Happy Hollands
Well-Known Member
Hello all,
As some of you may be aware, I own a Holland Lop female who just gave birth to eight beautiful, healthy babies a few days ago! This is her second litter with me, and her fourth overall. About 2 weeks into her pregnancy, she started nesting early to the extent of dragging a towel into her so-called nest (her litter box). I assumed it might be a false pregnancy, as I had heard they nest extremely early when they are not actually pregnant. And I wasn't quite sure if she had "took" this time. She refused to use her litter pan as it's actually use, instead saving the hay pristine for her babies and pooping / peeing in other corners a little disclaimer - she ended up giving birth to the babies in the nest box NOT her litter box in the end... Silly girl.
Anyways, I figured this behavior could be tolerated with a pregnant doe and she would resume to her normal habits after this hormonal time. To anyone interested, her cage is 20 ft² custom built with vinyl flooring. Wire free all the way! Erg, she is still going to the bathroom in the opposite corner as her litter box! Keep in mind, on her last litter there was no type of behavior like this when she had five babies. This is extremely rare for both her and I!
I was wondering if you guys had any suggestions of how to help her go back to her old litter box corner - as I have a built-in litter box that I would really like to keep in that position. because she has newborn babies, I would like to avoid anything stress related such as making her cage smaller or anything new to her such as adding more litter boxes. Thank you guys so much! If you would like I can add some pictures of Mama and babies, upon request
As some of you may be aware, I own a Holland Lop female who just gave birth to eight beautiful, healthy babies a few days ago! This is her second litter with me, and her fourth overall. About 2 weeks into her pregnancy, she started nesting early to the extent of dragging a towel into her so-called nest (her litter box). I assumed it might be a false pregnancy, as I had heard they nest extremely early when they are not actually pregnant. And I wasn't quite sure if she had "took" this time. She refused to use her litter pan as it's actually use, instead saving the hay pristine for her babies and pooping / peeing in other corners a little disclaimer - she ended up giving birth to the babies in the nest box NOT her litter box in the end... Silly girl.
Anyways, I figured this behavior could be tolerated with a pregnant doe and she would resume to her normal habits after this hormonal time. To anyone interested, her cage is 20 ft² custom built with vinyl flooring. Wire free all the way! Erg, she is still going to the bathroom in the opposite corner as her litter box! Keep in mind, on her last litter there was no type of behavior like this when she had five babies. This is extremely rare for both her and I!
I was wondering if you guys had any suggestions of how to help her go back to her old litter box corner - as I have a built-in litter box that I would really like to keep in that position. because she has newborn babies, I would like to avoid anything stress related such as making her cage smaller or anything new to her such as adding more litter boxes. Thank you guys so much! If you would like I can add some pictures of Mama and babies, upon request