help with pregnat rabbit

[goldy5608]

My brothers rabit is pregnat and he just got them on thursday.he got a male and a female. his female is 3 weeks pregnat. he really doesnt know really anything about rabbits so if you know ANYTHING about rabbits please reply I will leave this on my computer so if anyone replys I will see it and have him or me reply and i'll reply ASAP thanks for ANYTHING!!!!!! :) :) :)

[Ltlpistol]

Well, first if he has them in a cage together he needs to separate them ASAP. The male will kill the babies, and if he doesn't she will kill him or try to. Rabbit fights are not pretty, something like cat fights!

Then he needs a box in the female's cage, it needs to be just a few inches longer than the rabbit and about 8 inches wide. It depends on the breed of rabbit of course. My Mini Lops I had nest boxes that were a foot long, a foot high, and nearly a foot wide. Put some hay in the box, or bedding material. Don't use cedar chips. Cedar is very hard on rabbit respiratory systems. When the female is close to delivery she will start pulling the hair off the dewlap under her chin to line the nest with. Don't worry she won't pull it all out.

You might want to see if you can get some calf manna from a feed store and give the female a little bit in with her pellets. It helps with her milk production.

After she delivers, don't pick up the babies, unless she has them on the wire floor of the cage. More than likely if she does that, they will already be dead when you find them. Their skin is very tender and the wire will tear their skin easily, and once they are injured the momma rabbit will kill them to keep predators from finding them.

You can push some of the bedding material off the top of the nest to check how many babies, and how they are doing, but again don't touch them for the first week. And be sure to put the fur back over them to keep them warm.

That's all I can think of right now. It's been a long time since I had bunny babies, but you can also check out the American Rabbit Breeders Assoc. website I think it's www.ARBA.net

Hope this helps.

[lbee]

I agree with ltlpistol, separate them immediately. From what I've learned with rehabilitating wild rabbits, when they mate, the female ovulates, meaning she will become pregnant each time they mate. I guess it is the same with domestic rabbits. Yep, keep the male away from the babies. He'll go after them. If you do not intend to keep the babies, there are rabbit refuges that might be able to find homes for them or your local animal shelter. Good luck lbee

[Jennicat]

Agree with lbee. We also don't use wire cage bottoms in case we do have pregnant does, so that they cannot have their babies on wire and kill them.

[ferJenna]

lbee.. I think what you are thinking of is induced ovulation. All females ovulate. Cats, and rabbits, amongst others release the egg after copulation.. Whereas a dog just has a heat cycle and releases an egg no matter what.

[goldy5608]

goldies5608 mom here
thank you for your help tomorrow we will seperate them and make a wooden box 1x1x1 and add hay for bedding. we will also put a plastic tray in the cage for her to keep her off the wire. does anyone know how long to keep the babies after their born and is it correct she will have the babies 3 weeks after they are bread? thanks for all the help mom

[goldy5608]

help i need as much info on the rabbits as possible. how long untill you can separate the babies from the mother i am planning to make a huge pen outside of the pen and i would like to know how long until i can separate the babies from their mom:confused: thanks::eek::)

[Ltlpistol]

If I'm remembering correctly you need to separate the babies from mom at 1 month, but I maybe wrong on that, go to the ARBA website that I gave you the link of earlier, there you can find all the info you need from current rabbit breeders. Or at least find links to the info. What kind of rabbits are they?

Also, I was always told to provide Timothy hay for the bedding, as rabbits aren't supposed to eat any other kind. But, again, that may not be set in stone.

Just did a search on google. Here's one of the links on rabbit gestation and birth: http://gardencenter.southernstates.com/rabbit/birth.shtml

[Jennicat]

Baby rabbits should be separated at 8 weeks of age, when they wean. :)

http://www.rabbit.org/care/babies.html#As_Baby_Rabbits_Come_Of_Age

Males become sexually mature as early as 10 weeks, so don't drag your feet!

[Ltlpistol]

They actually wean at 4 weeks, but according to the arba, you should leave them in the cage with momma for 4 more weeks.

[theresa92841]

They actually wean at 4 weeks, but according to the arba, you should leave them in the cage with momma for 4 more weeks.

I'm wondering if she also needs to know at what age the males and females that are born could start breeding with each other. In case, she needs to know when to make sure they are separated from each other . . . unless they want even more babies.

[Ltlpistol]

Like Jennicat said, they can mature as early as 10 weeks.

[theresa92841]

Like Jennicat said, they can mature as early as 10 weeks.
And that translates as "can start getting pregnant?"

[Ltlpistol]

Yes. The males will start trying to mate with any female nearby. They don't care if it's mom or sister or aunt. And when they 'connect' it causes the female to ovulate, which in most cases results in a pregnancy.

However, young males, while being old enough to want to mate, are not usually capable of 'connecting', since the mature female (mom in this case) is usually unwilling to cooperate.

All the rabbits I ever had were monogamous. They only wanted to mate with one partner, and if that partner wasn't the one I put into their cage, they'd fight tooth and toenail, or at the very least just run in circles to avoid him!

[theresa92841]

Thanks. I just wanted to make sure. I know that goldy is a young girl and didn't know if she would understand exactly what you meant.

[goldy5608]

I think we have some people to take them so we might put them back together. Anything even if we might not need it,please write it
:) :) :)

[ferJenna]

She's a young girl? It says she should be 38. Unless something got changed along the way.. Though the way she types it (no offense) she seems a lot younger.

[goldy5608]

who me
:confused: :confused: :confused:

[ferJenna]

Yep :) How old are you? We're just curious.

[goldy5608]

anyone there

[ferJenna]

What ?

[goldy5608]

just look at the next reply

[goldy5608]

why do you need to know
just because i live with my parents doesnt mean im below the age of 18

[ferJenna]

We don't need to know. Your profile says your 38, so we were just trying to get the facts straight. No harm meant, promise :)

[goldy5608]

is anyone there

[ferJenna]

Also, there are plenty of people that are under 18. They are just as welcome and their opinions count just as everyone else's.

[theresa92841]

She's a young girl? It says she should be 38. Unless something got changed along the way.. Though the way she types it (no offense) she seems a lot younger.

Well I based it on this post: http://forums.petlovers.com/vb/showpost.php?p=262410&postcount=9

Where it says she is 9. So now I just wonder again.
In another thread she posted at the same time she was posting about her brother's bunnies, she said that her mom said she could get a bunny and what cage should she get, etc. I suggested she get one of her brother's babies.http://forums.petlovers.com/vb/showthread.php?t=32541

So anyway, this is why I think she is a young girl.

[ferJenna]

Ah, well that makes sense. Thank you Theresa :)

[goldy5608]

my mom is an older women and doesnt know what she is talking about but some of the things she said are corrert

[goldy5608]

is anyone on here

[goldy5608]

are you 2 there

[krazy4birds]

Obviously this is going no where so I am putting it to rest.