Bald patch between shoulder blade

Question
Hello,

I have been raising bunnies for only 5 months now with the help of a breeder that has been doing it for 7 years.  These are the white meat bunnies (I forgot the breed).  I live in Washington state.

A few days ago I noticed a bald patch about the size of a nickel on one of my does that I plan to keep as a mother.  She is only about 8-10 weeks old.  The patch is right between her shoulder blades near the base of her neck.  The skin looks dry and has a couple of red spots resembling a bite mark or puncture.  She is in a cage with her sisters and they are all fine.  I was busy the past few days and only had time to check them morning and night for food and water and the spot is about the size of a quarter now.

The same thing has happened to another doe I was planning to keep as a mamma in a separate cage.  This one is also with three of her sisters and everyone else is fine.  The spot is in the exact same place, about the size of a quarter, the skin looks dry (like when you need lotion), and has the small red marks/bite/puncture/scratch/whatever it is on it.

Does this sound at all familiar to you?  The patches are not in a circle shape, more of a rectangular shape.  The fur on the boarder of the patch is well attached and doesn't pull out.  Other than that, they seem fine I guess.  I don't want it to spread to the other rabbits.  It just seems weird to me that it is in the exact same spot on both rabbits.

The rabbits are housed in the barn in metal cages.  There are two bay doors that open for plenty of fresh air and sunlight.  They get a 17% protein feed.  

Thank you for your time.  

Answer
Hi Eva

I know this may sound a little strange but I have seen something similar a few time but it was when they were still with their mother.  The mother was actually mounting the babies repeatedly.  When rabbits mount they bite and they pull out fur.  If you just took these babies away from their mother then I can almost bet you that is what happened.  It could also be one of the siblings that is doing it.  

If it is only on one of them I really doubt that it is mites.  If it were mites it would look more like dander and not like bite marks.  Try taking the 2 that have the bite marks and put them in a cage by themselves.  Watch them for about a month and see if the hair grows back.  When this happened to me I was so worried I had fur mites in my herd that I took one of the babies to work with me to have my doc look at it.  He told me that it wasn't mites that it was from the mom and the sister.  As soon as I put her in her own cage her fur grew back.  Mine aren't meat rabbits but I didn't know what I was going to do with her.  I was sure I was never going to find her a home because by the time her fur grew back she was to old to be a cute little pet and her ears were to long to show.  A lawyer from my town called me out of the blue looking for that breed.  I got lucky because she didn't care how old it was.  So after her fur grew back she got a wonderful home. Anyway I think that if you separate them there fur will grow back and they will be very nice mothers for you.

What you need to watch for is to make sure it doesn't spread.  If it spreads then you need to treat it.  There are some home remedies for fur mites.  You can use some revolution (selemectin).  You just put 4 or 5 drops on the back of the neck.  You want to make sure that they absolutely need it before you give it.  If they don't have them and you give it they build up a tolerance.

If you need anything else please let me know.  I also bet that your white rabbits are either new zealands or californians.  Those are the 2 most common commercial meat breeds.  If they have black on their noses, ears and feet they are californians.  If they are solid white with red eyes then they are probably new zealands.

Good luck

Pam