I have a 4 month old new Zealand that I was assured was a male. Well, my lionhead is a male and the NZ started pulling fur last week- just a little and I checked and she is a doe. I cannot feel anything when I try to palpate her, she feels like the buck. Could this just be a phantom as she is so young? I have since separated them when I noticed all the nipple hair missing-lol and was wondering how long to keep them apart- she did barge into his cage tonight and he did not seem happy. she is also scaring the dogs. I just don't want her to be pregnant and out in the chicken coop and have babies and us not know.
how soon after mating does doe act pg
- Thread starter thenug
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Gadget
Member
The only way to know for sure is to palpate(if you know how to properly/safely) or X-ray/ultrasound at the vet. It could be a phantom pregnancy or she could be pregnant. There is no real way to tell how far along or if she is pregnant by fur pulling. I've had two foster doe's that had kits and one built her nest/pulled fur after she had the babies and the other built her nest almost two weeks before kindling. Do you plan on having her spayed? Maybe you could book a vet appt and they could help you? The gestation is typically 31 days, so you want to keep her separated at least that long. Are you planning on putting them back together?
Agreed, if you don't know how to palpate and she is pregnant you can hurt the kits. A vet can x-ray to see if she's pregnant.
UFCreel
Red New Zealands
Red New Zealand breeder here. Only put the nest box in with her on the night of the 28th day. She should give birth on day 31, most likely at night. Palpate after two weeks of when you think she was bred. Don't push to hard and don't be surprised if you feel nothing.
If you're not intending to breed, you should probably spay her and neuter him. It's better for their overall health. 
For females, if you don't spay them by the time they're 4 or 5 years old, they have a very high chance of developing terminal reproductive cancers. For males, neutering makes them less territorial and more likely to get along with your doe consistently. I have a boy and girl who are brother and sister, that were kept in side-by-side hutches for most of their lives. They always snuggled as close to each other as they could get. I had them both spayed and neutered at the same time, and they are still snuggle-bunnies.
The main thing is that you need to keep them separated while they're healing. I had two xpens that I kept them in, side by side, until they healed. Now they live in their rabbit condo, and couldn't be happier. ^_^
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For females, if you don't spay them by the time they're 4 or 5 years old, they have a very high chance of developing terminal reproductive cancers. For males, neutering makes them less territorial and more likely to get along with your doe consistently. I have a boy and girl who are brother and sister, that were kept in side-by-side hutches for most of their lives. They always snuggled as close to each other as they could get. I had them both spayed and neutered at the same time, and they are still snuggle-bunnies.The main thing is that you need to keep them separated while they're healing. I had two xpens that I kept them in, side by side, until they healed. Now they live in their rabbit condo, and couldn't be happier. ^_^
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