hello all...new here..

[tfb4me]

Hello to all members..were the Ritchie family out of Brantford ontario canada. Were totally new at this rabbit thing. We were given a feamle califorinan rabblt. She had been bred with a male Flemish giant. We have a mini rabbitry with a wire cage and a wooden box attached to it. Kinda like a hen house per say. Anyway lastnight (Lucy) our girl had 10 kits! much to our suprise. When we checked on them this morning sadly enough all 10 were frozen and dead. Her nesting box was full of straw. She didnt decide to build her nest untill she was within hours of giving birth. She did manage to pull out a bunch of fur but didnt mix it with the straw. Is there anything I could have done to prevent this from happening? As you could imagine its extremely dissapointing to have gone tru all this work with such a sad demise for the kits. Again were new at all this but have a TON of support from a friend thats been doing this for many years..He said it sucks but it happens....Bad mom i suppose. Anyway ill look forward to reading all your replies and im off to work now..


EDIT...
Ok after sorting thru this site i noticed this is mostly a pet rabbit place..am i wrong to asume that im in the wrong place? Please advise.

 

[woahlookitsme]

It actually sounds like she did everything right. Did you make sure to prevent the elements from getting to the kits? Such as wind, rain, or snow?

Many of my Bunny moms wont pull fur until the day of. Then they will have the babies at night. Some moms dont pull alot of fur and this can be supplimented with soft bedding material purchased at pet stores. But some moms will go bald pulling fur usually its the first timers. If she didnt mix it idk if this would have helped or hindered the babies but they needed to stay warm and if they werent blocked from the elements no matter how much fur she pulled if it was cold enough the babies probably wouldnt have survived.

This is not just a pet rabbit place. There is a thread called the Rabbitry and Showroom and you can gladly post in there. Although there are a few members who might comment on crossbreeding but i hope you are never offended. Most comments are for the safety and preservation of the glorious bunny.
Also something to add. I would recommened using a bigger doe than the buck. The flemish male could have easily hurt the californian doe. Especially if he was in the 20lbs weight class.
Welcome to Rabbits online

 

[tfb4me]

ya she was out of the elements. ill post pictures of her hutch..the cage is in behind a roof and a wall.attached to the cage is a wood house with a bunch of straw. What the rabbit did was, make her nest on one side of the room and had the kits on the other where the nest was...when i checked lastnight they were all high and warm..is it possible that she moved them or would they have moved themselves to the bottom of the hutch on thier own? when i checked this am they were lying right on the wood floor frozen and dead...Im confused as ever now...I didnt use a nesting box on the advise of our friend. im now thinking this was our mistake. If there was one they would have stayed warmer over night you will have to pardon my typing as im using a blackberry to type...As far as cross breeding I was told mother and son father and daughter are ok, just not brother and sister..it this true? I dont get offended easily as I have thick skin..

 

[tfb4me]

lets see if these work or not...here it is folks. what are your thoughts?

 

[woahlookitsme]

Was there anything over the front of the cage? I noticed there was snow on the feeder. This could let in draft and chill the babies

For all of our does we put nest boxes in just to make sure the mom has the kits in a safe and walled environment. Although this is not always full proof, some does will have babies outside of it and this becomes complicated. Also the walls of the nest box prevent the babies from blindly exploring other territory. If there is no petition then the babies could have easily moved and where few move they all move.

Your correct on sister and brother being a no no. But i mean crossing different breeds (such as californian and flemish giant) when i said that statement about crossbreeding. Sorry for the confusion.

And no worries of your typing. Trust me i've seen worse lol

 

[Wabbitdad12]

Let me welcome you to Rabbits Online, my name is Dave and I am a moderator on the forum. So if I can be of any help please let me know. This is a terrific website for rabbits and their slaves, not only is it very active but also friendly. I am so glad you’re here and I know you will enjoy it.

A nesting box is always recommended. Generally, kits born in the winter outside have a low chance of surviveabilty, kits should be brought inside to keep warm. The doe will only feed them a couple of times a day and she could be brought in to do that.

I have a flemish giant doe that is a great momma and she would start building a nest until just hours before giving birth also.

Is there a heat source for the bun?

Many bunny's recommend their slaves to this site so we may learn of others methods to keeping our furry masters happy.

If you everhave a sick bunny, please post in The Infirmary and include your rabbit's age, breed and health history as well diet and output details leading up to the problem.

I have listed some links I thought you might find interesting:

*For reference the Library section

*To brag or tell everyone about the antics of your bunny or just to talk about your day here is where to start a Bunny Blog, you can also look back at it later and remember when you had a life before your bunny.

*Now all the bunny’s like talk to each other when we mere slaves aren’t around in the Bunny Chat is the spot to be.

*Rabbits Online also has regional forums , this a good way to find a vet in your area that has experience with rabbits and to find out from other nearby of good sources of rabbit supplies.

The Let Your Hare Down section is for anything non-bunny related.

Here is a link tothat will help you and your bunny to connect, How To Bond With Your Bunny.

Now every forum has rules and ours can be found with this link Rabbits Online Forum Rules. This gives guidelines on what is acceptable, what is not and how we hope everyone will treat each other.

Everyone on this forum loves to see pictures of each other’s bunnies. So if you would like to post a picture this link will help you do that, Upload Photo's to Photo Gallery. Then in the post, you click on the "G" in the tool bar to insert your photo. Many people also use Photobucket. You just copy the img file and paste it into the post.

I am glad you have joined rabbits online and I look forward to seeing you around.