Gender oops! Pregnant?

[JessiDarklighter]

During the beginning of the summer, I wound up adopting a mini rex doe. I love having rabbit babies, so I looked for and also adopted a Mini Rex buck just a couple of months old. A couple months or so after that my bonded bucks had such a huge fight that one started screaming, and lacking enough cages to separate them I switched the Mini Rex into a holland lop cage. A month later I put the new Mini Rex in with my original doe and she scared him senseless. Then my escape artist of a lionhead buck managed to get in the pen with the Rex doe and she lifted her tail for him immediately. I assumed the Rex buck was still too young and so waited another month to try again. This time I tried to help the buck by placing him on the does back. When the buck squealed in fear and took off toward a corner to hide, I began to suspect he was a she, and set up temporary housing. Then a took him to a nearby rabbitry, whose owner confirmed the buck was a doe and quite likely nearly ready to give birth. My surprise doe was very unhappy about this trip so I got her home as soon as possible and placed her into her temporary cage with a blanket over it for pregnancy. That was on Friday morning. I’ve checked on her many times but have seen no nesting behavior though she continues to rest on her side. Today, I finally rearranged the cages to give her a larger enclosure that is also more visible to me. It seems she is even larger now than she was. But it has been nearly 6 weeks since I first put her in the buck cage and since the rabbitry owner told me does can reabsorb babies in the womb I’m terrified that that’s what’s happening. So can anyone tell me, is she pregnant, is she sick? She’s still pooping and eating and no irregular poops. But she has a big belly and her teats are obvious. Suggestions welcome, there are no rabbit vets around here.

 

[Colorguarder08]

I having nothing productive to say other than she is a very beautiful bunny

 

[Aki]

You don't need a vet specialized in rabbit to make an x-ray or an ultrasound and check what's inside her womb - you can do that at about any vet. If you're worried, that's what I'd do. Still, I'm by no mean an expert as I think breeding should be left to far more knowledgeable people than I am, but if she is indeed pregnant the no nesting attitude doesn't augur well regarding her aptitudes as a mother, I'd say.

 

[ladysown]

first off...no need to be terrified if a rabbit reabsorbed her litter. Life happens.. things move on. I don't see any definitive timelines so can't really advise you.

If it's been six weeks since she was bred...she's not bred, just fat.
if it's been less than four weeks since she was with the lionhead buck.. well.. wait out the time.

if you just found out on friday that the he is a she is soon to deliver, than give lots of a bedding, a nestbox. a better cage than what is pictured, and just wait. IF in three weeks no babies.. then well.. no babies and you move on in your breeding plans.

Suggestion for you: one) double check genders of your young stock often as mistakes happen. two).. young stock are not considered bonded, and housing two young males together is risky and you were lucky no one died or was seriously injured. three) have more good cages available than you have stock so that in case of emergencies you have a place to put someone without disrupting everyone else.

 

[JessiDarklighter]

Just wanted to update things that happened in the past day...

The rickety cage in the picture was temporary just to get her separate from the buck till I could be sure of her status. Last night I moved her into the larger and more visible critter nation, and kept watch until 6 am or so to see if there was any kindling. She did eventually eat her food portions so I was pretty sure she wasn't going to give birth immediately, but I kept an eye out just to be sure.

When I first suspected she was pregnant, I gave her a nesting box with material in it. When she used it as a litter box I sanitized it and gave it to the doe I knew was about to give birth. Just in time too, said doe had 7 kits the next day. I put in a temporary plastic container in the critter nation with her, and have started building another nesting box, just in case. I'll replace the plastic container with the beefier hand made nesting box tonight.

As soon as I was sure she was up for the day, I put her on the bed for exercise, and had my husband briefly hold the buck near the bed so she'd be able to smell him. She immediately started growling so I'm guessing she is still pregnant. Her belly is HUGE. I'm hoping she gives birth tonight.

The reason I am unsure on timing is that once a week or so I allow all the bucks to interact in the exercise pen for awhile. The pen stands at the end of my bed, and I sit on the footboard and watch closely. If anyone gets too aggressive, I take them out. Please do no think I'm irresponsible, I never put any two rabbits of any gender together without constant supervision. The doe was only allowed to stay in the bucks cage because after a few minutes of chasing, they were perfectly happy sharing space together. As I thought they were both bucks, I just thought the black buck was more submissive natured.

Today I also decided I will convert an unused screened porch into the main rabbitry area. With a couple hours of work I could climate control and enclose it to a certain extent, and it is large enough in there to accommodate all my bucks and the exercise pen. No more accidental pairings and I can build the cages into the walls, allowing me to keep my current cages inside for does, kits, and juniors. I will try to get that done this weekend.

I'm attaching a picture I just took of the doe on my bed. You can't see it, but the nesting box is just off to her feet. Can anyone give any guesses as to how far she might be? I removed her from the bucks cage on September 14th.

 

[ladysown]

so you have until october 17th to see if kits arrive, She has a visible belly, guess would be in the next week. If you give her hay daily you don't need to put a nestbox in until you see her carrying around her hay. if she's pooping in the nestbox it's way too early.

 

[woahlookitsme]

Agree with the above. Give her hay and when she starts nesting then you can bet it will be soon. If she is pooping and peeing in the box just clean out the box and try again. Usually fur pulling happens the night of or morning of