First litter/first time mom

[saltandpepper]

I need some help/advice, I have a first time mom who just kindled a day ago and I'm kinda worried if she's going to take care of her litter. She doesn't want to use the litterbox I provided her and she kindled all 7 on the plastic matting of her cage. She instead made a burrow at the corner of her cage from the nesting materials that I provided her, she didn't pull enough fur before she kindled unlike last month when she had a false pregnancy she did pull a lot of fur.

Should I be worried? And can anyone tell me if these kits are healthy? They are less than 24hours old from this photo.

 

[JBun]

If she hasn't fed them by 36 hours after birth, I would step in and help her feed them, carefully so she doesn't kick out and injure one of the babies. You can know if they've been fed, by checking to make sure they all have nice round full bellies. If she hasn't fed them, they will start to look wrinkly from dehydration.

 

[majorv]

Does will typically feed the newborns by 24 hours after birth. By 36 hours they’ll look like jbun described, and will move less. The key is to step in before they get too weak to suckle. I wait no longer than 36 hours to intervene because by 48 hours some could be dead. Seven is a pretty good size litter if it’s a small breed.

 

[saltandpepper]

The kits are 5 days old now. 1 baby died because she was too weak to suckle on the doe's teats.

The nest box is always outside the doe's cage and twice a day (morning and night 12hrs apart) I take the mom out and hold her sitting on the nest box for around 10 minutes (I let the smaller babies get milk first before letting them all feed together) their mom grooms them while I force feed the babies. Am I doing it right? The babies look healthy and fat.

I tried to put the nest box in the doe's cage and observed but I took it out quickly because she was acting curious and stepping on them. I heard one of the babies squeak very loud looks like she stepped on them.

So my questions are:
1. Am I doing it right?
2. When can I stop force feeding them and put them in their mom's cage for good?
3. Will the mom still care for her babies?
4. Should I feed them twice a day for 10 minutes or just once?

 

[JBun]

If they do nurse both times, when you bring them in twice a day, and they aren't getting overly fed, then I would suggest to continue to bring them twice a day. If they seem like they are getting quite chunky with twice a day feeding, you could try once a day and see how they do, but make sure to closely monitor them.

As long as the babies are having a full belly each day, and removing the nest is keeping them from getting injured by mom, I would keep doing it until they're old enough that they start venturing out of the nest, usually at about 2-3 weeks old. Then when you bring them to mom to nurse, you could try leaving them in with her, but make sure she has a box or shelf she can hop up onto to get away from them pestering her. Then closely watch to make sure she is ok with them staying in there with her. If she is ok with them being there, then you shouldn't have to help with the nursing anymore.

 

[saltandpepper]

Hello again @JBun , the bunnies are 4 weeks old now. They are separated from their mother's cage. I still bring the mother out for them to lactate, because when I try to put the babies in the mother's cage, the mother just kicks her babies trying to run away from them one time caused an injury to 1 baby.

Is it okay that I do this way? When can I wean them? They are now eating hay and drinking water (bottle)

 

[Preitler]

Well, now that you have done it that way I would just continue for now if it works, feeding twice a day. I wouldn't wean them until 6-8 weeks, in a pinch you could wean now, but if all play along it's better to wait.

Normally there is no need to take the nestbox or kits out, they just stay with the do until they are 8-12 weeks (Doelings even longer, depending on the breeders preferences). It helps a lot to give the doe a place, like a high shelf, that small kits can't reach, and that is just her size so that bigger kits can't get up to her and pester her.

I never ran into a situation where force feeding a litter would have helped any. Most of my does do not feed as long as anyone is around, I almost never see them feeding, privacy is really important to them, prey animal instinct.

For the next litters, save some fur from the nest, from brushing or plucking during molt, it's always good to have a stock of that, doesn't need to be from the same rabbit to supplement a nest if she doesn't pull enough.
You can move the nest into the nestbox after 1-2 days, or just add enough hay and maybe put cardboard undernieth if it's a wire floor to make a descent nest. Nestbox has the the advantage that kits can't be dragged out on the teat as easily during the first days. I think next time you can relax a little and trust the doe.

 

[saltandpepper]

Just 4 days ago another doe of mine kindled 3 healthy kits and 3 DOA, I think it got stuck. I try to avoid meddling with them this time but when I checked the 3 kits were very skinny. The mother didn't pull any fur but she was gathering hay to the nest box. Her tummy wasn't bald unlike my other does when they kindled. One of the babies died just 5 hours ago because that baby was too skinny. I don't think the doe feeds them. As of now, 2 kits are alive but they aren't well fed.

Can I use the fur that was trimmed before as nesting material?

 

[Preitler]

yes.