Discussion in 'The Rabbitry and Show Room' started by Khloe power, Mar 19, 2019.
Hi my male rabbit recently escaped his pen while two of my females (Afana,Mia) were roaming around and I I think one or both might be pregnant. The problem is Afana and Mia live in the same pen as my third female (Zenith) and are bonded,I really don’t want to have to separate them and I don’t know which female is pregnant or if both are,I need help I have already found a nest in the litter box.
How long has it been since they were out together with the male?
Then yes, I would definitely say they are pregnant, they will deliver on the 31st day after mating. if you have two other cages, you need to separate them into them but keep them all next to each other so you don't break the bond. If you can afford it buy or make some nestboxes if you cannot find or cannot make any a cardboard box will do just fine. If you can get some straw or you can just put hay in there, and they will take care of making the nest. It is best to separate them now that way you know who's babies are who's and if they are both or just one is prego. Then after day 35, you can put the one or both of whom have not had any babies back in with Zenith, so you won't have to further risk breaking the bond. When one or both have babies I can help you further, but this should get you started. The reason why I say one or both are pregnant is that if it was a false pregnancy they would have nested a week to two weeks before the possible due date, but with it being at day 28 nesting and they deliver on the 31st day then I can say almost 100% that one or both is prego.
If your doe is building a nest, it will be pretty apparent. She will fixedly or frantically start gathering bundles of hay in her mouth to take to her nesting area. She'll start shaping the hay into a type of burrow with a depression at the back for the babies to go into. Once she is done shaping the nest she will eventually start pulling out clumps of fur, usually from her dewlap.
How much should I be feeding them Incase they have babies?
Before she has the babies, you pretty much feed the amount of pellets you would normally feed and free feed grass hay(never should run out, plus she needs lots of it to build her nest). Then once she's had the babies, the pellets should be gradually increased over the first few days til she is pretty much being free fed pellets and grass hay. The pellet amount will probably be at least 3 times the amount she would usually get by the end of the first week, depending on how many babies she has. You can also add in a bit of alfalfa hay if you feel she needs more calcium and protein.
Here's what to expect and what the mom and babies will need.
Agree with jbun, you don’t need to increase her pellets until she kindles. If/when a doe has kits then the kits will stay in the nestbox until about 2 weeks (or until their eyes open) at which time they’ll be more active. It’s important to keep them contained. They could escape thru the grids of an x-pen, unless the grids are very small.