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So you bring your beautiful female bunny home from the pet store and everything seems fine until she starts to look a little bigger than expected. Then she starts behaving strangely. Could this be a rabbit pregnancy? Female rabbits can start breeding at such a young age and rabbits are such prolific breeders that it is not uncommon for young rabbits to arrive in their new homes already pregnant.
This can be stressful for their new owners who have no idea how to care for a pregnant rabbit or how to tell if their rabbit is pregnant! If this just happened to you, don’t panic, we’ve got you covered! We have first hand experience of rabbit breeding and have researched the latest expert advice so you can get all the information you need here.
Baby rabbits are called kits and are the cutest things imaginable, but the process of bringing them into the world can be a little stressful. Read on to learn all about rabbit pregnancy.
When can a rabbit get pregnant?
A female rabbit can become pregnant as soon as she is sexually mature. For average sized rabbits, this is about four to six months of age. However, for large breeds it will be more likely to be six to nine months and for the smallest breeds it can be as young as three and a half months.
Once your rabbits are sexually mature, you cannot keep males and females in the same cage without a very high chance of pregnancy! The other important thing to remember is that a female rabbit can become pregnant again once she has given birth. The usual advice is to separate males and females as soon as they are 12 weeks old.
Female rabbits are receptive to mating 14 days out of 16. So if you try to breed rabbits and have no success the first time you introduce her to the male rabbit, try again a few days later. Also always bring the female into the male’s cage as females are very territorial and are more likely to attack him if he is introduced to her cage.
When rabbits mate successfully, the male rabbit then turns around in a very distinctive way and our own rabbit thumps a few times too! It may take at least 10 minutes at a time for this to happen.
How Long Are Rabbits Pregnant?
The rabbit’s gestation period (the time between mating and delivery) is about 31 to 33 days. In general, a doe expecting a small litter (that is, four or fewer baby rabbits) will last longer than a doe expecting a large litter.
Pregnant rabbits should have given birth by day 33. If not, a vet with rabbit knowledge may be able to induce labor for you. After day 34, it is common for all kittens to be born dead. Sometimes a pregnant doe will not actually break down the kits and her body will absorb them instead. This may be due to nutritional deficiencies.
false pregnancy
Rabbits can suffer from a phenomenon called pseudopregnancy. The scientific word for this is false pregnancy. Female rabbits produce eggs (ovulate) in response to mating, which is why they are so good at getting pregnant! However, sometimes they ovulate after being stuffed by another female, so you’re more likely to run into it if you keep two females together in the same cage. However, it can also happen if you only have one doe. It is also more likely that a male is nearby.
If your rabbit has a false pregnancy, you may notice that she is building a nest by pulling out her fur. False pregnancies usually only last between 15 and 18 days and during this time the doe can be very territorial and dig excessively. It can lead to uterine problems and even mastitis in some animals. False pregnancies (also called phantom pregnancies) are very rare in wild rabbits.
What are the signs of a pregnant rabbit?
Whether your breeding was planned or accidental, you need to know how to tell if a rabbit is pregnant so you can make the right preparations.
At the beginning of the rabbit gestation you won’t be able to tell if she is pregnant, but later on there will be some changes in the doe indicating that she is a pregnant rabbit! Here are some of the main signs that your rabbit is pregnant.
- Personality Changes: Do you have a doe who is usually very cool and easygoing but has become a little cranky? Pregnant rabbits can be aggressive and refuse to be petted as they used to. This can start as early as a few days after the doe is pregnant.
- to dig: A mother rabbit can dig furiously after a few weeks of gestation. This is a kind of nesting behavior. In the wild, most rabbits would dig a burrow to build their nests for their babies.
- Abdominal Changes: If you are experienced in handling rabbits, you can gently feel the mother rabbit’s abdomen to detect a rabbit pregnancy. In a pregnant rabbit you can feel small lumps the size of a grape. You only feel this when the doe is pregnant for at least 10 days. The weight of the doe may increase, but it is very difficult to say this. Towards the end of her pregnancy, you may be able to see the babies kicking.
- Nest building/nesting behaviour: Towards the end of gestation, the female begins to build a nest for the babies from her own fur. She often starts by making a round nest in the straw in the nest box. She is not allowed to take off her fur until the very last day.
How do you care for a pregnant rabbit?
A rabbit pregnancy progresses without a lot of effort! If there are male rabbits in the cage, remove them. A boy rabbit can stress the pregnant rabbit and immediately make her pregnant with a second litter right after the first.
She will need a nest box big enough to get in, but very large nest boxes are unpleasant, so don’t get carried away. She will also need some material to make a nest for the baby rabbits, so provide plenty of bedding, hay or straw.
During her pregnancy, she needs more food than usual because her body also feeds the babies. In addition to her usual nuggets, green vegetables and hay, mix in some alfalfa hay. Alfalfa hay contains more calcium and protein than regular hay, which is good for the mother rabbit and growing babies.
At this point, your rabbit needs as little stress as possible. So keep the environment calm and treat her as little as possible.
You may also like our guide at Hay for rabbits.
How do I help a rabbit during labour?
When a pregnant rabbit gives birth, it is called kindling. You are unlikely to see any signs of pregnancy from a rabbit as she gives birth in the early morning hours. They do it instinctively and don’t need your help.
Feeding takes place twice a day and the rest of the time she sits away from the nest. Unfortunately, if this is her first litter, she may get confused and abandon them. You could try feeding the kits with a syringe, but this is not often successful.
Do rabbits give birth to all babies at once?
Rabbit litters contain between one and fourteen kits. Usually they are all born at the same time and take about 15 minutes. However, there are some reports of rabbits having a litter over a few days.
Rabbits have many kittens because unfortunately it is unlikely that all babies will survive.
Immediately after the delivery of your female rabbit
Baby bunnies are usually born at night. It’s actually not that easy to tell when your rabbit has given birth! She will have a nest made of fur and it is difficult to see if there are babies in it without disturbing them. The female rabbit covers the baby bunnies with fur and hides them.
Often the first thing you notice is that the coat seems to twitch a bit. Those are the babies throwing themselves around! The mother rabbits stay away from the nest as much as possible and only feed about twice a day. Rabbits are prey animals, meaning they have adapted to hide from predators. They don’t want to lead a predator to the nest and so they stay away from it as much as possible once they give birth.
Caring for baby bunnies
Newborn rabbits are completely helpless – blind and without fur. They look a bit like little hippos. They need their mother’s milk to grow until they are fully weaned when they are about six weeks old.
Like many small mammals, they have large litters and not all kittens will make it. Unfortunately, there are occasions when the mother rabbit also died. Often the best thing you can do is to let the mother rabbit run its course. However, you should be careful with her diet and environment. You also need to know what to do if you need to intervene and help. But do not worry! We have an extensive article about How do you care for a baby rabbit? that will help you.
Conclusion
Starting with one rabbit and then discovering that you have several can be both stressful and exciting. On the other hand, if you have two rabbits and are planning to conceive and have baby rabbits, things don’t always go to plan.
In general, rabbits are animals that handle pregnancy and birth on their own. Just make sure the doe has everything she needs and is kept in a calm environment. That includes removing the intact male if he’s still around. You only have a month or so to wait to see the baby bunnies!
Again, in the first days after birth it is best to leave them alone otherwise it may upset the doe. In about a fortnight they will climb out of the nest and come out to say hello to their new family!
sources:
- pseudo-pregnancy, Science Direct
- Breeding and Reproduction of Rabbits, MSD Veterinary HandbookRabbit
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