# reducing the litter



## will1966 (Jun 1, 2015)

A litter arrived on 16/09/15 and to my surprise found 13 kits.

I have reduced this by five due to very small kits and have not considered bucks or does as they seemed very under nourished.

I am waiting a little longer now to see how the others develop and all have pink eyes I guess as they are not visible through the lids. (a note I used to make with hamsters) as this leaves a litter of eight now I am going to leave until a week old to reduce again is this too long as they are all about the same size now with the smaller ones removed?


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## SarahC (Oct 3, 2008)

I would have reduced to six straight the way and then to four at a week.If they are undernourished during the early days they don't always regain the ground.People have widely differing opinions on when and how many.I would have reduced to 6 in the first 3 or 4 days even if they weren't malnourished and to four between one and two weeks to remove excess bucks ,mismarked or for any other reason that 6 were not required in a healthy litter.


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## will1966 (Jun 1, 2015)

so basically i have to be a bit more ruthless


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## will1966 (Jun 1, 2015)

this is the latest pic of the litter now nearly two weeks old.

I must have been better at sexing than i thought 5 does and one buck


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