6 Month Old Californian Building a Nest

[faerydust16]

Since we got our rabbits [2 new zealand and 1 californian] they've been together in a community cage. [Cali is 6 months, NZ's are 5 months.] It has a wood den for them to lay in and it started tonight that we've noticed, our californian [she's a month older than the new zealands] has started making a nest. There's no chance she's pregnant, but she is next to our male californian's cage. [They're about 2 feet apart, so no chance getting any through the cage bars.]

Is this normal? Will this make them fight or cause problems?

She has spot in her ear where one of them bit her two days ago, but there's no other damage that we've found. No scratches or evidence of real fighting. [We plan to separate them in the next week or so and keep close watch until we've done so.]

Planning to breed in the next month or two, but hoping that this behavior isn't triggered by the males being near or the females being in a community cage.

All input is appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Bunnylady]

Fur pulling in a no-way, cannot-possibly-be-pregnant doe is generally a sign of a rising hormone level. Rabbits don't do what most people refer to as being "in heat," but they do have cyclic fluctuations in hormone levels. Some does may pull fur when they hit a hormone peak, which has caused many an owner to pull hair of their own when the doe in question was entered in a show . . .

Does that are kept together may mount each other as a display of dominance. This can cause the doe that has been mounted to experience a false pregnancy. When a doe goes through a false pregnancy, she may show all the signs of being pregnant, including refusing to be bred by a buck and all of the nest building behavior. Birth in a rabbit coincides with the ripening of the next set of eggs; rabbit does are immediately fertile again after a litter is born.

Whether because of a false pregnancy or a hormone fluctuation of another sort, my thought is that your doe is showing you signs that she is ready to be bred. Whether this makes squabbling among the does more intense will depend on the does; those with more laid-back personalities may continue to cohabit peacefully. If this was my doe, I'd breed her and separate her as soon as possible to take advantage of her hormonal high. While does will breed at off-peak hormone levels, it's the nearest to a "sure thing" that you get with rabbits (people who believe in the expression "breed like rabbits" have never tried it!).