Doe nesting at day 13??

[mystictreerabbitry]

I recently purchased two holland lops, and the woman was supposed to breed them before she sold them to me. ( That day)

So if my doe is pregnant, she is on day 13 or so, I went out to her cage today and found the startings of a nest. No fur yet, but definitely a nest.

Now she has been digging and aggressive this whole time, when her previous owner said that she is the sweetest rabbit ever, I figured these were hormonal changes, but now I am a bit worried about a phantom pregnancy.

She is really nasty and I doubt my ability as a newbie, to palpatate her belly without being bitten.

Do some does just nest early? Her sister was also bred and has not started nesting at all

 

[RabbitGirl101]

She could be having a false pregnancy. Although some doe's do nest early. I would just watch her. Are you sure that she is only 13 days?

 

[Imbrium]

From what I've heard, the majority of does nest right before they kindle... however, some does *do* occasionally nest very early (around 2 weeks into the pregnancy). A false pregnancy is also possible. Palpating can be dangerous to the kits if not done correctly, plus there's the risk of her biting you... so there's really no surefire way to know other than to wait until 29-32 days after she was bred to see if kits show up.

 

[majorv]

Once in a while we'll have a doe start gathering hay at 2 weeks. After a day or so they end up eating the hay they gathered. She could still be pregnant so I'd still put a nestbox out on day 28, just in case.