patter of tiny feet

[may]

I have aquired two5 montholddwarf lop ear rabbitsboth are suppose to befemalesI have just found this morning that one of them has started to pull herfur out and putting it in the corner of the cage she is also collectinghay and doing the same, does this mean she is pregnant? if so whatshould I do about seperating them and when? and how long will it bebefore the patter of tiny feet?

 

[2bunmom]

Hi May, welcome to the forum. I am notan expert on rabbits by any means butI will try to help youuntil someone else can come on and give you some more help.It does sound as if she might be pregnant. It also sound likeshe is trying to make a nest. Do you have a nestbox? Is the cage that she is in large enough for a woodennest box?The babies are so small thatthey will fall through the wires of awire bottomcage. Since she is pulling fur and trying to make a nest Iwould think that the babies will come within the next coupleof days. I would go ahead and separate the rabbits.Hopefully this will help until PamNock, Hank Hanky or Donna can helpwith more advice. Oh, do you have any books onrabbits? Check with your local library book store or petshop. Are there any local rabbit breeders in yourarea? I am sure that they would help answer questionsalso. Hope some of this helps for now.Beckie

 

[may]

Hi Beckie,

Thanks for the reply, no I do not have a nest box can you suggestanything I could use at the moment, and no I do not have any rabbitbooks any you can recomend! I will have to find out if there is anybreeders around.

Thanks May.

 

[Dolores Lindvall]

This definately sounds like she is about tokindle. Some does start pulling hair several days beforehaving their babies...even a week. Some does start pullinghair after they've given birth. Everybody isdifferent. If you don't have a nest box...you weren'texpecting this...do you have a dish pan? Do youhave any kind of "box"? You can even use a pail if you lay iton its side and fasten a piece of wood or "something" acrosspart of the opening.....to keep the bedding and thebabiesin. Mama will be able to get in and out.

Straw, hay, pine wood chips/shavings for bedding, and puteverything that she has gathered together for "nesting material" inwhatever you have acquired for her "nest box". In anemergency...like yours...some people put old towels or other rags infor bedding...even yarn!

My cages have the kindling wire...the wire is much closer togethertowards the bottom part of the cage...babies can't fallout. Floor wire on my cages has small openings.No baby could fall thru.

(Sex your bunnies so you know for sure. If people sex theirbunnies at too young of an age, you can get fooled. Ihave. Had a doe who gave birth at the age of 4months...meaning that she got pregnant at 3 months.)

 

[2bunmom]

Books that I have found helpful are,Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits by Bob Bennett and The RabbitHandbook by Karen Gendron. I have also learned a lot fromthis forum and other web sites. Any baby bunniesyet? Keep us posted. Beckie

 

[may]

No baby bunnies yet. Thanks for the info on the books. May

 

[c101900]

hi. i just joined rabbits only but i think i canhelp. my rex rabbit ruby just had a litter of three while i was onvacation and i didnt even know she was pregnant. i didnt knowif she was pulling her hair out or just shedding but i assumed she wasshedding because it was so hot so i kept sweeping up the hair. i guessits a good thing i left or she would not have had a nest for her littleones. i dint think she was making a nest because she wasnt putting thehair in the corner of the cage it was just falling out all over theplace. she only had a litter of three and one of them died. when yourrabbit does have the babies make sure that you check the cage for deadones or ones that have fallen out of the nest. thats very important.second, my boy rabbit buddy has always been in the same cage with rubyand they have gotten along very well. after she had the babies inoticed that buddy was also pulling his hair out and he was licking thebabies just like ruby was. so i think its safe to keep them together aslong as you watch the male very close to see what he is going to do.also you need to check all of the babies to make sure they dont haveany deformities. you can read more about that at rabbits only. also onrabbits only it tells you how to check her belly for little grape sizedbundles. im not an expert but i just recently went through the samething so i will help you through my experience if i can. good luck.

 

[trekcip5]

You need to get the buck out of the cageasap. If the doe is having kits, and not a false pregnancy.she will kill the kits, to protect them from the buck. Youcan use anything for a nest box in a pinch. even a cardboardbox will do until you can either build or buy one. I put allmine together from scraps of wood. Put some pine shavings inthe bottom, or just hay. If she has pulled fur already, pickit all up and put it in the box. If she has them in the cage,without the box, you will more than likly lose them. They cancrawl right out the side of the cage. Good Luck.Donna

 

[may]

Thanks for the info. I have just made her a nestbox out of some scrapes of wood and placed all the bedding that she hasmade in it, the only problem was I could not place the box where shewas making the nest and she is now making a new nest where the originalone was, what can I do? I have also tried to check her belly but cannot feel anything, maybe we have a phantom pregnancy I will just haveto wait and see. Will keep you all informed. May

 

[may]

Hi everbody,

Just thought I'd let you know we are not going to have a patterof tiny feet , took them both to the vets today as we could not standthe not knowing, they are both females so we have a bunnie that ishaving a phantom pregancy, never mind maybe we will mate them later.

Thanks for all your suggestions and help, May.

 

[2bunmom]

Thanks for letting us know May. Now youwill be able to spend the time getting to know your buns better and ifyou decide to breed them in the future you will have time to learnabout the process and be prepared. That will be much betterthan being in a panic trying to do the right thing and second guessingyourself. I am glad that Donna responded to yourpost. She is a breeder and is quite knowledgeable.There are quite a few very knowledgeable folks on this forum, so thisis a good place to be for learning about rabbits. It isjust a good positiveplace to be anyway you look atit. Keep coming back and let us know how your 2 buns aredoing. Beckie