preparing for kindling (babies)

Arthur

Annabell

All 3 in their own cage

Ashley

I moved the bunny Ashley, who is now already 9 weeks old, into her own cage last night.After a few minutes of checking it all out she seemed just fine.the cage is right next to her momma and they kissed between cages almost if to say "i'm right here momma".I have been doing a lot of research to learn about the process of kindling(giving birth) and how to prepare for the litter once they are born.I have been preparing myself for the possiblity of her not actually being pregnant, and if she is, the kits dying. It will be rough, but it will be a learning process and it will probably be mother nature's way of saying, "not now". Some breeders take the nest box into their home everyday for various reasons and some let the mother do everything.Either way I have found that as long as the mother is use to you and your scent, there is no problem handling the kits daily.It is actually a good idea since that way you can check their progress and make sure they are eating enough and getting use to you.I will be leaving the nest box right in with the mom since i have a chicken eating dog and don't want a rabbit eating one too.Yes, that's right, for those of you who do not know my dog Bandit opened the incubator and "played" with the day old chick and killed it.My angora's will be staying away from the dog for as long as possible.The next step is to make a nest box either out of metal or wood, I will be using wood or should I say John will be using wood :) He doesn't know it yet but i am in hopes of him building me the nest box.I will be putting it in her cage next weekend with the hopes of a healthy litter by tuesday or wednesday.i have posted some new pics of the three of them in their own cages and some close up's of each of them.