and lost the litter, I bred her back immediately. If it happened a second time she found herself in a 350 degree oven inside a covered baking dish smothered with a can of cream of mushroom soup, some frozen peas and some cut up potatoes for an hour or so. Some people follow the three strikes rule. It may seem harsh, but with all the good rabbits out there I didn't see any sense in wasting my time and money on those that weren't. Bear in mind that there is a hereditary factor in mothering ability, or lack of it.

If you decide to hold this doe over and breed her in a few months rather than immediately, be sure to watch her weight. If she gets too fat she probably won't breed. Hopefully, whenever you decide to breed her again she will do better. That was a nice big litter and with any luck she will get the hang of motherhood. Some does are a little slow to learn, lose the first litter, and then do fine with subsequent litters. That is why I gave mine a second chance. I would be interested in knowing how she does the second time around.

 

[cassie]

By the way, your idea of having two does kindle at the same time is a very good one. That way if one doe has a lot more babies than the other, you can give some to the second doe and even the litters out a bit. As I said, some does are a little slow to figure things out. Since this doe had such a nice big litter it is worth trying again with her.

 

[MarandaLynn93]

By the way, your idea of having two does kindle at the same time is a very good one. That way if one doe has a lot more babies than the other, you can give some to the second doe and even the litters out a bit. As I said, some does are a little slow to figure things out. Since this doe had such a nice big litter it is worth trying again with her.

Thank you for your response! I will most defiantly try her again and I am hoping for the best! I will update you whenever I decide to breed her and we will see how it goes!