Rabbit pregnancy?

[Slowpoke]

I love the name Timothy hahaha

[-Danube-]

If you are going to do this, i'd advise you to find homes before you mate them. We bred rabbits a few times and if you don't have homes for them, it can become a problem. We never had the problem but my dads mate did. If you cannot rehome the babies by the time they hit sexual maturity (as early as 12 weeks sometimes) then the babies can start to interbreed, if they are not separated propaly (it's hard to find the sex of young rabbits) then you end up with hundreds of them, or you sell a pregnant female and you get a very angry customer after a few weeks. Rabbits can have many babies, ranging between 4-12. Dwarf ones have smaller litters (mine was dwarf and had litters ranging from 6-8).

I've not read above so i dunno what other have put, but i'll give you my experience as i've done it a few times.

The gestation period is around 28-31 days. It's basically impossible to tell if they are pregnant, 9 times out of 10, if they are young enough and you put together a male and a female, she is pregnant. You only have to put them together for an hour tops, it sounds horrid but if you want to be successful you need to watch them, once he has 'done his business' you can remove him straight away. It's better to bring the female to to the males cage, as if you but him in her's, he'll be more interested in sniffing around and leaving his mark. So put the female in the males cage for better results, then remove once the deed is done to stop him getting too aggressive with her (if they are locked in a small cage he will rip her to shreds, they would be ok running around the garden together though, as she can run away when she has had enough of him pestering her).

Then it's just a waiting game. Don't start feeling around her belly looking for babies, some trained vets can feel them, but most of the time you will just harm her and she'll terminate the pregnancy (i read somewhere that is a rabbit is stressed in the first week of two, it can completely absorb the babies inside her :S). They don't really get fat or anything, the only thing i noticed is that she will start to eat ALOT more. In the latter weeks she will start to get very terratorial, she will growl when you go near her. I would say for the last 2 weeks, leave her alone. Only go to her cage to feed her and clean her out, let her stay in her cage. Also in this last 2 weeks you should provide her with hay and straw, she will begin to make a nest when she is close to giving birth, she will do this all by herself. She will lay any material she can find on the bottom of the cage and then she will begin to rip her own fur out and make a nest of hair.

After 28-31 days she will give birth, RESIST ALL TEMPTATION TO TOUCH THE BABIES. You cannot put your scent anywhere near the nest, don't even take a peak inside the nest, yes look in her cage to see if she has made the nest and given birth (the next will move and riggle around when it's full of babies) but don't touch. If she senses your smell on the nest, she will kill the babies and probably eat them.

After a week to 10 days, the babies will large enough to walk, they will hop out of the nest and all around the cage, so make sure your cage is secure with no small holes. You can touch the babies at this point, but dont take them away from the mother, keep them with you at all times. You can now check the nest too, there maybe a dead baby rabbit in there, it's not rare as the 'runt' normally dies.

The rabbits will naturally wean themselves off milk, once they get too large the mother will stop feeding them her milk and so they will be forced to eat 'big food'.

After 8 weeks they are old enough to sell. Again take my advice, find homes way before then. If you are stuck with rabbits getting past 12 weeks, it becomes an issue where they can breed with their siblings or even the mother.

NEVER PUT BABIES WITH THE DAD, he will kill them. Never leave the female with the male in a cage, leave her on her own.

The above is what i did everytime, and we were really successful. It's a really interesing and fun thing to do, i hope you give it a go

[Sharon]

OH MY GOD DAN AFTER READING THAT AT 1 IN THE MORNING IT GENUINELY SOUNDED LIKE A HORROR STORY!

[GoldenMerc]

Thank you so much for that, il try it once i get home!

[Grimmauld]

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question...6075024AArVOCt
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question...0024125AA0YDVf

#5 is a genius tip haha

[iAdam]

Can I ask why you're trying to make them breed?

There's plenty of rescues up and down the country that are overflowing with rabbits that have been discarded because people have got bored, have gained an unexpected amount of rabbits or underestimated the amount of care they need when they need their teeth clipping every few months which grow incorrectly due to intensive breeding.

Why not adopt some rather than force them to breed?


Also, if they were together for any amount of time, she's pregnant.

[GirlNextDoor15]

OMG Dan! That's a long one.

I would say she's pregnant.
Make sure she doesn't bit you. So, be careful!

[-Danube-]

OMG Dan! That's a long one.

I would say she's pregnant.
Make sure she doesn't bit you. So, be careful!

I know, i got carried away and only noticed once i post

Should have included a tl;dr

What adam said is another thing to consider, there are alot of rabbits around atm, as they breed like rabbits! Haha. So Finding owners for your before/during pregnancy is the best thing to do and it's easy for you. Best just to give them away and not sell them

[Smint]

I remember my friend have wild rabbits on his estate... (He's posh, I'm not )

And they bred and bred and bred, not sure why the male didn't eat all the little ones then O.o

[GoldenMerc]

Do pets at home buy them?