Ok, so we're having babies right now

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whaleyk98

whaleyk98

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Upstate NY, , USA
I just went down to check the buns this morning and my EL doe who is due (day 31 tomorrow) had one baby on the wire (alive and ok,I put it in the nest box) but there is no nest/fur nothing. Im hoping she'll pull some after and the birth caught her by surprise....I tried to call the breeder for advise but she wasnt home....ugh.I hate it when they (the buns) do this. GRRRRR!!! I guess Im just going to stay close and pick them all up....so what are the chances she'll actually care for them now???
 
wow that would be scary. I'm not a pro breeder but it might help if you told what size the box is ,her breed,whats in the box for bedding (I used straw), etc.

she should not have a wire bottom .
 
She is in a wire cage. She has a nest box appropriate for her size. She is an EL...English Lop. She has shavings on the bottom and lots of hay in and around the nest box. She just never pulled fur or nested or anything. She has had 3 babies so far and I have had to assist with everyone...the last one I had to cut the umbilical cord cause she just left it lying there and went and layed down...I mean sheesh mom...do something atleast.
 
Its common for breeders(and a lot of pet owners) to use wire bottom cages. Solid flooring can can sore hocks, and some pretty severe urine stains(and scald) esp on show rabbits. It keeps the rabbits clean, and doesn't hurt them. If it did, we wouldn't be using them.

good luck on the babies. Hopefully she will have more. :p
 
Actually - both wire cages and solid cages can cause sore hocks....I hear more often that wire cages cause it than solid cages and most flemish breeders I know will use solid cages with lots of hay.

But since the focus of this thread isn't on cage style...

I don't know if she is a first time mama. If she is - pull fur from her and cover the babies with it in the nestbox. Check them every few hours and if she hasn't fed them - you can hold her over them to feed them. This method has been shared so many times on here - I'll do a search later (when I have more time in an hour or so) to find you a link to it.

First time mamas often don't understand about having babies - but sometimes after they have them....their instincts kick in and they can become excellent moms - and then sometimes it takes a few days of us "helping" to encourage them to feed their babies.

We're here for you ....
 
My luck isnt so good with EL litters for some reason. Its happened to me before with another doe and I couldnt remember if the breeder had told me if this one was a first time mamma or not...tried calling but shes not home. Im just spending some time in the rabbitry cleaning and such so I can keep an eye on her...so far just the three.....
 
I pm'd you with my number in case you ever need a breeder to talk to.

I work about 2 days per week from 7 am - 2 pm CST....but can sometimes take a brief break to help out.

Then there are days like today when I'm off...
 
Ugh...now shes eating and drinking but I KNOW I felt atleast 2 more babies in there. Im gonna go take a nap...this is so stressful,lol.
 
Yeah, a question about that. Is it ok you think if I just leave the nestbox stuffed with hay and no fur...only because its so hot and humid here? Just wondering if thats an ok option?
 
If you think the babies will stay warm enough you can....but check them every hour or so at first to see if they're staying warm.
 
I just tried to pull fur from her and theres nothing...no fur thats loose anywhere so I can pull it. I tried to pull from various spots and shes hoppin all arounds like "ouch" "hey!" Stop that,lol. Looks like this is going to be a loooong day/night. Thanks everyone for your help and Ill keep you posted!
 
Hmm...she seems a little lost at this lol! Have you tried putting anything else in?
 
Doe should be fine, some does make a nest after kindling, but do pick the bunnies up from the wire otherwise they will go cold and die.
 
Yeah, the three are in the box all huddled together so Im hoping the hormones kick in in the next day or so. She did have another one but it was dead. She has at least one more inside her still...still waiting on that one. I did get ahold of her breeder and this is the does first litter so shes just lost, poor girl.
 
I hope your girl and kits pull through. I had a bad kindling with my Angora doe and had to retire her. Took her five hours to kindle, lost way to much blood, dropped 2 on the wire and THEN had the rest in the box in one big rush. She spends her day's nibbling grass and snoozing now :)


It could really just be first-litter confusion. I've had first-does go Super Momma X-Treme Edition and others just drop them and leave like, pft! Nurse babies! YOU nurse the babies! Sometimes it seems that practice is first required :p
 
Well I will tell you what I went thought with my two Elop girls both first time moms. Tessa had her kits first in the nest but no hair no nothing then Windy about 6hr latter hers where all over the cage some even still had after birth on it. So what I did is build the nest with Cotton filler put all the babies back after I cleaned all of them. They both had 7 babies. Windy took to feeding right away. Tessa every night I held her so the babies can eat. They are 10 days we did loose one but Tessa is feeding on her own now and both girls did pull hair a few days ago. I am sure next time they will get this in order.
 
Ugh..ok. So I went down this morning to check the babies and OMG. It was like WW3 down there. Well...the good news is that she finally pulled fur and it was in the nest box...as well as all over the place. Now Im not going to go into gory details here, Ill let your imaginations go to work there, but she had given birth to like 7 more babies...all over the cage. Some were all there, some werent. I managed to save two that were still alive, a little worse (and ear missing and a tip off another) for ware but alive. Mamma was sitting in the nest box hopefully feeding babies.....NOT what I wanted to wake up to this morning. On the other hand, this senario just goes to show that breeding is not all about putting mom and dad together for a night and voila! Babies....I know I will be having nightmares tonight about zombie baby bunnies,lol. Poor babies =(
 
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