Really need advice with newborn care!

I apologize for the length but I'd GREATLY appreciate any advice you can give me!!!

If you don't want to read the whole thing I have bolded my main questions.

Me and my mom breed rabbits at my house to sell for pets (mostly mini-rex) and a couple days ago one of our does, Speckles, gave birth for the first time. Since it's her first time I was nervous and unfortunately I was right to be - but a big part of the problem was us.

We've never used actual nesting boxes - we let the rabbits build a nest in large mounds of hay. My reasoning for this has been 1: kits might get crushed against unyeilding sides of box during feeding or when mom jumps in/out and 2: with a box if kit falls out its stuck and can't get back but with just hay there's a chance it could burrow back. I think I might have to rethink our policies though after this.

All but one of the babes crawled out of the nest, out into the cage area and through the bars, falling to the floor. All but one of those died (the one that didn't crawled more than a dozen feet to a pile of hay and burrowed itself in! It'll be called Miracle if it lives). We've now secured the cage so they won't fall out anymore (beating ourselves up about not doing so before, but never imagined they'd go so far whilestill small enough to fit!)

Now or problem is this: we only have two kits left and they WON'T STAY IN THE NEST. They're either being pulled out by mom after feeding or are crawling out to get closer to the heater we have aimed at the cage. I'm REALLY torn about what I should do.

From what I can see Speckles IS taking care of them - she's cleaning them and they seem fed (tummies are round) but I'm worried...

Right now we've built a nest in the wire area (there's a rug) for them (where they keep ending up) and they seem to be actually finally staying put but I'm worried that Speckles might not feed them properly if they're not were she originally had them, though she definitely knows where they are...as I write this I've put them back in there original spot hoping she'll feed them while I'm gone... should I do that or not? Will a mother rabbit still feed the kits if they're moved?

We're also thinking of buying a nesting box, but will a rabbit use a nesting box if its been a few days since the kits were born? Especially since this is her first litter...

Our last option is possibly trying to foster them in with another litter a couple days older than these two. My mom's against it as she wants Speckle's to get experience. The foster mom is our oldest and most experienced doe (4-5 years old) but she already has five kits of her own. Plus there's no guarantee the fostering would go well - the one time we tried was with this same doe and she ended up attacking the foster kit (we got it out in time) but admittedly that time the kits were older and much farther apart in age from the foster. If we lose one more kit, we definitely will try to foster the last but how likely is it that a litter of two will die due to lack of warmth or other related problems? And how many babies can one doe (especially an older one) successfully raise?

That's the situation. Again sorry for how long this ended up being but I wanted to be detailed it the situation. Any help you can give would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!

Hi, we breed and show rabbits and we've learned that nestboxes are, for us, the best way to go. It needs to be a little bigger than mom and if the kits are nuggled in the back of the box (under the lip) they won't get stepped on. They stay very warm (and, so, tend not to wander). The other thing we found was that cages with kits in them need to use baby saver wire. This doesn't completely prevent escape but makes it much hard for them to get out of the cage. You could foster to the other doe within the 1st week, but much past that, she may or may not accept them. Depends on the breed how many a doe can support, but typically 6 is it for smaller breeds.

These kits are now 4 days old - would putting them in a nestbox this late work??

Move the nest into a nestbox, put nestbox where the litter was born and done. Rabbits for the most part of really flexible. The fact that she's tolerated you messing around with the kits and has taken them back after their wanderings speaks well to her "never mind, let me care for them attitude".

IF the nest is poorly made, then make one. Stuff hay into the box, then stick you hand into it a grab a wee bit of it inside the mound and circle it around. You'll make a fist sized crater. Into that plunk some fur. plunk the kits into that, and pile more fur on top. Pull from the doe if needed.

Day 10 turn that box on it's side and the kits will nest on the side of the box so they will be warm and you won't have to fuss around trying to keep the box clean as any pee will drain away and the poop will roll out. Also prevents nestbox eye unless you have something endemic going on in your rabbits.

I would add to turn the nestbox on its side only after babies have all opened their eyes. Not all have them opened on day 10 but they all should by day 14

Thanks for all your advice. We ended up not using a litter box since the babes had settled into their self made nest and were comfortable and we had a small heater on them to keep them warm even if they did wander (I checked them every couple hours as well). Plus we didn't. Want to stress Speckles out even more but totally pulling apart her hutch to put the litter box in.

Today the kits are 3 weeks old! I've included a picture of them (though it uploaded sideways for some reason). Miracle is the gray

Both kits have just discovered the power of their back legs. They are also both currently a bit damp due to an uncontrolled jerks straight into the small water dish I set out for them! Lol!