Blackberry had her first litter on July 3rd after a 32-day gestation. Although most rabbits kindle after 28 days, it is typical for first-time moms to take a little longer. Also typical, Blackberry built her nest outside of the nesting box. Fortunately, we put the animals to bed pretty late on the night of the 2nd. We discovered Blackberry gathering up her grass into the typical "hay mustache". We gave her a lot more hay and enjoyed watching her move it around just so. In the morning she had 3 babies in the nest! Not so fortunately, all the rabbit info books suggest a very quite birthing environment. For our rabbits, the very next day was the 4th of July, complete with neighbors shooting off fireworks. Blackberry was slightly anxious at first and bounded in and out of the empty nesting box, not injuring the newborns in the neighboring nest.
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| New-born kits, hairless and closed eyes |
After a couple days, we noticed that the baby rabbits were spreading out around the cage, running the risk of getting chilled in their hairless state, and one had even gotten on top of the hay and lodged its head into the wire above the smaller "baby-saver" wire - we were able to carefully free it. Therefore, we decided it was worth the risk of Blackberry rejecting the kits if we touched them to move them and shift the nest into the nesting box. Everything progressed fine.
When we checked on the rabbits on day 10, when their eyes were supposed to open, we discovered that the largest white baby had passed away. The other white bunny was much smaller than its blue sibling, and also had a bad eye infection and some hygiene problems. I gently washed the bunny and dried it with the hair dryer so it wouldn't get a chill. Over the next several days, we wiped it's crusty eye, rinsed with saline solution and spread antibacterial ointment around it twice a day. We are happy to report it seems happy and healthy now!
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| Todd shows off the two week-old baby bunnies |
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| The kits get their first weigh-in. The white one was definitely smaller at 7.0 oz. compared to its sibling at 9.7 oz. |
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| Blackberry grooms the kits when they rejoin her |
