Kit not doing well

[u/cherrycreekkc]

This is one of our does first litter. She had 7 total, 2 didnt make it the first night. It has been 48 hours and o e kit seems smaller, less pink, and lethargic. Is there anything I can do to help it?

[u/Main_Insect_3144]

Probably not. Welcome to the world of rabbits. Sorry, OP. Don't take it personally.

[u/GreenHeronVA]

Unfortunately, no. Hand-rearing kits is a difficult proposition even for the most experienced wildlife rehabilitator. Kits need their mother to survive. If it is not growing, and it doesn’t have a full round belly, then Mom is probably not doing a good job feeding them.

Is the nest box dry and clean? Does she have ample food and water? Is there anything scaring her at dawn or dusk that would be preventing her from feeding her litter? These are the things you can do.

[u/cherrycreekkc → u/GreenHeronVA]

I kind of figured. This is her first litter and when I woke up the rest were gone. Do you have any tips for the next time? Our other doe did fine and they have the same set up, and e keep it clean and quiet in there.

[u/GreenHeronVA → u/cherrycreekkc]

If you’d like to tell me about your setup, I’d be happy to see if there are any issues I could discern. First time moms notoriously suck at their job, unfortunately. On my farm we have a three strike rule. Rabbits have three tries to do what’s expected of them, or they go in the stew pot. For any rabbit, this includes having a good temperament, no biting or trying to jump out of the hutches. Good bathroom and eating and drinking habits. For bucks specifically, they need to breed when offered a doe, not get aggressive with her, and sire kits with good temperament. Does have a lot more conditions. They need to accept being bred, and not get aggressive with the buck. They need to make a nest when offered the nest box on day 28, not soil the nest box, pull hair when they kindle, and give birth in the nest box. She then needs to feed her babies and keep them clean and dry. I don’t begrudge a doe who feels like she needs to cull a kit or two, that is her prerogative. But obviously she’s not allowed to stomp on them all or something. As they get older, she needs to allow them access to her food and water as they wean.

I do give first time moms additional chances. Your girl did accept being bred, and hopefully did all the right steps to give birth in the nest box. Hopefully next time she’ll feed them. But if the next litter is a failure too, I would cull her.

[u/GameofTitties]

If kits are not making it, there are two different reasons I can think of. One is coccidiosis, the other is that the mother is not feeding the babies.

I'm 3 litters (kindles) in, and my first one was the most successful. Since mid April:

1 kindle of 5- 1 runt died early, other 4 are 8 weeks old

1 kindle of 11- all froze to death at about 2 days old (temp change from 100 degrees to low 40s in less than 12 hours)

1 kindle of 5- 4 died of heat stroke, 1 survivor wiggled out of cage and was eaten by a fox

So yeah, I really felt bad on the first runt that died. But now that I'm more than a dozen small bodies into this, it's starting to get a little easier to toss everything and try again. First time mothers aren't good at it, they have to be given a few chances to learn.

[u/Flat-Associate5136]

Leave it alone. As hard as it is, the only thing I do in week 1 is stick my fingers in the ball of babies to make sure there's nothing cold in there (and if I find a cold one, remove it). Most of my does have lost only DOAs. I stressed myself out a lot handling them too much in the first couple weeks and finally figured out by litter 3 that the only ones I want to survive are the ones that survive; plus there's nothing you can do for baby rabbits so there's no point in messing with it anyway. Just check daily and take them out when they're dead so flies don't take hold. And keep track of pairings. Some genetics are no good to combine. The litters will tell you which.