My rabbit has just made a nest and is pulling her fur out

Question

how long will it be until she gives birth

Answer 1

From conception rabbits are normally pregnant for 28-31 days, so about a month.

But if you've had her for over a month, your certain she's not pregnant, she could be going through a false pregnancy or a "Phantom Pregnancy" Therefore, she may think she's pregnant but she's really not.

However, she probably is pregnant and you should keep track of what day she was bred and everything along those lines, you should mark on a calendar what day she's supposed to kindle, and every day observe her for 5-15 minutes, see if she continues to make a nest, gets aggressive, acts oddly, I would mark it in a record book.

About 1 week prior to her due date, you should do a full cage cleaning, and supply her with lots of hay and water, as of now to when the babies are born, don't disturb her, bunnies get stressed out VERY easily, therefore she has to be left completely undisturbed until after she kindles.

*Kindle-Gives birth

Once the babies are born, don't touch them for a few days I suggest waiting 4-5 days.

But you should check to see all are alive and well, along with warm, they should all be cuddled together in the nest, but if one is out, you should take gloves, and rub vanilla on the moms nose, then put her droppings on the gloves, or pet her, then you can move the baby to the nest, and cover him with fur.

If a bunny is dead, remove it from the nest immediately.

If you touch the babies too much, or stress the mom out, it's possible she may turn to canabolism and eat the babies, and you don't want this to happen.

Try to leave her alone for 5 days after she kindles, then you can start holding each baby for 3-5 minutes at a time, and getting them used to you.

Make sure their always covered with her fur, if their not, hold her by the scruf of her neck, and pull out some fur on her belly, this will remind her she still has work to do, and still must take care of the babies.

Once the babies start to sample her food, they won't need to be nursed anymore and she'll start to wean them off.

Thry'll start by eating her hay, then might move on to her pellets, I would crush a few tablespoons of her pellets, and put them in a shallow low dish for the babies to eat out of, if it looks like their having trouble chewing mix in some water or milk.

by 4 weeks the babies should have their eyes open and start exploring

By no more than 6 weeks of age, you should sepperate the males and the females.

The little girls can stay with mom, or together, but the males often fight, if you start to see fighting you'll need to sepperate them into different cages.

If you plan on breeding again, you'll need to either breed the same buck and doe of the first litter, or buy a different buck or doe to breed to the babies, you can't breed a sister to a brother, a son to a mother, a father to a daughter, ect.

A good breeder doesn't breed if they are any closer than 3-4 generations.

When I start breeding, I'm going to avoid breeding any relation at all.

If you breed from completely different bloodlines their health should be better, and they'll be more likely to be better looking than those that are breeded realted.

Good luck!

Answer 2

in a couple of days

Answer 3

Very soon- Congrats!!!!

Answer 4

3 to 24 hours! Hope it all goes well. I just experienced this about a month ago so feel free to e-mail me with anymore questions...

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