Rabbits First Litter? Help!

[minimoomin]

So previously I was housing my two female mini lops together, but it turns out one was male, and now I believe my females pregnant and I'm incredibly worried for her.

I've moved her into my room in her hutch, as she was showing signs of being pregnant, avoiding/attacking the male rabbit when I placed them together, not playing as much and grunting ( My room is the quietest room in the house). Yesterday she began pulling fur out of her chest, so I placed a nesting box in her hutch, but during the night she escaped her hutch and started building her nest on my bed ( Uh oh) and so I moved the nest into the nest box. But now she's just peeing/pooing in her nest box, and everywhere in my room. And now she's stopped building her nest, and there are just bits of straw all over the ground mixed in with her fur, which she has just discarded. Is this normal? Do I need to do anything? I'm trying to just leave her alone. I don't know what to do! She has also started running around me in circles grunting, is this normal? Help!

I've also given her full roam of my room now, because whenever I put her in her cage she would start throwing herself at the wall trying to get out and I didn't want her to hurt herself or the kits.

 

[Watermelons]

She needs to be contained so she doesnt have the kits somewhere inappropriate.

 

[woahlookitsme]

I agree with caging her. You may end up doing more bad then good by letting her run around. You don't want her To have the babies somewhere unknown and then if they don't make it have a nasty stench weeks later. You can let her roam your room for short period of time if she is feeling cooped up. This also helps does give birth when they are overdue.

First things first is mark the calendar of when they were separated and count 33-35 days from that day and label it! This label could be 'no babies yay!!' Because it means if she doesn't kindle by that date then that means she wasn't pregnant. By the way her behavior sounds im guess she is though. No worries. Since you don't know exactly when she was bred you might want to keep a nestbox in there just in case and clean it out daily. Salvage good fur and you can save it in a bag for when she actually has the babies. This fur is crucial to keep babies warm.

Everything sounds about right for a first time doe and possibly a confused doe (if she isn't pregnant). Unfortunately all you can do now is wait. We notice that right before birth the doe will stop eating as much so keep track of her intake and just watch her closely. If anything changes like her poo or pee or eating habits make a note of it. Make sure she is getting pellets and enough nutrition at this point in time. You can even spoil her with a little alfalfa too if she is on a Timothy based diet (check the first ingredient on her pellet food bag). This helps give her more calcium and prevent hypocalcemia in pregnant does which is life threatening. Keep us updated

 

[minimoomin]

I've put her back in her hutch, and let her run around every now and then when I am in the room. I've cleaned out the nest box, and replaced the hay in the hutch (Going to be doing this everyday until I notice a change, ie. she's not using it as a litter box), and saved the good fur in case she will need it. I've noticed that today she is drinking more and eating less? It has also been 3 days since she pulled out fur, and nothings happened. And today she pulled out some more fur? Is this normal? She hasn't made a nest out of the recently pulled out fur, it was just all over the floor.

 

[woahlookitsme]

Some moms will pull a bunch of fur over days and others will only pull the day of. Every doe is different. Sounds like you're doing good! I hope everything goes well!

 

[minimoomin]

Four days after she first started pulling fur out, and still no kits I was beginning to think it might be a fake pregnancy, but when I was just looking at her before, it looked like she was getting bigger around her stomach, and she's stopped accepting her favourite treats. Maybe any day now...

 

[majorv]

If she's getting close to kindling you can probably feel movement in her belly. At any rate, it's best to wait a bit longer. I had one first-time mom make her nest a week ahead.

 

[minimoomin]

It has been over a week since she first pulled out fur, and still no sign of kits. So I'm thinking it's a fake pregnancy. Ill still leave her nest box there for a couple more days just incase.

 

[woahlookitsme]

when is the last day that they were together? I would wait until then to make sure she doesnt have any babies. You may not necessarily have to keep the box in but still keep a close eye

 

[bright_eyes]

Have you checked your room in every nook and cranny to be sure she didn't have her babies while she was out? Birth happens extremely fast, and some does don't make nests ahead of time.

 

[minimoomin]

More trouble in rabbit paradise! So after I brought my bun inside she pulled out her fur and did the usual pregnant rabbit stuff, but no kits. So I put her back into her outside hutch by herself (I sold the male), and today while she was out for a run around the yard, I noticed she looked very straggly (her fur a mess), so I looked around her hutch for a reason why. And found in her sleeping compartment enough fur which she had pulled out to form another rabbit. It's not in a nest or anything, but lying mixed among hay and shredded newspaper. So I left it as it was, and put more hay in her hutch in case she was going to build a nest. I separated the male and female on the 7th of January-ish, so that was about 38 days ago. Is it possible she's pregnant? Or is there another reason why she's pulling her fur out?

 

[squidpop]

I would keep treating her like she is pregnant and make sure she has a safe nesting box. However 38 days would mean she is 6 days overdue. It could be a false pregnancy. 2 or 3 days before a rabbit give birth if you rest your hands on her stomach you can feel babies twitching.

 

[minimoomin]

Tomorrow morning I'll check her tummy and see if i can feel anything.

 

[majorv]

If it's day 38 and nothing, she may be going thru a phantom pregnancy. You probably won't feel anything moving because at this point if she was pregnant they'd no longer be alive. The only way to know for sure would be to have a vet check her.

 

[minimoomin]

I checked her this morning and I think it's most likely a phantom pregnancy. Her stomach felt hard, and but I couldn't feel anything. Also I've just noticed she looks a bit skinnier than usual. But I think it's just because her she pulled out of a lot of fur, unless she did have them but ate them or something.

 

[minimoomin]

This is what her house looks like.

View attachment 1423954994126.jpg

 

[majorv]

I'd leave it for a few days and then take it out.

 

[bright_eyes]

I'd leave it for a few days and then take it out.

:yeahthat: and keep thoroughly searching, does can lose condition right after birth in the form of losing weight and lacking luster in the coat.