Good and bad news - Midnight delivered her kits this afternoon. Or should I say is in the process of delivering them now. When we got home this afternoon around 2ish. I found a dead kit out in the cage. I checked the nest box and found 3 more kits, only one was alive. I\'ve removed the 3 dead kits from the nest box/cage. Any ideas how long the deliver should last? Should we expect any more kits? Also, my husband is concerened that Midnight\'s escapee adventure hurt the unborn kits. The jump into/out of her hutch is just about 16 inches.
Charlcie, I\'m afraid most of these questions are directed to you. I\'ve come to depend on your experience and expertise.
Thanks.
Well it\'s 8:30 and there are no additional kits. We have a lone survivor (once again). But Midnight is taking care of the little one and I expect all to go well from here. I\'ll keep you all posted and will post a picture in a few days.
Though Holland Lops are very cute and popular rabbits, they do tend to have a higher mortality rate in the kits at birth than do a lot of other breeds. A normal delivery for rabbits is about 20 - 30 minutes, but Hollands often take longer than this because the heads of the kits are proportionately larger. Four is a fairly normal-size litter for Hollands, so it sounds like Midnight is probably finished kindling. I have had a couple of does actually have an additional kit up to 24 hour later, though in all but one instance, the late kit was dead.
If Midnight seems alright and has a good follow-up appetite, I wouldn\'t worry. Often, retained kits will (understandably) cause the doe to go off-feed.
I really don\'t think Midnight\'s little \"escapade\" caused any problem with the kits. If a problem were to have occurred, it most likely would have been an injury to Midnight herself and it sounds like she appears fine.
Keep us posted on how she does with her new baby.
Charlcie Gill
Zodiac Rabbitry
Astoria, OR
http://www.zodiacsatins.com
Charlcie - thank you so much. My husband said to thank you as well. He\'s become very fond of our \"fat black rabbit\". I promiseto keep you posted on our new little one.
Thanks again.