My ‘Male’ rabbit is nesting?

[mollyisthecoolest]

My rabbit is about 5 months old and i’ve had him for 3 weeks. The previous owners thought he was female but i thought he was male, its very difficult to tell with my rabbit. He had been mixed with both female and male rabbits before i got him but he is alone for now.

Over the last week, my rabbit has become increasingly irritable and keeps nipping when i put food in his hut. This morning, he was was running around his hut with a chunk of hay in his mouth. I checked on him and hour later and he was doing the same and moving the hay into his ‘bedroom’ which is a closed of part of the hutch which doesn’t have windows like the other part of his hutch has.

I read online that this is called nesting and its what pregnant rabbits do a week before nesting. If he is actually female and got pregnant just before i took him home, the timings would add up.

Is my rabbit pregnant or is this normal for rabbits to do, male or female? and if my rabbit could be pregnant, is there any other signs should i look out for?

 

[JBun]

If your rabbit is female, she could be pregnant, or it could be a false pregnancy. Because there is a chance of it being due to a pregnancy, I would suggest putting in a nest box and loads of hay so she can build a nest. If the bedroom part of the hutch is suitable for a nest to be in there and keep the potential kits contained and safe, then a nest box isn't necessary.

Medirabbit: false pregnancy

If she does turn out to be a male, it's not common for males to show nesting behavior, but it can happen on occassion. Usually the behavior will only last a few days, then the rabbit will return to their normal behavior.

If your rabbit does turn out to be female, to prevent false pregnancy behavior(for the most part) and potential uterine cancer, I would recommend booking a spay appointment soon.

https://rabbit.org/vet-listings/
You can take a look at this article on how to sex a rabbit, or take your bun to a rabbit vet to be properly sexed.

https://www.rabbitnetwork.org/educa...rabbit-care-articles/how-to-sex-your-rabbits/