Pregnant rabbit questions

[Sienatiger]

HI everyone! So about a month ago, I asked about my rabbit whom I thought was pregnant, but she wasn't. I bred my other rabbit instead. She is very large and has started building a nest. She is acting very restless and lying on her side a lot. She doesn't look like she is ready to give birth yet though. Today is day 30 and she is due tomorrow. I was wondering weather I should expect the babies to be born tonight or tomorrow night. She is a lionhead mix and a very small rabbit. I read somewhere that smaller breeds tend to give birth later. Also, I was wondering what you guys think that the babies will look like. I will attach pictures of both parents below. Thanks for any help!

Here is the father. A blue and white lionhead mix.

Here is the mother. A brown and white lionhead mix.

 

[Zoomie]

If she's pulling fur and acting like she's nest building, yes, I would expect kits. Generally speaking they give birth at night but each bunny is an individual and gives birth when she is darn good and ready. Sadly, they don't read vet books!

As far as colors of the kits, it's a little easier to genotype rabbits when one also knows the color of the parent's parents or in other words, the grandparents. With just base colors (not taking into account the spotting gene) the buck is aabbC_D_. The doe is A_B_C_D_. So you can see, it's kind of important to know what the doe is carrying on the other locus. For all we know, they are both carrying a small "c" and the kits will all be ruby eyed whites! Real hard to say here.

 

[Sienatiger]

Thanks so much for the response @zoomie

I don't know who her parents are, but her sister is black and white and she had a litter last spring. She did have 1 ruby eyed white, 3 blacks, and a few other colors.

She hasn't started pulling fur yet. I gave her the best box and everything. I am so exited for the babies!

 

[Zoomie]

Sounds very good. I hope they are everything you were dreaming of!

Well, if we pretended like the sister was the grandmother, that would make your doe AaB_CcD_. Meaning she could throw a self (like a black or blue) or REW. (Ruby eyed white.) She can also throw the agouti colors which is the color she is - a chestnut agouti or depends on the breed what they call that color, but the color of a wild rabbit, anyway.

Too bad you don't know parents. Back when I was raising rabbits, I was only raising purebred registered stock because I just loved to show. I learned to genotype so I could understand what colors I was likely to get and it also helps you to recognize those colors in the nest box on the kits. One problem with purebred rabbits though, a lot of breeders don't call the color accurately. So for example they might have called it a blue, but maybe it was really a lilac, genetically. Hopefully the registrar that did their rabbits helped them with that, but I have seen more than one pedigree where the breeder did not accurately identify the color, and the registrar just went with what the breeder said. Since I would then get to see the actual bunny at a show, I could tell what had happened.

My advice on getting to know color is to study your Standard of Perfection and then do some study on genotyping rabbits. I have no idea what is available online but I bet you there are some really good resources. It's fun and easy, really... and once you understand it, it's pretty awesome to be able to predict what color you will get and then actually see it born in the nest box! Best of luck with your bunnies!

 

[Bunnylady]

The babies will come when they come.

Most of my does have given birth on day 32, though I can remember one doe that always gave birth on day 30. In my rabbitry, I have had a few very large litters that came as early as day 28 or 29; there actually was one litter that was born on day 27 that survived. If a doe is carrying a small litter, she may go longer - to day 33 or later. Generally speaking, if a doe carries to day 34 or 35, she is often carrying only one or two, and the babies grow so large and the doe takes so long delivering them, they don't survive the birthing process. That isn't set in stone, though - I have even had a few of these overdue babies survive on occasion. I have heard people tell of litters born as late as day 42 and survive; I haven't seen this myself, so I though I suspect some type of delayed implantation, I really don't know what might have been going on.

My rabbits have given birth at any time of day or night. I have been in the rabbitry many times as a doe has given birth - I remember one doe that I had forgotten to write down her due date. As I just walked past her cage one morning, I looked at her, and she was standing with her forepaws on the cage door, with her mouth full of hay; her eyes were screaming, "GIVE ME A NEST BOX!!!" I did, and within about 20 minutes, she had some fat little wrigglers in her nest box and was recovering in another corner of the cage.

My bad.

As for colors, with both parents broken, you should get a lot of brokens, but you could get solids, too. As Zoomie said, you have a lot of possibilities just with what you can see on the parents, though I often joke that if there is a color that you are hoping to see, it will be the last that happens for you, or it will be the baby that gets pulled out and dies on the wire - rabbits seem determined to frustrate us.

With both parents Lionhead crosses, the babies will be all over the road on manes as well. You can get babies without manes, or with single manes like their parents. You can also get babies that have double manes, and they will go through a stage that looks really weird - they will have a triangular cape of fur growing on their backs, but nothing visible on the sides, when the others are pretty fuzzy. Not to worry - that is normal for a DM Lionhead.

 

[Sienatiger]

Thanks so much for your replies! @Bunnylady @Zoomie I was wondering if any of you know how many kits she would have. The buck bred her around 9 times, but split up by a few hours. I felt her stomach gently, and I am sure that there were 3 or more. Also, is there any way to tell when she is close to going into labor? Thanks again!

 

[Zoomie]

I never knew any way to predict number of kits, sorry. As to labor, it just really differs. Some new mothers wait until they are actually IN labor to build a nest/pull fur, some more experienced does carry hay around all the time, hoping, apparently... Just really hard to say. But maybe someone else knows?

 

[Abster2]

Hello I am also going through this process and I was just wondering how much should I sell my babies for. They are a lionhead cross and I am stumped on prices. I am partnered with sienatiger and our bunny is supposed to kindle soon so we were looking at prices and they are diferent. Is there a key to pricing that we missed or is it all preference? Thanks!

 

[Bunnylady]

A lot of people have observed that a doe will go "off her feed" during the day before she delivers, but not all does do that. A lot of does start carrying hay around for up to a week before they kindle, but I had a Harlequin doe that did absolutely nothing until just minutes before her kits started arriving. The first time she did that, I thought for sure she wasn't pregnant, but I gave her a box anyway . . . Good thing, because that was part of her "pattern;" she did it every time. No nest making activity at all until BOOM!- make a nest, pull fur, deliver and clean kits; all within about 30 minutes. At the other end of of the scale for me was a Jersey Wooly doe that started pulling fur about 10 days before she was due. Most does don't pull fur until just before or maybe just after the kits are born (signs of serious fur pulling usually signals active labor), so the first time she did this, I thought it was the end of a false pregnancy. But she kept pulling, so I gave her a box . . . . right on schedule, she had her litter. By that time, her cage was awash in wool (a Jersey Wooly is a small Angora) and the rabbit was nearly bald. She had fur on her head, legs, and a 2" wide "Mohawk" down her spine, but she was otherwise completely bare. Once again, this was her "pattern;" she did it every time. What can I say? Rabbits don't read the books. There is "normal," and there is "normal for this doe," and until you have experience with that particular animal, you don't know for sure what she'll do.

 

[Bunnylady]

Hello I am also going through this process and I was just wondering how much should I sell my babies for. They are a lionhead cross and I am stumped on prices. I am partnered with sienatiger and our bunny is supposed to kindle soon so we were looking at prices and they are diferent. Is there a key to pricing that we missed or is it all preference? Thanks!

Price is basically whatever your local market will bear. Crossbred rabbits are worth a lot less than purebreds, of course - in some places, you can barely even give them away. But as long as you don't try to make claims that aren't true, and the customer knows what they are getting, you set your price, and if people will pay it, that's what it is.