MabelandDaisy
New Member
Hi new here !
I have recently rescued a Lop & a Dutch.
Mabel (Lop) and Daisy (Dutch) are both meant to be females as I was told by the rescue centre but it seems Daisy could be a Dave.
I’ve had them in my care for 12 days now and they have been a treat they seemed to be very close until day 10 when I came to feed them and Daisy seemed scared of Mabel.
Daisy was sitting in corners of the hutch and the first sign of Mabel moving or coming towards her Daisy would run and hide in their house , I thought they could be playing so I went back into the kitchen to sort out their food and then came back to feed them.
They fed fine both side by side sharing the bowl and then the chase and hiding started again I didn’t witness any nipping or malicious behaviour just the simple fact that Daisy wanted Mabel nowhere near her.
It got to the point where Daisy was starting to look petrified hiding away and would not come out to me at all.
After much thought I decided to separate them for a few hours in separate hutches ,!Mabel seemed to be frustrated that I separated them she was running around the hutch making a mess but Daisy seemed so relieved and happy with her new home.
I decided to try them again together at dinner time as it would be such a shame to separate them and this is something I really did not want to do , again they was fine whilst eating side by side but soon after dinner the chasing and hiding started again with Daisy once again scared so I separated them and they have been separated for 2 days now with hutches side by side so they can still hear and smell each other.
They both seem happy enough in their separate homes and are both feeding/drinking great they are both very greedy rabbits but I assumed this could be due to the fact they might of been ill treated and neglected as they are rescues , it didn’t occur to me that either one of them could be pregnant until present day 16/03/2022 today my plans were to clean each hutch out and I was confused as to what I saw as Mabel’s hutch has never been in this state.
She had flipped her water bowl over along with her potty which she had moved to the other side of the hutch (which is quite normal) but she had moved all of her sawdust and hay into the middle of the hutch in a mound I also witnessed her scraping every last bit of her bedding into the middle of the hutch to add to this mound it then dawned on me could Mabel be pregnant ? Mabel has always been the more nervous one since I rescued the two and she is impossible to hold or even pick up , she allows me to stroke her sometimes but she doesn’t seem to be used to being handled.
I hoped this would improve with time as she gets comfortable with me and knows I’m not a threat it is still early days.
The last 3 days since I separated them both Mabel has become more forthcoming and even hanging out of the hutch when the doors are open (she has never done this) I have been down a Google rabbit loop hole and have seen that females can become more comfortable with you when they’re pregnant (if they wasn’t in the first place) I am so confused by all of this as this is my first time owning two rabbits and I’m not use to any of this behaviour any help , tips or suggestions would be much appreciated.
Side note : I have not cleaned Mabel’s hutch out as I’m now worried she is pregnant and nesting and I don’t want to disturb her or ruin her hard work but it really does need cleaning.
Should I leave her be or clean the hutch?
Thankyou
I have recently rescued a Lop & a Dutch.
Mabel (Lop) and Daisy (Dutch) are both meant to be females as I was told by the rescue centre but it seems Daisy could be a Dave.
I’ve had them in my care for 12 days now and they have been a treat they seemed to be very close until day 10 when I came to feed them and Daisy seemed scared of Mabel.
Daisy was sitting in corners of the hutch and the first sign of Mabel moving or coming towards her Daisy would run and hide in their house , I thought they could be playing so I went back into the kitchen to sort out their food and then came back to feed them.
They fed fine both side by side sharing the bowl and then the chase and hiding started again I didn’t witness any nipping or malicious behaviour just the simple fact that Daisy wanted Mabel nowhere near her.
It got to the point where Daisy was starting to look petrified hiding away and would not come out to me at all.
After much thought I decided to separate them for a few hours in separate hutches ,!Mabel seemed to be frustrated that I separated them she was running around the hutch making a mess but Daisy seemed so relieved and happy with her new home.
I decided to try them again together at dinner time as it would be such a shame to separate them and this is something I really did not want to do , again they was fine whilst eating side by side but soon after dinner the chasing and hiding started again with Daisy once again scared so I separated them and they have been separated for 2 days now with hutches side by side so they can still hear and smell each other.
They both seem happy enough in their separate homes and are both feeding/drinking great they are both very greedy rabbits but I assumed this could be due to the fact they might of been ill treated and neglected as they are rescues , it didn’t occur to me that either one of them could be pregnant until present day 16/03/2022 today my plans were to clean each hutch out and I was confused as to what I saw as Mabel’s hutch has never been in this state.
She had flipped her water bowl over along with her potty which she had moved to the other side of the hutch (which is quite normal) but she had moved all of her sawdust and hay into the middle of the hutch in a mound I also witnessed her scraping every last bit of her bedding into the middle of the hutch to add to this mound it then dawned on me could Mabel be pregnant ? Mabel has always been the more nervous one since I rescued the two and she is impossible to hold or even pick up , she allows me to stroke her sometimes but she doesn’t seem to be used to being handled.
I hoped this would improve with time as she gets comfortable with me and knows I’m not a threat it is still early days.
The last 3 days since I separated them both Mabel has become more forthcoming and even hanging out of the hutch when the doors are open (she has never done this) I have been down a Google rabbit loop hole and have seen that females can become more comfortable with you when they’re pregnant (if they wasn’t in the first place) I am so confused by all of this as this is my first time owning two rabbits and I’m not use to any of this behaviour any help , tips or suggestions would be much appreciated.
Side note : I have not cleaned Mabel’s hutch out as I’m now worried she is pregnant and nesting and I don’t want to disturb her or ruin her hard work but it really does need cleaning.
Should I leave her be or clean the hutch?
Thankyou
