Riverwind Rabbitry & Farms

Below is the diary of our first litter of Silver Fox born to us on the farm, and while it is a bit of dated material, it continues to be one of the most popular visited pages on our site.  It will give you some idea of what to expect with your own SF 1st litter!

January 2, 2008 - 8:00pm My hot date with "Charlie" from the cage upstairs of me.

February 1, 2008 - I begin placing alfalfa straw in my nest, that my owners provided, along with some clean pine shavings I pulled from my litter box.

February 3, 2008 - At about 9:00pm I gently pull some of my fur out for my nest.  I am restless, up and down off my ramp upstairs to downstairs to my nest.

February 3, 2008 - At about 11:30pm I return to the nest to pull even more hair out.  I continue to be restless, and sprawl out on my cool ceramic tile my owners gave me when I moved in my rabbit condo.

February 4, 2008 - At  about 12:00am I return to the nest to pull still more hair.  I continue to lay on my ceramic tile, above my nest, wondering what I have gotten myself into.  My owners come out a check on me several times, even opening the screen door of the rabbitry to give me and the other rabbits some fresh air, it is a pretty winter night about 50 degrees outside and 60 inside our rabbitry.

February 4, 2008 -  At about 1:30-1:45am I give birth to (6) beautiful baby bunnies, I I have done my best to make them feel warm and snuggly in their nest.  I linger outside the nest box and guard them when my owners come in to check on us.  I also am very thirsty, and my owner rewards me with some yummy green alfalfa hay.

BELOW YOU CAN WATCH THE PROGRESS WITHIN THE NEST BOX:

(Picture Above): Echo our Silver Fox Pregnant Doe, lounging on the upstairs level ceramic tile just above her nest.

Picture Right):  NEST MADE              Echo's  Nest Box as it appeared Feb. 1, 2008  when she first started making her nest, with alfalfa hay and pine shavings. We placed the nest box in at about 28 days after mating, she now can be seen with huge mouthfuls of hay and straw going back and forth into her nest box.

(Picture Right): FUR PULLED                Nest Box as she started pulling hair and lining her box as it appeared about 10:00pm February 3, 2008.  This is the first signs you have kits on the way.  Most rabbits will pull hair the day they give birth, however some exceptions have been known. As long as 3 or more kits are born, with ample fur, the kits should be fine even in winter months.
  

(Picture Right): GETTING CLOSE                 Nest Box as she continued to pull more hair, taken at approx. 12:00am February 4, 2008.  You can tell at this point we are getting very close.  Momma is nervous, panting at times, and restless.  Several visits back and forth to the nesting box.  This could be just because it is her first litter, but true never the less. (02/03/08)        
 

(Picture Below): WE HAVE BABIES                                                                      Nest box with new born silver foxes in it, born approx. 1:30am February 4, 2008.  Momma and babies all seem to be fine.  New momma should always be pet to erase your human smell before you touch nest or babies.  Echo is still a bit uneasy, but came to the door and greeted us as we checked in.  While hard to tell, not wanting to mess with the babies allot, but appears 6 live kits, about the size of a mouse,  buried in about 2"-3" of fur. (02/04/08)

 (Picture Below):  1 DAY OLD                                                                             Here is another close-up view of the kits at ONE day old, you can see they are hairless, eyes close, but you can already see little ears, and big feet.  All 6 are doing well at the time, and already squirming around, nudging one another and even climbing over one another.  I swear you can already tell they have grown! (02/05/08)

  (Picture Below):  2 DAYS OLD                                                                             Already starting to get glimpses of fur growing, this little rascals are squirming all over.  Good signs of growth, still all appear to be in good shape, will wait till their eyes open to handle and inspect further.  Echo, the momma, seems to have calmed down ALLOT, even wanting to be pet, and wanting attention now.  ECHO IS SHOWING SIGNS OF BEING A GOOD MOMMA. (02/06/08)
  

    Here (ABOVE) are some pictures of our beautiful 6 DAY OLD Silver Fox Babies, already covered in hair that is as smooth as silk.  They grunt and growl and make funny noises, they are about 5 1/2 " long.  So far all (6) kits have survived and have plump, fat, round bellies from being feed very well, they are squirming around in the nest ALLOT, under mommas fur.
 
    Inspection tonight Valentine's Day, 10 DAY OLD, (ABOVE).  We cleaned out the nest and replaced the soiled straw and hay with fresh pine chips, chopped hay, and momma's original fur.  We like to do this to avoid eye infections that can occur with babies first open their eyes with bacteria that can appear in the original nest after 10 days.  The kits are now laying "on-top" of the fur and nesting material, not relying on the fur as cover much anymore, they are already planning to explore the big, big world outside the nest.  Actually one brave soul was found outside in the cage with momma, fat little guy, we scolded him gently and tucked him back into bed. :)  Momma seemed grateful and came in to check on the "kids", then returned to her vigilant watch outside.

 
   Open eye inspection tonight, 12 DAY OLD, (ABOVE).  Many have told us, and you may read this is a very critical point with baby buns, if their eyes are not totally open.  We use a very gentle massage with a warm damp cloth to remove "sleepy/matt" out of eyes, to help then finish opening.  Perhaps partial truth, perhaps some old wise tales, but if the eyes do not open during this time, the rabbit can go blind, or have serious sight issues, infection.  We do not like to take any chances, this also gives us a good excuse to get the babies out and handle them, and let them start getting used to human intervention.
 

   Growing like weeds, 14 DAYS OLD, (ABOVE & TO RIGHT).  Youngsters are now outside in the cage about 20% of the time.  Usually chasing mom, and she is usually hopping over them like hurdles to get to her ramp leading to the upstairs.  At this point they do not know how to go up the ramp, so that is is "Momma's Safe Haven".  Very lively, walking around, even jumping, still not very well coordinated, but cute as can be.  Starting to show interest in nibbling pellets, oats and alfalfa hay leaves.  We attempted to "sex" the kits tonight, still early to tell, but looking like about a 50% buck to 50% ratio.  We will try again probably next week with more success.
 

 Growing like weeds, 21 DAYS OLD, (TO RIGHT & BELOW).  The SF babies are absolutely adorable, we have removed the nesting box, and the young kits are outside in the cage more often than they are in the hutch.  However they still enjoy long naps, laying together, and running up and down the ramp to the upstairs loft in their rabbit condo, as you will see below.  In the same picture (below) you can see momma, "Echo" with some of her babies running all around her and one little devil racing up the ramp with the flash of the camera.

 While you can't call them "babies" anymore, here is the SF crew now 4 WEEKS OLD. (Below). It looks like you can start to see "silvering" however it is just the light glistening off their coats.  Already they have about a finger and 1/2 length of fur, and are showing excellent density.  They are very tame, and love to be held, and pet.  I LOVE THIS BREED!  NOTE: Kits should not be weaned from SF until at least 6 weeks, it is better to keep them with momma 7 or even 8 weeks.  This provides good form, and reduces death rate and long term medical issues, ultimately producing a higher quality.
                                                                                                 Below are some new pictures of the (6) Silver Fox Kits, they are getting bigger and bigger they are now just shy of    (6) WEEKS OLD. You can see I took some pictures of them with our daughter's manx cat, Storm, to give you an idea of how big they really are.

   THANKS FOR SHARING THIS EVENT WITH US. THESE PICTURES ARE OF        OUR 1st SILVER FOX KITS BORN TO RIVERWIND RABBITRY & FARMS. :)

 The following is a video I stumbled across of some ONE WEEK OLD Silver Fox Kits, these are the "blue" version, not yet recognized by the ARBA, but beautiful none the less.  Not sure who to give credit to for this video, but THANKS and very nice work. http://video.aol.com/video-detail/rabbits-kits/3411069153