UPDATE Rabbit Help!!! Found dead babies in cage...

[Sachasmom]

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This is correct in theory, but in real life, the rabbits don't read the instruction manual!

Despite prepairing, some does will have them on the wire and do not a thing with them I have wondered if they know they are already dead/stillborn and don't bother.

We had 8 does kindle today. 6 of them made perfect textbook nests. Even one who flunked nest building 101 on her last litter.

Then we move onto the Stupid Does. I had one who is just a lazy nest builder. She will eat all the hay out of the box. Pull a small amount of fur and call it a day. At least this time she decided to put them IN the box, however, she decided that she was not going to clean the sacs off three of them!

Just to note, just because it LOOKS dead, doesn't mean it really IS dead! When I picked one up to get rid of it, it moved. I opened all three sacs, they all started breathing and are fine! Never assume a kit on the wire is really dead. It is kinda freaky when they come back to life though!

Stupid Doe #2 decided she was NOT going to use her box. I talked to her about it. Moved her box to the corner she was digging in. Showed her that the hay went IN the box. Nope. She made the nest NEXT to the box. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep with the hourly bunny checks! So I move the kits and fur/hay to the box. She removes the hay/fur from the box to put next to the box. I move it, she moves it back. Gotta love rabbits, hormones make them wacky!

 

[MissPrissy]

Of course there is always one or two that never do what they are supposed to do but in this case with nothing to make a nest with the poor doe can't be faulted for the dead kits.

 

[Feathered Wings]

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I agree when a doe go's into labor and they have no place to give birth they do what they can with what they have.
She did real good removeing the cords and eating the placenta or discarding it.
You have a good motherly doe all she needs is the right care and she will do fine.

 

[cluckychick]

Even in a full litter provided with a box for nesting there could still be one or two birthed outside the box that you will discover smaller then the rest. These are called peanuts and never meant to survive and momma will throw them out. Some are born alive and die shortly and others are already born dead.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

I agree with Miss P on this one. She had no protected place to have the babies and they died do to it. The fault is your's for not providing it but, if you had no clue she was bred when you got her it's excusable. Next time give her a nest box and I wouldn't be surprised if she makes a great mom.

 

[warmfuzzies]

Thank you all for your great replies! I will be putting her in with the buck in a few days and I'm sure next time will go better. Our other doe is due next week, so I will be able to see how it works sooner.

 

[ksacres]

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This is true. Also, a kit can appear dead that is just really really cold-doesn't have to still be in the sac. It's a defense mechanism. Never throw out kits until you have warmed them in your hand for at least ten minutes. It IS creepy though.


Also, it's not uncommon for first timers (in some cases even second or third timers) to be bad mothers. When I was raising rabbits, the doe got three litters before I decided to keep or cull (culling in this case means she went to a pet/non breeding home).


Another thing ~peanuts~ only occur in the "true" dwarf breeds (Netherland dwarf, Holland Lop, Am' Fuzzy Lop, Dwarf Hotot, etc). It's a double dose of the dwarfism gene and yes, it's always fatal. But MOST breeds do not carry the true dwarfism gene, and even in the breeds that DO have the gene, it doesn't happen every litter and both doe and buck must be true dwarves for it to occur.

 

[ksacres]

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Three more pieces of advice:

1. If you rebreed a doe that loses a litter, your best bet is to do it the same day or the day after. Waiting a few days can cause a decrease in fertility.

2. You should always breed TWO does to kindle on the same day. That way if one has a large litter and one has a small litter, you can even things up. Or if one completely refuses its litter, you can foster some of them.

3. Nest building is a learned activity. I would always arrange cages so that new does could learn by watching the older does make nests. In my experience, that did help lower the incidence of lost first litters, but didn't eradicate them completely.

 

[MissPrissy]

In meat rabbits the term 'peanuts' is used to describe kits born from back to back breedings (perhaps you didn't know a doe was pregnant and you rebred her) and the immature kits from the 2nd breeding are born early and can't survive.

 

[ksacres]

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I've heard that can happen, I've never seen it though.