So yesterday Juliet was acting very strange and I assumed it was almost time for the babies! So I kept checking on her until it got dark. Then right after i got up I ran out to the rabbits. Juliet wasn't outside and I could see tufts of hair laying around. I knew the bunnies had been born but I thought I would hear little noises. But I didn't. I took off the long cover that covered all four cages houses, then took off the individual insulated cage cover. I dug through the hay to the nest box. That's when I saw them. Laying there, Bloody, frozen, dead. I covered my mouth with one hand. Tears gathering in my eyes. As I reached down to the nest box. My thoughts scrambling for an explanation to what I had just found on this cold, crisp, Minnesota morning. I pulled out the nest box, a tear rolling down my cheek. I replaced the straw where the box had been. Then put the cover back over Juliet's hutch. I stared at the nest box trying to comprehend. I knew they wouldn't have made it but I had hoped. You always have a feeling of hope. Even in the most terrible situations. Even if you don't know it. There's a sense of hope deep inside you. Like the embers of a fire. Hoping to find that one spark that will fuel the fire. I had hope that they would somehow magically make it. But my fire was put out. The ember left to die out. They had not made it. They had froze to death. It snowed all day, all night, even the day after. To be followed by more now the next day. The 5 kits didn't have a chance against the mean Minnesota winters. Not even with all the fur their loving mother, whom they would never get the pleasure of knowing, had pulled most likely minutes before their birth. Not even with the fully insulated house stuffed with straw, would they survive. We no not how long they where born before they died. Or if they where born alive or not. I assume that possibly some might have been born alive according to I found some burrowed into the straw. They had no nibble marks. No open wounds. Just cold frozen bodies that were not made to endure the sub-zero climate they had been brought into. Perhaps it 'twas my fault. breeding them at such a cold, barren time of the year. Maybe I had brought this terrible future upon them. It was my fault. Mine. Juliet is a sweet rabbit. Shy when we first brought her home, but slowly over the months, she started to accept me and become more and more friendly and loving. Her mothering instincts might have also made her more loving. She seemed calm. Happy that she would soon have some babies of her own to take care of. I think she has always wanted some kits. She's been pulling fur making nests since I brought her home. She's so nice and gentle I knew she was going to be a good mother. That's why I was so astonished for what I had found when I moved the straw away from the nest box. I continued to care for my other rabbits. Usually Juliet will stay out in her outdoor cage and watch me refill her food and water dishes. But today she wouldn't. Whether it was while I was in the house or cage, she'd go to the other part. She would not interact with me. Neither would Oscar. Juliet and him to remind you would talk to each other through their cages everyday. They were each others company and friends at fair. Not only where they moved away from each other for the arrival of their young but also Oscar could not be their to Socialize through the cage with Juliet after the ordeal. I think he new what Juliet had gone through and it made him sad that he couldn't be there for her. He stayed in his house most of the day. Coming out every once in awhile for food and a drink of water that would quickly freeze over from the cold. Remember animals have feelings too. After caring for my rabbits I brought the nest box back to the house. King close behind me inhaling the sent. Trying to figure out what I had in the mysterious box. I had to yell at him a couple times to get away from it. Trying to hold back the tears. I set the box down, out of King's reach, and walked up to the door trying to figure out how I was going to tell my grandparents who were also very ecstatic about the arrival of baby bunnies. I walked in the door. So... My grandma said curiously after I shut the storm door behind me. Juliet had her babies. I said. Really! She said. An excited tone in her voice. How many!? My grandpa added right after. Um... I'm not sure? I said confused and a little worried. What do you mean? Didn't you count them? He asked. I ugh.. I started to say but was soon interrupted by mu grandpa who couldn't quite hear what I was mumbling. What? How many did she have? I don't know. She... She killed them. I said. This was before I had fully gone through the nest box and examined the kits to find out what the cause of death was. Oh! You could hear my grandma gasping at what she had heard. Noah standing at the top of the stairs, a sad shocked facial expression plastered on his face. What happened? My grandma asked. I don't know. I think she didn't think they would survive. I said. Moms will sometimes kill there babies if they think they won't survive. Like if there's a predator. Or if they feel their kits are being born in an unsafe environment. I added. Maybe they were born dead. My grandma said. Yeah. Remembering what I had watched on Animal Planet when I was younger. It was a documentary on tigers. When the mothers cub had died, she ate it. Not in a soulless, unheartidly, vicious, carnivorous way. But with love and respect. She didn't eat it because she was hungry or anything but she didn't want any other predator coming along eating her cub. It was some sort of ritual that the mother performed, putting her baby to rest. Then she dug a hole and buried it. After words she stood there and stared at the place where her dead cub laid. Then she turned and walked away with her last remaining cub, not before looking back one last time, like a final goodbye, and then walked off. I explained that to my grandma trying to make sense of it all. How many? My grandpa asked. I don't know. I answered. Well how many "pieces" where there? He said. I don't really want to know. What do I do with them? I asked. He answered. Grab a plastic bag, put them in it, and then throw it away. So I went upstairs to the closet, grabbed a plastic bag, and ran outside. I counted the kits as I put there lifeless, statue frozen bodies into the bag. Saying I'm sorry rest in piece after everyone. There was a total of 5 kits. One might have been a peanut. When I had first looked at the kits I only saw two kits, three at the most. But putting them into the bag I noticed that there where two that where "nibbled" on and then as I dug into the hay I found 3 kits that had burrowed into the hay. They had no marks suggesting mom had turned on them or had intention on killing them. They where cold, hard, lifeless. They had a little bit of blood on them but I didn't see any wounds, so I'm pretty sure it was from birth. I have held a dead baby rabbit in my hands before. It was a wild rabbit I had tried to save not a week before I got Oliver. The neighbors dog had gotten it. I tried my hardest to keep it alive. But it too had gotten too cold without the accompaniment of litter mates or a mother. I warmed up milk for him, brought him with me everywhere I went for the two days we had spent together. It seems like forever ago now. I remember picking him up. I was going to give him a bottle before school that morning. But he wouldn't move. He felt stiff. His little eyes closed. I yelled for my mom. She looked at him held him close. Her eyes tearing. She knew how hard I tried to save him. How much I had fallen in love with him. She looked down at me and said it as kindly as she could. Dolly, he didn't make it. No! I screamed. As I grabbed him from her. The tears that had gathered in my eyes expecting the worst, had started flowing as the worst had been confirmed. I clutched his small little body which was in his blanket next to my heart and sobbed. It was right before the bus came. My mom let me stay home that day. It might sound creepy but I held him close to me. Stroking his little head. Trying to think of what I could have done differently. If he'd still be alive. He's buried out by my rabbit hutches. There's a cement brick there. In loving memory of Lucky. This time was different. They didn't pass because they didn't have a mom there to care for them. They were frozen the way they had laid trying to find warmth. It must have been too much for Juliet to handle. Her babies dying in front of her because of the cold. And nothing she could do to save them. I think she started to perform that ritual on her babies. The same the mother tiger had performed on her cub. But I interrupted it. I wasn't going to put the kits back for Juliet tho. That would be too much I think. So I just laid them in the bag with the bloody straw, tied it shut, then laid the bag gently in the garbage. I only wish I could have buried them. Now with the kits in heaven, I can only pray that Juliet goes back to her normal loving self. I hope this incident hasn't changed the loving, gentle rabbit I love.
Did I mention I've been in Advanced Reading since 1st grade! ;)
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I put Juliet's nestbox in her hutch today! Hopefully she knows what its for and makes a nice warm nest! Her belly has gotten really big! I'm not very experienced when it comes to palpating rabbits so I can't say I know how many babies she's going to have, or if she'll have any. But looking at her or when I pick her up, I'd be pretty surprised if she didn't. I know the odds aren't in my favor of getting babies because she's a first time mom, its cold outside, and I'm sure there are probably a lot more but they have totally spaced from my brain as I'm writing this! Anyway I'm still Hoping an Praying for a nice healthy litter! Cross your fingers!!! I'll log on and tell you if I get any bunnies for Christmas!! :)
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