Pregnant Rabbit Question

[Sara L]

I have only had rabbits for a short while, but my doe (2 litters now) kindled on day 31. She didn't pull bald patches but did pull a bunch of fur. The first litter, she did poop in the nest box once or twice, but I think it was because the box was moved to her potty spot by accident, I moved again and she was fine. Second litter (11 days old now) she hasn't pooped in the nest box.

I did have another doe who started haystaching when my confirmed pregnant doe was making her nest and freaked me out because she wasn't supposed to be pregnant. I got her less than a month before. I put a nest box in there and she did use it as a toilet. She never pulled fur and it's now over 35 days and no babies. So sometimes they have a false pregnancy.

Has your doe ever been pregnant before or is this the first time? Sometimes they mess up because they don't know what they are doing.

 

[Sassy07]

This would be her first pregnancy if she took. I assumed since we are on day 29 now that the fur pulling was a good sign and we were past false pregnancy point, but maybe not. I did add another smaller box for her this morning in addition to the big one. I cleaned the big one out as best I could. There was a pile of about 20 poop pellets at the very entrance of the box that were easy to remove. It didn’t appear she had pulled anymore fur. I have not seen a haystache, but I have never seen one on any of my previous does as they tend to not nest until right before birth either at night or wee morning hours. Will update when I get home this evening.

 

[Sara L]

If you are on day 29, I would expect babies on Sunday if your rabbit is actually pregnant. Mine only haystached until I put the box in the cage, once the nest box was filled she seemed to ignore it until the day of kindling.

I hope everything goes well and she has healthy babies and is a good mom. My doe had several kits on the wire her first time which we lost, but successfully raised 4. Second litter was in the nest box and so far doing great with 7.

 

[Sassy07]

I think we may have a system. She has used the smaller box all day as a litter box with pee and poo. No new messes in the larger box and she sporadically packed some fur in it. Fingers crossed

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

In your future breeding attempts since you had an issue before you will want to mate her with the buck and then repeat after 12 hours but within 24 hours. Ive read that mating makes their eggs release and the second time ensures implantation. The book I read was from a rather successful breeder. He said it works everytime. Best of luck with your current litter. I look forward to seeing your baby pictures!

 

[Sassy07]

I have done that all 3 times. That’s how I breed all my litters, these Californians have been rough on me though.

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

I have done that all 3 times. That’s how I breed all my litters, these Californians have been rough on me though.

Thats so odd. How old are they? Do you have a breeding record or buck record from the breeder?

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

Oh another thing you could do is check her genitals for color. I believe once the reach a deap pinkish almost purple color she's ready for a breeding. Again just going by a book I read. We're planning on getting some rabbits once we get our new fence up. Too many trees in the way right now

 

[Sassy07]

Buck is right at a year old. I was questioning whether he went sterile on me as he had litters before with my rexs, but I hadn’t used him with them in a few months. They were cool weather months though. But then one of my rexs just kindled another one of his litters on Monday night so this doe might just be a wash. Time will tell. This is her last chance for catching. I’ll give her another go if she just messes up her first litter.

 

[Sassy07]

I guess I should mention I slimmed her down a little before this breeding as well. She was within the weight for her breed standard but did seem “fluffy” weight wise so that could have been affecting.