I'm out of luck and need some help :(

[CoolWaterRabbitry]

Lanna, our Havana doe with a litter of 6, has made a terrible turn.

She turned on her litter, nearly killed one, and other than that she has completely abandoned them. They are clearly starving and I'm at my wits end. We tried holding her in the box, and she stomped at them, we tried holding her out of the box with the same result, we even tried holding her upsidedown and allowing each baby to nurse and she was fine then flipped out so bad that she kicked one baby across the room (the one I'm worried now will die).

I'm so worried about the litter. The runt we are fostering to my dwarf hotot doe, but now what? The 5 remaining babies need something. I can try moving a few to my hotot, but she has 2 of her own plus the foster and I don't want to overwhelm her.

Or I can hand feed, as I did pick up some goat supplement milk a while back...unless I need something else...

I'm so lost right now and have know idea what is the best thing to do



edit to add: She doesn't have any clear signs of anything wrong, she bright eyed, eats and drinks well and is pooing and peeing well. This is not her first litter either.

 

[Shaded Night Rabbitry]

I wouldn't worry too much about overwhelming the dwarf hotot, unless she's a first time mom. My BUD dwarf girls can take 7~8 babies before they start getting stressed. If you can, I would try to get them over to the hotot if you think this doe is a lost cause. However, I believe havanas are a bigger breed (correct me if I'm wrong), so I would wean them as early as possible. 5~6 weeks if possible. (I wean anywhere from 6~8 weeks, depending on how I feel about the litter, and if the doe was rebred at 4 or 6 weeks or not.)

You could also try to supplement, but I haven't heard great results from that. =/

 

[CoolWaterRabbitry]

Havanas are bigger, ranging from 5.5-6.5lbs, whereas Hotots are 2.5 but can get to 3lbs.

My hotot doe has had several litters, and seems to be an excellent mom, I just placed the runt in with her last night and she had cleaned and fed it by the time I left for work early this morning. By fostering all the kits, she would be at 8 kits total between her litter of 2 and the 6.

I'm not 100% on a supplement either, since nothing can replace a mother's milk...

 

[TinysMom]

Feeding Orphaned Bunnies

This has a formula (I got the powdered stuff so I could make a tiny batch at a time) and amounts you need based on the age of the rabbits.

Read through this and then let us know what other questions you might have...

 

[CoolWaterRabbitry]

Also, what about the cage and box size? If I did move them over, my hotot has a box we made just for the breed, with a size of..14"Lx9"Wx8"H and a 24"x24" cage. Whereas the Havana has a standard breed nesting box (20"x11"x10" I believe) and a 30"x30".

I doubt a 24" cage will be big enough for all of them once the babies leave the box...but to I risk changing cages/boxes?

 

[Shaded Night Rabbitry]

In that situation, I'd either put them all on the hotot (I know it seems like a like, but I do have 2 3/4~3 pound netherlands that have nursed litters as big as 8, and had them get to show weight by 7 weeks!) or wean them from the havana, and perhaps cycle them for feedings with the hotot. (I generally prefer the flipping method, if the doe stays still for that amount of time.)

It make take a couple of days, but the hotot's milk should pick up to meet the needs of all the babies.

 

[CoolWaterRabbitry]

TinysMom wrote:

Feeding Orphaned Bunnies

This has a formula (I got the powdered stuff so I could make a tiny batch at a time) and amounts you need based on the age of the rabbits.

Read through this and then let us know what other questions you might have...

Thank you, I was wondering where I'd find that.

 

[CoolWaterRabbitry]

Shaded Night Rabbitry wrote:

In that situation, I'd either put them all on the hotot (I know it seems like a like, but I do have 2 3/4~3 pound netherlands that have nursed litters as big as 8, and had them get to show weight by 7 weeks!) or wean them from the havana, and perhaps cycle them for feedings with the hotot. (I generally prefer the flipping method, if the doe stays still for that amount of time.)

It make take a couple of days, but the hotot's milk should pick up to meet the needs of all the babies.

So keep them in the same box/cage? Yeah that does seem like a lot. lol :shock:

 

[Shaded Night Rabbitry]

I've never had a problem moving cages. In fact, I tend to do it almost every time. I have a "nursery" in my room for does about to kindle. They move up there on day 27, and come down once the kits are two to five days old, depending on the weather. I've yet to have a doe make a fuss over the move, and I've yet to lose any kits because of it.

As far as a nest box, I'm not sure. I'd feel more comfortable with the hotot having her own nesting materials for the nest. I'm also not uber worried about nest box size. Again, in my own experience, I've had large litters in standard dwarf boxes. I've also had a litter of 7 plus Momma in a cage that was about 22 by 22. And I quite often have litters of 6 plus momma in 24s by 24s.

 

[CoolWaterRabbitry]

Hmm...well I'll try it out in the same cage she's in now....

 

[CoolWaterRabbitry]

*sigh* Moved all the babies. Rubbed the hotot's hair all over them and they are now all in the box. Momma (the hotot)'s kits have already started licking and cleaning the havana babies and all are sleeping for the moment. Momma went over and peeked in to lick a few of them and gave that look like "Well, I don't remember having that many..."

But tomorrow and the following days will tell more I guess. :-/

 

[CoolWaterRabbitry]

Well, day 1 of fostering. Haven't seen any big changes in their bellies yet, but its only been less then a day. On the bright side, one of the babies popped out of the nest and went over to Momma, and she did allow it to nurse outside the box, and cleaned it, before she jumped away (she does this with her own, it's like her way of saying "I already fed you" lol).

So at least it seems like she has accepted them...for the time being.

 

[CoolWaterRabbitry]

Another question, I was talking to another breeder, who has given me a few tips in the past, and they were told once before to be careful about fostering kits to doe with an older litter. Apparently, the doe had killed the foster kits after her own kits had started leaving the nest box.

Is this common? My hotot's two kits have been leaving the box quite often for a day or two now, and I hope this wouldn't be the case, as the havanas she's fostering are just hitting 10 days old and haven't opened their eyes yet. :?