HELP!!!!!!! rabbit questions

[debilorrah]

Quote:
I've never done that but Betty Chu a top English Angora breeder does. It sounds like maybe they over heated.

Yes it does sound like that to me too. Another reason to remove the kits except for feeding is to start the rabbit/human bonding so when they go to a new home, they are already used to humans and being handled. Not handling them early on leaves them jumpy and skittish, not a real good quality in a pet.

 

[quailmale]

I have raised rabbits for 30 years, not an expert, just do what works for me, I live in Fla also, during winter I use hay for bedding, summer I use pine shavings from TSC they lay on top instead of burrowing into it. I do not lose kits even during the hottest of summers here, heat should not have been an issue unless-----they were moved from a very cool house out to 90 degree temps, that would def. shock them. I have one doe that moves around in and out of the nest alot she will stomp the kits on the outside of the nest eventually killing one or two, to stop that I learned to remove the nest box as soon as the kits start jumping out on their own in her cage.

Just a note, I would not put up with a rabbit that bites, growls or is aggressive,

they immediatley go to camp Kenmore.......I keep 50 to 60 at any given time and won't put up with that, they can really remove a chunk of flesh from you, and usually once they start they will continue being aggressive.

 

[squeak1387]

i had mine in a bath tub and we dont have central a/c so i would have to say if it was 90 outside it might have been 85 in the tub. i also made sure that when we bought them out it was early morning so it was a gradual rise in temp not a dramatic change. they were fine out there all of day/night one outside, they were fine all day two untill i went out around 6:30 for feeding my chicks and noticed 4 bunnies in the box dead. the two that survived some how made it out of the box.

 

[debilorrah]

Ok for all the non-experts on this thread what breed are these bunnies

Mine are french angora and they are VERY sensitive to the heat.

 

[squeak1387]

i have no clue what breed they are

 

[dewey]

It doesn't sound like a heat issue, unless the housing was in direct sunlight without air movement. It was 98-101 here (AZ) recently with many of my does kindling. Being from a high temp area myself, I was going to say that the inside of your house was probably the same or close to the same as the outdoor temp, so the indoor/outdoor temp switch wouldn't have been much. I do have cooling for most of my rabbits, but it's not needed for survival. It standardly gets 110+ here...90's shouldn't be enough to have killed your kits. I'm not one for pulling and returning nestboxes to and from the barn. Some people do but I don't have the time nor inclination to deal with rabbits that can't safely remain with their young.

It's only guessing after the fact, but it could have been the combined stress of everything...too much activity with the kids, moving the litter, the buck next door, their housing (usually 1 week old kits can't climb out of standard nestboxes, and housing should have wire that doesn't allow them to slip through into another rabbit's cage), predators scaring the doe, illness...the list could go on. But it also could be simply that the doe is not mom material. It happens. Other times, they could normally be good moms but have all the environmental odds stacked against them.

What breed is she and did she raise any of the other litters and were they for 4H or pets or stock? Was there a specific reason for moving her indoors to kindle? Hoping the best for the surviving kits. Sometimes things just need a little fine tuning for success.

 

[debilorrah]

Quote:
Got some pics you can post? I have an example of the heat sensitivity. Today was a high of 75, and out garage was considerably hotter, and my Cleo, and 3 month old french angora in second stage of hair growth was overly hot to the touch when I got home. I gave her a frozen water bottle, which a whole other post with the hilarity that ensued!!! That was FUNNY!. She soon came to snuggle with it. So to me 90 is too hot for my bunnies.

 

[dewey]

Quote:
Your experience is golden. It'd be great to see you contribute your experience more often.

I started raising rabbits 35 years ago for FFA as a young teen and on, and then recently started back up...chemo brain sometimes leaves me at a loss regarding the right words or simple things that I know I know, yet those things won't come to me at that moment, lol. The voices of experience is always highly valued by me.

I think those of us in very hot climates have learned do what works for us regardless of what some books say. Right now mine are mostly meat rabbits raised to sustain families, so mileage on the can-do attitude may vary.

 

[bossynbella]

I don't know what might of happened, but I do think heat could of been it. Makes since as to why the two that where out of the box lived while the others didn't. Without seeing pictures of cage and box and where box was its hard to tell. We lost all but one from a litter of 7 Siamese satins last summer with temps around 90 because they where unable to get out of the box, they where only 6 days old, Since then if it is warm at all we make sure there is a breeze blowing into the boxes, and remove some of the hair and bedding, also size of box matters in warm weather if they cant move away from each other they are more likely to die from heat. Using more open boxes and keeping cages more open during the summer seems to have helped us a lot, I still try to plan litters more for spring and fall though.
Hope your other two make it.