Young preggos rabbit

[tortoise]

I have an 8 month old rabbit due within the next week. She was accidentally bred 2 months ago and gave birth to a live litter that died. She never nested.

She isn't nesting now. I'm putting in a nest box every few days and take it out when I am sick of hearing her throwing it around.

She's super young. But at what point do I cull her?

 

[Wolf-Kim]

I just had a 10 month old doe kindle 8 fat healthy kits and kept them all.

Is the 'nest box' an actual nest box?

What type of nesting materials does she have? We give ours a bunch of bermuda hay to get how they want for their nest.

They usually won't pull fur until just minutes before actually giving birth. My 10 month old didn't start pulling fur until 10 minutes prior to actually giving birth. The whole process took like 15 minutes. Usually with new mothers, I've been told to let them have their nest box a couple days earlier, about day 26, since many give birth day 32.

As far as culling, I probably wouldn't cull her until she was at least 12 months and has attempted another litter or two. Then you'll be able to tell whether or not, she was just young, or a poor mother.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Eight months is not really super young for breeding. What day is she due, and as asked, what are you using for a nesting box? I have wooden ones that I attach to the outside of the cage, and I line it with shavings and hay. I have been told that does usually lose their first litter, and two of my does did, while the third doe was successful with her first.

What is her cage like and where is it? My sil had her bunns in the house, in a storebought cage that you get from pet stores, the ones with the plastic bottoms. She had a litter in there unexpectedly (bought her bred, and she didn't know), and the doe just had her litter in the shavings, all was fine.

And why do you want to cull her? Because her first litter died or another reason? As I said, its comon for them to lose their first, so if this is the reason, I say, wait and see how this one goes.

 

[BeccaOH]

I have 2 Rexes that can't be any older than yours. I had the 2 does and 2 bucks together for a long time in a big community cage since they were all the same age. Just a few days after dividing them into 4 pens, one doe started taking the hay I gave her to munch on and making a nest in the wooden box shelter that was already in her cage. So I gave her straw and she finished off a fine nest. That was well over a week ago. I don't know when to expect the babies, but her belly feels full.

The other doe was bred 2 weeks ago. I haven't given her a nest box yet.

This is my first go with rabbit keeping. :/

Best wishes on a good birthing.

 

[tortoise]

I had been keeping the babies free-range. The last date the were together was Jan 4th, so I have Feb 4th on the calendar for expecting.

I keep mine in 24"x24"x16" wire cages. They are in the garage now (aprox 30 - 40 degrees). I plan to move her in the basement if she has live babies.

I have a cardboard nest box in with her now, and have a real metal one to put in.

I do have a lot of rabbit wool I can put in for nesting material. Should I put it in early?

My other female has a 4 week old "surprise" litter and she is doing just great!

 

[tortoise]

I put in a metal nest box and she is tolerating it better. Haven't heard any rearranging yet! I put in a big handful of wool for her. I wish I had saved some dirty or matted wool. I just wasted about an ounce and a half.

I'll keep checking her frequently. I'm worried that they will be born while I am gone or asleep and that it will be too cold for them to survive.

I just read that the nest box can be kept indoors and put with the doe 2 times per day for her to feed them. Id that worth a try? I don't think my SO will tolerate a rabbit in the basement very well.

 

[Beekissed]

You won't need to bring in the nest box due to cold. You wouldn't believe how incredibly toasty those kits stay in their nest. If you removed her kits from her cage, she may not accept them back and could kill them.

For the first few days, I would just leave them pretty much alone. If she has adequate nesting material, an adequate nest box and is not disturbed during the process and she still has them on the wire or doesn't pull fur for a nest, then I would try her one more time.

For an older doe, I only give two chances to get it right. For a younger one that hasn't had optimal conditions, I would let her try again.

I've only had one young doe have them on the wire the first time....most of mine did very well in that regard.

I've never heard of using sheep's wool for nesting before...let us know how that goes. I've always used good, fresh hay as chips seem to cling to wet birthing tissues.

 

[tortoise]

Sorry - it is rabbit wool. I have angoras. Most of it is hers anyhow.

 

[BeccaOH]

I have baby bunnies!!!!

Found my Rex had her babies either Sunday or yesterday. We had checked her Saturday. The nest box I used has a lid, so I had to open it to see she had the fur nest thing going. I used a carrot to pull back fur and did a rough count of 7.

I thought the other doe had at least a week to go. I gave her the nest box last night with some straw, and she went right to work. This morning there was fur in there but no babies yet that I could see.

 

[tortoise]

I have baby bunnies!!!!

Found my Rex had her babies either Sunday or yesterday. We had checked her Saturday. The nest box I used has a lid, so I had to open it to see she had the fur nest thing going. I used a carrot to pull back fur and did a rough count of 7.

I thought the other doe had at least a week to go. I gave her the nest box last night with some straw, and she went right to work. This morning there was fur in there but no babies yet that I could see.

Yay! I hope I have good luck too with some little wigglers soon.