Rabbit Nesting Early?!! Help!

LopsAreGreat · Jun 4, 2021

One of my does is nesting WAY to early, this is her 8th day. I go to check on the bunnies, and I see all of this fur in the litter box. And she has a bald spot on her chest. I’m wondering, is this a false pregnancy? Is she not actually pregnant? This is so frustrating to go through this. I know that false pregnancies decrease fertility, so I don’t even know if she got pregnant. We did 1 fall off in the first session, 8 hours later, we breed her again and she gets 3 fall offs. Did this do nothing? She has a very strong maternal instinct, because she’s had two other false pregnancies before. I’m not sure if this is just her being a strong instinctual mother or what.

Preitler · Jun 4, 2021

Where did you hear that false pregnancys reduce fertility? Never heard of this before, or have seen any indication.

Anyway - nesting early can happen. Just save the fur for the real thing once she's done with this nest. No way to know but to wait.
Calm down, they set the pace

LopsAreGreat · Jun 4, 2021

Preitler said:
Where did you hear that false pregnancys reduce fertility? Never heard of this before, or have seen any indication.

Anyway - nesting early can happen. Just save the fur for the real thing once she's done with this nest. No way to know but to wait.

That’s a relief

Thank you so much.

LopsAreGreat · Jun 4, 2021

Preitler said:
Where did you hear that false pregnancys reduce fertility? Never heard of this before, or have seen any indication.

Anyway - nesting early can happen. Just save the fur for the real thing once she's done with this nest. No way to know but to wait.
Calm down, they set the pace

So can rabbits get pregnant during a false pregnancy?

Preitler · Jun 4, 2021

I would think so once they are out of the nestbuilding zombie state (see picture). Actually, to me it would make sense that they are quite receptive then, since what we see are the hormones playing out a real delivery, and they are darn receptive right after giving birth. And they are induced ovulators anyway.
Did you breed her before the first two false pregnancies? That would not be a good sign.

I retired my black Fury when she turned 8, and she always used every single opportunity to get pregnant, and had her share of false pregnancys.

LopsAreGreat · Jun 4, 2021

Preitler said:
I would think so once they are out of the nestbuilding zombie state (see picture). Actually, to me it would make sense that they are quite receptive then, since what we see are the hormones playing out a real delivery, and they are darn receptive right after giving birth. And they are induced ovulators anyway.
Did you breed her before the first two false pregnancies? That would not be a good sign.

I retired my black Fury when she turned 8, and she always used every single opportunity to get pregnant, and had her share of false pregnancys.

This is her first time being actually pregnant. She had two false pregnancies a few months ago. And then she just had another false pregnancy last night.