Babies!

[mrsblakeengelbrecht]

Ok, so maybe I’m just an anxious mom, but my doe kindled last night and I’m laying awake with concerns. From what I could count, mama had 12 kits. My first concern is I may have interrupted her. I peeked in to check on her and she hopped out of her nest and I couid see kits. I left her alone for awhile and watched from afar. She repeatedly went back to the nest and seemingly just looked in on her babes. But it’s been hours and she’s been breathing a little heavy. Not open mouth, but pretty fast. Couid she still be in labor or experiencing a complication? She’s eating and drinking and has groomed herself.
My second concern is if 12 is a large litter? Will she take care of all the kits and do moms ever forget about kits?
My last is do I pull them out and check them or leave them be?
Thanks! First timer and my bun is a rescue, I did know she was pregnant so she has everything she needs, I’m just anxious and was surprised at the litter size!

 

[dogwoodblossoms]

What breed is she?
Is she still acting weird? You might need to feel her stomach to make sure there no more babies.
She was probably feeding the babies when she was jumping back in.

 

[SableSteel]

12 is a large litter. For a large breed of rabbit the average is about 6-10. Mother rabbits cant count. Kindling is difficult, the doe might be still tired. Usually with the larger litters there are less complications; with there being 12 kits, each kit is proportionally smaller than if there were only a couple kits. If you had another doe on a litter I would recommend fostering some babies on to it, but if you dont some of the kits might need extra help. The doe will only go in and nurse for a short amount of time. Although rabbits have about 8 nipples, the rabbits jump around from nipple to nipple. If the doe is very good at nursing them, has a lot of milk and stays in the box long enough she might stay so long that the biggest few get tired and finish nursing and the smaller ones get a chance. But if she has less milk or leaves once the first few are done nursing there will likely be a number of runts. The first five days are the most important in a rabbit's development. If some of them arent keeping up you might want to get the mother out and hold her down for the smaller ones to nurse once a day until they have either caught up or are mobile and out of the nest (it wont look like they are getting milk at first, but after about 10-15 minutes of this they suddenly balloon up with milk). Do not try and supplement with milk replacer. Rabbit milk is extremely rich; kitten milk replacer or even rabbit milk formulas are a poor substitute for the real thing, and the risk of aspiration is high. Pretty much the only time that warrents using milk replacer is if the mother is dead. Do take them out and check on them. If any of the babies pass away, you want to remove them from the nest as soon as possible; and you want to keep an eye on their development. That whole 'you cant touch baby rabbits or the moms will reject them' thing is an old wive's tale that was told to keep kids from messing with their nests.