Quote Originally Posted by BHReptiles View Post
I had a female today who was having MAJOR labor complications. I could not save the female. I elected to put her down and I did an immediate c-section to try and save her pups. I managed to save all twelve babies. I have two lactating moms right now. I shuffled litters around in hopes that one will take on the newborns. Is there any tips/suggestions you have in order for this to be successful? I would love for these pups to survive. I was very attached with their mother and I'm very sad to lose her. Losing the pups would make her death be in vein. I want to make sure this ends up as a happy ending.
Don't pull all of the nursing doe's pups before introducing the new ones. If they are around the same size, split the litter in half and try to get each doe to accept half. If one (or both) does is nursing a substantially larger litter, the larger babies will squash the newborns. So, you'll need to pull all but 3-4 of the original babies and place them with the other mom. Then gradually place the new babies in with the mom (3-4 at a time) until she's accepted all of them. As you put the new ones in, take one of the larger ones out. The whole process should take 1-2 hours. Keep them warm while you are waiting to place them with the new mother.