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The skin of baby rabbits is normally thin. The color also is greatly dependent on what color they are genetically - black and blue rabbits being dark and innately harder to 'see through', red being reddish and white being very pinkish. So their genetic color and natural pigmentation can play a large role in their appearance as newborns.
I usually build a nest and leave it with the dam in hopes she takes care of them. Rabbits only nurse about 1x per day and ignore their kits the rest of the time, are you *sure* she is *actually( ignoring them? They do NOT care for their young like dogs and cats do, if you're familiar with other species. After birthing, most of the nesting behavior is actually the responsibility of the kits, not the dam. Was there any nest built at all or fur pulled? Again, it's common for first time does to fail at this, and if they have live kits you can steal fur from other does or even the dam herself and line the nest. Other things that work well are lint from your dryer, feathers etc. I would avoid anything that is a stringy fiber as those tend to get wrapped around legs and necks quickly.
As often stated, first time dams are often not the best mothers. If there are survivors, you can very well build a nest for them and even pluck some belly fur from the dam to line it. Two kits this time of the year should be able to thermoregulate just fine by themselves if properly bedded. I usually used hayor straw, and of course the actual central nest is lined with fur. If hot the kits will move up layers, and if cold they will usually move down. I just made sure my wood boxes with wire bottoms had a layer of cardboard stapled to the bottom in very cold weather until they were a few weeks old. In warmer months, the kits seemed to do fine without. I would leave them in the nestbox for the dam to feed, and monitor. Intervene by feeding only if necessary. Rarely do rabbits go out of their way to harm their kits unless they are overzealous cleaners of birthing materials and kits while giving birth. If they do, you just try again. If she repeats that behavior, she's not a breeding candidate anyway. They're livestock, they should be working FOR you, not you for them.
I usually build a nest and leave it with the dam in hopes she takes care of them. Rabbits only nurse about 1x per day and ignore their kits the rest of the time, are you *sure* she is *actually( ignoring them? They do NOT care for their young like dogs and cats do, if you're familiar with other species. After birthing, most of the nesting behavior is actually the responsibility of the kits, not the dam. Was there any nest built at all or fur pulled? Again, it's common for first time does to fail at this, and if they have live kits you can steal fur from other does or even the dam herself and line the nest. Other things that work well are lint from your dryer, feathers etc. I would avoid anything that is a stringy fiber as those tend to get wrapped around legs and necks quickly.
As often stated, first time dams are often not the best mothers. If there are survivors, you can very well build a nest for them and even pluck some belly fur from the dam to line it. Two kits this time of the year should be able to thermoregulate just fine by themselves if properly bedded. I usually used hayor straw, and of course the actual central nest is lined with fur. If hot the kits will move up layers, and if cold they will usually move down. I just made sure my wood boxes with wire bottoms had a layer of cardboard stapled to the bottom in very cold weather until they were a few weeks old. In warmer months, the kits seemed to do fine without. I would leave them in the nestbox for the dam to feed, and monitor. Intervene by feeding only if necessary. Rarely do rabbits go out of their way to harm their kits unless they are overzealous cleaners of birthing materials and kits while giving birth. If they do, you just try again. If she repeats that behavior, she's not a breeding candidate anyway. They're livestock, they should be working FOR you, not you for them.
