Clara W
Member
Hi all, I was hoping someone could provide some help in identifying how lucky/unlucky I will be with my doe's next litter by providing information on the previous litter (unfortunately unsuccessful) 
And if anyone can let me know if i'm on the right track this time as I now have time to prepare / educate myself on the whole process.
First of all, I have the following two rabbits:
Ginger, a 2 year female Holland-Lop (i'm assuming) mix (Image #1)
Silver, a 6 year old male Netherland Dwarf (Image #2)
They live indoors in their own room, both separated by a puppy play-pen. I should note Silver has just been neutered (January 23rd) - they will remain separated until at least mid-march. Ginger has recently had a litter, and two weeks post giving birth, I woke up to loud noises and found them together in her part of the room! I do not know how long they were together but it must have been a couple hours.
A little background: My doe (Ginger) had a surprise litter January 7, 2019 at 5PM EST (apparently unusual for a doe to birth so early?). My boyfriend came home and found the babies scattered in their bedroom (one had even crawled under the door out into the hallway!). Anyways, long story short the living conditions the bubs were born in were far from ideal. One had been stomped on by Ginger as soon as they were born (there was a lot of blood - it was terrible!) but the four others were like jumping jelly beans. To our regret, one by one they passed away, the biggest one (born at 1.6 oz) lasting up until day 17. We both were inexperienced, and I only wish I knew what I knew now then.
Here are my questions:
Question 1: Could someone help me identify whether the bubs below (Image #3 & #4) were peanuts? One weighed 1.6 oz at birth, the other three weighed (0.9, 1 and 1.3 oz) - Would that make those three "peanuts"? *to note: I weighed them all and none of the smaller ones gained ANY weight throughout the days of their lives... Question 2: Should I be concerned with Ginger not feeding again?
Question 3: If she gave birth to multiple peanuts (I heard that was sort of rare...) Is there is a big possibility that she will have kits these small again?
Question 4: Does this mean that Ginger is a 'True Dwarf'?
Question 5: Considering they were together for a presumably prolonged period of time (let's assume an hour or so) before being separated, how big could the next litter be?
This time I have a Bunny Birthing Box that I will be presenting to her three-five days before she will be expecting (when she starts to nest) and a heater to keep the room warm (it's -35C where I live). I'm afraid the last one (the largest of the kits) may have passed away due to a cold spell we had that day. The thing was that it was absolutely fine when I saw it that very afternoon and the next morning the poor bub had passed... He was SO cute and was completely active, with a big belly, super curious and loved to nuzzle - his passing really affected us. See Image #5
I hope the images work.
If anyone has any advice / recommendations to make Gingers time easier (Question 6: Are two consecutive litters hard on a Doe?) it would be very much appreciated.
The advice I find online is very... far from pragmatic I guess. The best advice I've found are from experienced rabbit breeders word-of-mouth. But everyone has a different experience and I acknowledge that.
Thank you so much for reading and sharing your thoughts!
Clara
Image #1 - Ginger
Image #2 - Silver
Image #3 - Day 1
* The Bottom one was the largest at 1.6oz, the rest were between 1.0 (top), 1.3 (middle), and 0.9 (third from the top)
Image #4 - Day 2
Image #5 - Bubba, Day 15 (He passed away two days after this picture was taken)
And if anyone can let me know if i'm on the right track this time as I now have time to prepare / educate myself on the whole process.First of all, I have the following two rabbits:
Ginger, a 2 year female Holland-Lop (i'm assuming) mix (Image #1)
Silver, a 6 year old male Netherland Dwarf (Image #2)
They live indoors in their own room, both separated by a puppy play-pen. I should note Silver has just been neutered (January 23rd) - they will remain separated until at least mid-march. Ginger has recently had a litter, and two weeks post giving birth, I woke up to loud noises and found them together in her part of the room! I do not know how long they were together but it must have been a couple hours.
A little background: My doe (Ginger) had a surprise litter January 7, 2019 at 5PM EST (apparently unusual for a doe to birth so early?). My boyfriend came home and found the babies scattered in their bedroom (one had even crawled under the door out into the hallway!). Anyways, long story short the living conditions the bubs were born in were far from ideal. One had been stomped on by Ginger as soon as they were born (there was a lot of blood - it was terrible!) but the four others were like jumping jelly beans. To our regret, one by one they passed away, the biggest one (born at 1.6 oz) lasting up until day 17. We both were inexperienced, and I only wish I knew what I knew now then.
Here are my questions:
Question 1: Could someone help me identify whether the bubs below (Image #3 & #4) were peanuts? One weighed 1.6 oz at birth, the other three weighed (0.9, 1 and 1.3 oz) - Would that make those three "peanuts"? *to note: I weighed them all and none of the smaller ones gained ANY weight throughout the days of their lives... Question 2: Should I be concerned with Ginger not feeding again?
Question 3: If she gave birth to multiple peanuts (I heard that was sort of rare...) Is there is a big possibility that she will have kits these small again?
Question 4: Does this mean that Ginger is a 'True Dwarf'?
Question 5: Considering they were together for a presumably prolonged period of time (let's assume an hour or so) before being separated, how big could the next litter be?
This time I have a Bunny Birthing Box that I will be presenting to her three-five days before she will be expecting (when she starts to nest) and a heater to keep the room warm (it's -35C where I live). I'm afraid the last one (the largest of the kits) may have passed away due to a cold spell we had that day. The thing was that it was absolutely fine when I saw it that very afternoon and the next morning the poor bub had passed... He was SO cute and was completely active, with a big belly, super curious and loved to nuzzle - his passing really affected us. See Image #5
I hope the images work.
If anyone has any advice / recommendations to make Gingers time easier (Question 6: Are two consecutive litters hard on a Doe?) it would be very much appreciated.
The advice I find online is very... far from pragmatic I guess. The best advice I've found are from experienced rabbit breeders word-of-mouth. But everyone has a different experience and I acknowledge that.
Thank you so much for reading and sharing your thoughts!
Clara
Image #1 - Ginger
Image #2 - Silver
Image #3 - Day 1
* The Bottom one was the largest at 1.6oz, the rest were between 1.0 (top), 1.3 (middle), and 0.9 (third from the top)Image #4 - Day 2
Image #5 - Bubba, Day 15 (He passed away two days after this picture was taken)
