Well, my californian doe had her first litter of 6 kits on Sunday. Unfortunately she had them on the wire. I scoped them up and put them in the nest box with all the fur she pulled. However, how can I tell if she is nursing them? I haven't seen her in with them, but then I'm not standing over her 24/7. Is there any way to be sure? I don't want them to slowly starve to death. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance. Liz in NH
their tummys are round and full! The doe only nurses them once a day for about 5 minutes. The only way to watch her is to pull the nesting box and give it to her once a day. Within 20 minutes or so she will jump in and nurse them. This is where an in box video camera comes in handy!
Kits that are not getting fed start to look like deflated balloons, and get wash board looking wrinkles as if they are shrinking in their skin.
We had the same experience when we first got rabbits - it took a while before we caught them nursing. Having nursed a baby myself I found this very unusual . . . As our buns got bigger and fatter we guessed they must be getting fed, and occasionally one would be out of the box - pulled out when the mom hopped out. Rabbits just have a weird nursing pattern.
