I normally get … very irritated when one of the rabbits screams if I pick it up. For a kit, that’s a fast way to get permanently on the cull list. The last “screams every time it is so much as touched” kit was, in fact, culled. I will not put up with that.

Today, however, I was working with my chocolate doe and her kits, trying to tame the little bastards down a bit. She went ballistic when I touched her ears.

That’s … not normal, even for her less-handled-than-should-be self. Silver Fox are supposed to be pretty relaxed and calm, generally, so “ballistic” is … abnormal. So I pulled her out, and started looking.

Ugh. Ow. Ear mites. 🙁 Badly.

So I got the meds, and started cleaning her ears out. She screamed. And … I don’t blame her. Poor girl.

I kind of vaguely recall I’d noticed when she was half way through her pregnancy with this current litter that her ears were looking Not Good, but you’re not supposed to use the medication if they’re pregnant. Half way to weaning is probably Not Good either, but Less Bad than pregnant … and one of her ears was bad. I pulled a chunk of scale-and-infection out that was as long as the first joint of my pinkie. 🙁

No idea how she got mites. No one else appears to have them. I guess I’ll have to keep an eye on her babies, too.