Two years ago we imported exotic rabbits from France to improve rabbit productivity in the country. The rabbits have shown good growth rates but are not reproducing very well. We have high incidence of kit mortality during kindling and after kindling even after post weaning stages. The rabbits were imported from a temperate country to a tropical country. They are receiving Vitamin C to reduce effect of heat stress. Air-conditioning and fans are used on very hot days to also reduce effect of heat.
try to maintain the rabbit in environmentally controlled room. The room should act simulating the temperate climate. check diet
You need to be looking at several factors in order to pin point the most likely cause or causes of early death.
i) housing
do they have adequate room (doe and kits). This will affect the mothering ability of the doe in terms of caring for the newborns. Crushing can wipe out a significant number of newborns.
ii) litter size
what is the litter size like? A large litter size can limit the amount of milk intake required per newborn. This can also expose the doe if she is not a good milker which might be due to low doe feed intake (caused by high ambient temperature or post-partum
disease).
iii) ambient temperature
you need to know the ambient temperature that they require at birth. producers in most cases believe that the room temperature is right for the animals if they (stockman) feel comfortable in the room. It is a cruel way of setting the room temperature in any situation, particularly if you are dealing with newborns.
It might be important to have a good look at the dead newborns and the litter or doe they belong. See if they ever suckle or if they had a round belly (death due to starvation can easily lead to crushing as affected newborns will not have the energy to avoid crushing by the doe). It is also easy to identify crushed kits and might reflect the mothering abiltiy of the doe.
Here is a review about mortality in young rabbits which I believe might help.
Reduce handling (with your hands) to a minimum. My experience is that mothers neglect them (or even eat them) when the pups are disturbed (their smell I guess).
What is the meaning of control here? increase, decrease at will, simply measure or compare? To measure, compare mortality frequencies to that of a control group not handled or still in its European environment. If your objective is to acclimate these rabbits or descendants to tropical conditions, then keeping them in a room mimicking temperate conditions is inappropriate.
Selection : Keep the surviving ones and have them reproduce among themselves to obtain a resistant line.
Thank you Jacques for the contributions. We are trying to keep the offsprings for selection but our problem is that the current offsprings all died. The temperature range here is between 34 and 38 degrees celsius.
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