Bred Suki

[murph72]

Paul,

That's great to hear, and I certainly hope you were not offended by any of the advice you were given. We're all bunny people and we're certainly all going to look out for the best interest of your buns, as well as for you. I'd hate to see you in a situation where you'd lose your precious pet, as that can happen in a bad labor situation. Everyone likes to make the statement that they "breed like bunnies," but I notice breeders don't necessarily make those statements. Yes, some rabbits get pregnant easily and have uncomplicated births. Unfortunately, breeders know that they don't all end up so nicely. It's great to know you're learning from the board's more experienced breeders and will take the breeder process slowly.

What Bramblerose said was definitely true in that many of us breed more than one on a given day so that you can always foster a baby, two babies, or an entire litter if necessary. I'd also suggest that prior to doing this that you make sure that you know the market of your area. Make sure that you can find homes for two litters of babies. This is especially true in your situation since you're still living at home and have to have permission from your mom to have any more pets.

When was your doe due? What day of her pregnancy is she on? Or did she already have them?

Dyan

 

[Numbat]

She was due on the 22nd and Paul thinks she probably wasn't pregnant after all but I'm sure he'll give a better update.

 

[murph72]

Either that or she absorbed them. It happens sometimes.

 

[Numbat]

:expressionless That just sounded a bit scary.

She absorbed them...

Sounds like some kind of supernatural power lol. I know it happens and is normal but just the way it sounds

Better keep an eye on Suki, she might absorb you!

 

[murph72]

It is kind of freaky. You can palpitate a doe and find babies and then she doesn't have them. I had one Holland doe that actually had (pardon the grossness here) a lump of bloody skin that I found in her pen. She must have absorbed the kits as I never found any evidence of what we'd expect from a miscarriage at that point in the pregnancy. Just this object in her pen. A lot of times you find nothing. Freaky how nature works in bunnies. I wonder why they don't have miscarriages like a human does. Odd.

 

[Luv-bunniz]

murph72 wrote:

I wonder why they don't have miscarriages like a human does. Odd.

Maybe as not to attract predators in the wild?

 

[paul2641]

Well over due. The one time I plan a pregnancy There are No babies.

 

[Bramblerose]

Dogs can reabsorb their young as well, one day she's obviously pregnant, and then her belly deflates over a number of days, its very disheartening. Rabbits can and do pass 'blobs', like the lump of bloody skin that Murph described. It is possibly caused by test breeding the doe after she's already been bred a few weeks prior. Old timers used to test breed does to see if they were bred, theory being that the doe would not accept the buck if she was pregnant, and normally thats the case. But as does have two uterine horns they could have an existing litter in one horn, and then conceive in the second horn. This can result in neither 'litter' developing properly and the doe may then pass blobs. No doubt other situations can cause it as well, like not reabsorbing completely. I do not test breed, so I've never had first hand experience, I'd rather wait the extra two weeks. Then there's mummified kits, thats a whole other weird phenomena.

Paul sometimes they just don't take, it could be stress, it could be age, too young too old, it could be body weight, fat does often cannot conceive. It can even be the time of year and the amount of daylight. You know what they say about the best laid plans--

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

Did Sukura find a new home?
I too, noticed your "bunnies" thing under your name said you only had 2 bunnies.

Emily

 

[murph72]

Bramblerose,

This doe was not test bred. She was actually only bred once to the buck, although I often will try to breed twice within the same day. The only reason I didn't with her is that I had an issue that kept me away from the rabbitry too long, IMO, to comfortably want to put her back in with him. I do not practice test breeding. I'm not a proponent of it because I feel any undue stress can cause a doe to lose her kits.

This doe has been known to pass one of these blobs during her normal pregnancies. She can have healthy kits and then just have a leftover blob that is rather small and is found within her pen. I was wondering if it might be the uterine wall....just a thought.

 

[Bramblerose]

Murph I was not at all alluding that you did test breed, thats why I also mentioned other possibilities. I know what your talking about now though, since you mentioned that you have seen it when she delivered live kits, its part of the placenta. I have found it before, when the doe hadn't cleaned up completely. Flat, meaty, kind of round? They do normally clean everything up, so its uncommon that I've found one myself.

 

[Numbat]

BlueSkyAcresRabbitry wrote:

Did Sukura find a new home?
I too, noticed your "bunnies" thing under your name said you only had 2 bunnies.

Emily

Roger's gone too. I hope they all found good homes.

Mummified kits sounds scary too

 

[murph72]

Bramblerose,

I didn't mean to imply that you accused me of necessarily test breeding...I just wanted to make sure that you knew I didn't do that. Sweet Pea (the doe I'm talking about) is so very small that I'd be afraid of a double pregnancy killing her. She's a petite little thing that has a hard enough time with one pregnancy.

Yeah, it was kind of rolled up when I found it and in the same corner. It must be the corner of the pen of her choice. I thought it was interesting that I found one when she lost her kits (absorbed them) and also when she gave birth. I guess this little girl is not interested in cleaning that part up. She seems to deposit this out on the wire, but she always has her kits inside the nest box. You'd think if you found this that you'd also find the babies and they'd have miscarried. It's amazing that they can absorb a baby that is that far along.

What did you mean by mummified kits? I can't say that I've had any that I would have called mummified. I've had dead kits, pencil kits, and stuck kits....but I don't knowbout mummified kits.

 

[Bramblerose]

Mummified kits occur when a kit dies in utero, late term, and its not expelled when the rest of the litter is delivered. I have felt mummified kits in does, haven't seen one up close that was expelled. Sometimes they can be retained for some time, keeping the doe from conceiving, or the doe can conceive in the other horn. I've heard of mummified kits being expelled when the doe is put in with a buck for breeding, or if she manages to carry a live litter full term, they'll be born along with the live kits. For some reason often they don't go septic from the dead retained kit, although they could. Its pretty icky, and bizarre at the same time.