Hard to Get Used to

We had a litter born yesterday morning. My huband checked on them and I went out about an hour later and found them cold on the wire. I do not understand why she did not use the provided nest box. I managed to warm up three of them but one had crawled away from the others and never revived. Two of the three lasted only about 2 hours before they expired. The one remaining was doing alright last night. I fed her some kitten replacement as the mother would not nurse her. And I have a cat who is nursing a kitten so I put the baby at her teat and she drank. Today, however, she just did not make it. I tried again with the mother and even tried holding her while the baby drank but it did not work. I will definately not re-breed this doe.

The 5 week old babies are doing great. Took some pictures of them today so will post them later this week. (I really want my digital camera back). They are very sweet and their fur is so long already. Their mom took good care of them. They are black but have rings on their hair shaft. Their dad is black and does not. Need to look up colors again. I doubt I will ever get them memorized.

I rearranged the rabbitry and cleaned out the corners. I put Thor's cage lower to the ground as he kept jumping out of his cage. I was grooming him on a grooming table and he just jumped right off it. My daughter Anna lured him back with yogurt treats and then grabbed him. He kicked her in the face. She let go laughing. We did eventually catch him. I thought it would be less dangerous if he gets out of the cage to be closer to the floor.

Last night we heard a commotion in the rabbitry around midnight. When my son David went out to investigate he found that Thor was out and had pushed open one of the doe's doors and was having a good time. We have since wired his cage shut to keep any more unwanted breedings to occur. I can't help it. I find this buck very amusing. He is quite a character.

Anna purchased a lovely broken black polish doe to breed to her black polish buck. He is wonderful except that he has a small spot of white on his nose and another on his front paw. So, broken black seemed the way to go with him. I took a picture of her too and will post it soon. Anna tried breeding but the doe was reluctant. So Anna wants to wait until the doe feels more comfortable.

We have two more litters due on the 8th and now one due on the 27th. I hope that they all make it. It is hard losing these new little lives. And I will do what I can to prevent this from happening.