Age females stop conceiving....

[Jessie Stanley]

So I ran into an issue last night.

I purchased a rabbit from someone who claims they had lots of experience with rabbits and was sure that this rabbit I was purchasing was a female. I already have an unspayed female at home so I was hoping that I could give my Thumper a friend for while I am at work. Thumper is 5 years old, will be 6 in June. Turns out the rabbit I brought home was NOT a female. He mounted Thumper and I caught it, separated it, but now I'm concerned because I don't want to have bunny babies and that was the whole thing with getting another female! I read somewhere that there's a certain age doe's stop conceiving... I'm hopeful nothing happened, but I plan on rehoming the male with a family member... What is the correct information regarding doe's conceiving and the age that they should not be bread, etc? I need help ASAP as I'm concerned for Thumper because I don't want her to end up pregnant. If she was, I would deal with it, but I'm very hopeful I caught them in time and separated them. Please help!

 

[Hermelin]

Bunny can get kits their whole life, are you 100% the other bunny is a buck. Doe will also hump to show dominans, it’s normal among bunnies until they know who will be the boss in a group.

 

[Jessie Stanley]

I am extremely sure that he is male..
I checked him out and saw testicles unfortunately.

 

[Jessie Stanley]

Bunny can get kits their whole life, are you 100% the other bunny is a buck. Doe will also hump to show dominans, it’s normal among bunnies until they know who will be the boss in a group.

I am 100% he's a male. I flipped him over and checked him out and discovered his testicles.

 

[Hermelin]

Aha that’s truly unluckyx At that age and never had kits before can be dangerous for your doe. I’m not a breeder, so don’t know a lot.

But she can have trouble birthing the kits, the kits can all die and so on. But I would be most worried with trouble with birthing the kits. If the kits don’t survive that’s just the nature taking it’s course.

I hope everything goes well with your girl.

 

[Blue eyes]

If your goal is ultimately to have a bondmate for Thumper, then it would be a good idea to have her spayed. You can have her spayed now --whether or not she conceived. That would be better for her to not give birth at her age.

Spaying is also recommended in order to find a bondmate. Two females can't impregnate each other but they can fight viciously. Even two spayed females may not get along. Spaying, however, greatly increases their chances of bonding.

I'd also suggest reading up on bonding. One can't just put two rabbits together and assume they will get along. That seldom happens. You can read more here.

 

[Preitler]

Unfortunatly, when he had the oppurtunity to hump her chances are high that your doe is pregnant.
It's not 100% sure though, if he didn't have the time to finish it could be a close call.

But there's no way to tell for sure apart from waiting 35 days, and definitly act on the assumption that she is pregnant. Sometimes it get's obvious the last days, or someone with experience at palpating can give you an educated guess after 2 weeks (I'm breeding for 7 years now, and I can't), but even then prepare for a litter, better save than sorry. My oldest breeding doe had a litter last year at age 7 1/2.

As Blue eyes said, an emergency spay right now would be an option, although there are risks too, I asked about a spay when my doe was 6 but my vet was not happy about the idea because of the age.

 

[Jessie Stanley]

Aha that’s truly unluckyx At that age and never had kits before can be dangerous for your doe. I’m not a breeder, so don’t know a lot.

But she can have trouble birthing the kits, the kits can all die and so on. But I would be most worried with trouble with birthing the kits. If the kits don’t survive that’s just the nature taking it’s course.

I hope everything goes well with your girl.

So unlucky! That's what I'm worried about.. Especially since she is a bit older, it concerns me. I am not 100% sure if she's ever conceived before as I adopted her from the Humane Society because the family she was with before just abandoned her after having her for 5 years..

 

[Jessie Stanley]

If your goal is ultimately to have a bondmate for Thumper, then it would be a good idea to have her spayed. You can have her spayed now --whether or not she conceived. That would be better for her to not give birth at her age.

Spaying is also recommended in order to find a bondmate. Two females can't impregnate each other but they can fight viciously. Even two spayed females may not get along. Spaying, however, greatly increases their chances of bonding.

I'd also suggest reading up on bonding. One can't just put two rabbits together and assume they will get along. That seldom happens. You can read more here.

Okay, I do plan on looking into getting her spayed just because of the situation that just happened... I would LOVE baby bunnies, but I did not plan for baby bunnies at all... hence the reason why I planned on introducing the two females slowly... I was cleaning the cage I had for the second bunny that I was going to house him in so they still had their own space but were able to play together, and that's when it happened..

 

[Jessie Stanley]

Unfortunatly, when he had the oppurtunity to hump her chances are high that your doe is pregnant.
It's not 100% sure though, if he didn't have the time to finish it could be a close call.

But there's no way to tell for sure apart from waiting 35 days, and definitly act on the assumption that she is pregnant. Sometimes it get's obvious the last days, or someone with experience at palpating can give you an educated guess after 2 weeks (I'm breeding for 7 years now, and I can't), but even then prepare for a litter, better save than sorry. My oldest breeding doe had a litter last year at age 7 1/2.

As Blue eyes said, an emergency spay right now would be an option, although there are risks too, I asked about a spay when my doe was 6 but my vet was not happy about the idea because of the age.

Ugh! I'm hopeful I caught them in time. The spay may not be ideal as she is going to be 6 this year.... I have the worst luck if I'm being completely honest! lol

 

[squidpop]

I'm speculating here, but I would think of it as a 60% chance she is pregnant. Is she a little overweight? Because the fatter she is —the more likely she will not be pregnant because fatter rabbits get fat growing around their ovaries and that makes them infertile. ... but regardless of whether she is pregnant or not treat her as if she is pregnant.

Also, if she is a really sweet rabbit but changes to a really grumpy rabbit that is territorial, and rushes and grunts at you when you get near her territory, or when you touch her bowl or move her water- etc.... that's how they act when they are pregnant.

 

[Jessie Stanley]

I'm speculating here, but I would think of it as a 60% chance she is pregnant. Is she a little overweight? Because the fatter she is —the more likely she will not be pregnant because fatter rabbits get fat growing around their ovaries and that makes them infertile. ... but regardless of whether she is pregnant or not treat her as if she is pregnant.

Also, if she is a really sweet rabbit but changes to a really grumpy rabbit that is territorial, and rushes and grunts at you when you get near her territory, or when you touch her bowl or move her water- etc.... that's how they act when they are pregnant.

She isn't very fat . When I brought her home, she felt very skinny so I've been trying to beef her up. I took her to the vet the day before all this happened and they said she is a good weight and feels good. Ugh, she is over all sweet for the most part, but can be a little grumpy with me at times. Guess it's time to do some research on prego rabbits!