Starting two weeks before the kits are due, turn on a radio
or CD player at night to calm rabbits and drown out unwanted noise from cars or
coyotes or other predators that could be lurking outside. If you have neighborhood dogs or children you
will definitely want to run the radio all day and night.
One week before the kits are due, you will definitely want
to clean and sanitize the doe’s cage, pan, and nesting box. Hay is expensive, so you will want to use
some shredded paper. Try not to use
thicker paper, or paper with sharp edges.
Pluck, comb, or shear the doe’s wool the week before the
kits are due so that there is no wool long enough to wrap around little baby
bunny legs or ears. Also, you can cut
the wool the doe pulls herself into small pieces. One week before the kits are due, do not move
the doe any more.
Two to three days before the kits are due, put the nesting box
in. Do not do this any earlier. You don’t want it to become a litter box.
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| Snowball with a mouthful of hay for rearranging her nest |
Finally, start watching for signs of imminent kindling—stuffing
hay in mouth, pulling wool, rearranging the nest. Don’t stress the doe by checking too often, but
do check to make sure everything goes smoothly.
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