Week old Holland Lop survival

[ichabodny]

Hello, We have two Holland Lop rescues. To start, it took time to find a vet through covid in our area to neuter our male. He was neutered last week but on the same day, our female surprised us with babies, They are separated, have been separated (minus the obvious oops) and will stay that way until June.

All new babies but one died within the first day. The last one has been thriving and warm with a full belly until this morning when I got home from work at around 2 am. Her belly still looks good but not as full. However, she was cold. I warmed her up for quite some time until she felt very warm and put her back in with mom. Mom hopped over to her immediately. I have to add that she is indoor, we have a pen that we keep open and a nesting box besides her litter box. I have a towel on the bottom of the nesting box and hay on top. When I checked on her again about 4 hours later, she was cold again. The mom is checking on her while running around the house but I don't think the kit has nursed yet. The concern I have is in keeping her warm enough without her having any surviving siblings and how to do that for her without disturbing her nursing time with mom or stress the mom out.

I've called my vet and as usual, grrrr, she's closed. This area is still having minimal hours with covid and we have very few vets that will see bunnies. It took me almost a year to find a vet anywhere within a couple hour radius that not only takes care of bunnies but will even accept a new bunny with any openings. I don't want to lose this baby and want to keep her with mom. Any help on how to keep her warm enough as she's getting cold even inside the nesting box with mom's fur in a warm house, would be helpful. Not sure what else to do to KEEP her warm in the nest.

Thank you in advance!

 

[JBun]

The baby won't eat well or survive if it's not staying warm. You'll need to provide some sort of rabbit safe heat pack that only is on one side of the nest, so if the baby gets too hot it can move away from the heat. If you leave the nest in with mom, the heat source will need to be rabbit safe. If you pull the nest out and only put it back in morning and evening for the mom to nurse, you could use something like an electric heating pad under only a part of the nest. You just have to be really careful that it has someplace cool to crawl to if it gets too warm in one spot.

Usually the mom's fur alone should be enough to keep the baby warm, especially indoors, unless she didn't pull enough. There should be a nice thick layer of fur that the baby can dig down into to cover it to stay warm. You could try pulling more from her belly if she'll cooperate and it's still loose enough to pull.

 

[ichabodny]

The baby won't eat well or survive if it's not staying warm. You'll need to provide some sort of rabbit safe heat pack that only is on one side of the nest, so if the baby gets too hot it can move away from the heat. If you leave the nest in with mom, the heat source will need to be rabbit safe. If you pull the nest out and only put it back in morning and evening for the mom to nurse, you could use something like an electric heating pad under only a part of the nest. You just have to be really careful that it has someplace cool to crawl to if it gets too warm in one spot.

Usually the mom's fur alone should be enough to keep the baby warm, especially indoors, unless she didn't pull enough. There should be a nice thick layer of fur that the baby can dig down into to cover it to stay warm. You could try pulling more from her belly if she'll cooperate and it's still loose enough to pull.

Thank you so much for your reply! I put a heating pad under part of the nest and under a towel with some hay. Hoping to get this right. Morticia did pull fur early on but urinated all over the babies the night they died. The nest was a mess and so was this last baby. I had to change the nest. She added more fur, thankfully but that was some days ago and there wasn't really enough to last. I was hoping it would be but she's just been staying too cold in the nest alone.

She's really slow in response today but we keep trying to make sure she is warm. I checked with mom on a few things, including if there is loose fur but nothing close to what I need anywhere besides some shedding. I have a few days off and help from my daughter so we are checking on her. I'll keep her box next to me until evening. Mom is running around the house still right now. Thank you for your help.

 

[zuppa]

Hot bottle (warm) you can put under the towel in the nest as you described as you have towel and hay on top and some fur.

I actually was in your situation, was also oopsie litter only two babies and one of them was possibly stillborn he was half-eaten outside the nest, mother was very upset. It was January and very cold, they were indoors as well but we had problems with heating that winter.

What I did, I helped mother to nurse holding baby on her belly, than I stuffed travel carrier with hay (I use wood pellets for toilet so added a layer of them as absorbing material under hay, then added a little fur on one side inside the box), Mother is small size girl so there was enough room for her and baby, and baby wasn't alone. She's got very attached to the baby and nursed a few times a day, he was very fat and survived well no health issues later, just was very fat.

The carrier I've placed into a shallow cardboard box with cutted front, that box was slightly larger than carrier and there was enough room to place 2 l bottle with hot water on one side of the carrier. So I had to change the bottle every few hours to keep them warm,but not too warm. Also baby had her all the time she was moving and they were both warm in there. That way they were for first week, she was only let out 2-3 times a day for an hour or so. Because it was cold at home I had a blanket over the top of the carrier. It worked perfectly. Honestly I didn't think he will make it but he did.

If you think your baby is not getting enough milk, make sure mother has milk. You can hand feed him, putting on his mother's belly, holding her on you, make sure she can't kick him with her hind legs.

Here's a video how to hand feed. You can also hold her over him, but when you feed as in this video you can see the baby is getting milk or not, it will be moving from nipple to nipple and you will see if not finding any milk



If you think mother doesn't have milk, offer her rolled oats, 1 tablespoon once or twice a day, I also feed them chamomile and other herbs to help her to recover. Do not give mint while she is nursing, because mint will reduce milk.

 

[zuppa]

Btw what pellets you feed her? She needs high protein pellets now and up to 4 day portions. Junior pellets with min 16% protein and min 1 % calcium would suit. Make sure she gets lots of fresh water as well, her usual vegs/greens and fruit, as I said rolled oats are great addition to her diet as well

 

[Happy Hollands]

Singleton's can be hard to raise. For the highest survival rate, I recommend assisted nursing (as shown in the video above, 2-3 times per day) and taking the baby/nest out of the mom's enclosure. This will make it easier for you to monitor the baby and put less stress on the mom.

Based off experience, you can use a tub/container of sorts (smaller than the nest box itself). I haven't had to use this tip in a while, mainly because fostering is the easiest option when you have multiple litters! At this stage, hay is mainly used as an insulator and can be mixed with ripped up cotton balls, dryer lint, and any fur that the mama pulled / got brushed off her. It looks like the baby's coat is starting to come in, but I would recommend a heat lamp (if you feel comfortable using one) as an extra precaution. If the baby is in a heated house, there's obviously a lower chance of it freezing anyway!

While it may seem like a lot of work, the best chance for survival is hand raising it with assisted nursing. Mama is most likely producing enough milk for one baby, but oats can help increase milk flow and is a yummy treat. Once the baby reaches around 3/4 weeks old, it is no longer dependant on milk but may nurse (less often) until 8 weeks old. Best of luck on this journey I specifically breed and raise Holland Lops, so I am here if you have any other questions!