When a rabbit is pregnant: See what happens
How to check if the rabbit is pregnant:
Is the rabbit pregnant?
How do I know?
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| Examining a pregnant rabbit |
Actually, there are at
least five very useful clues. In addition, knowing these clues becomes even
more crucial if you suspect a breeding took place by accident.
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| A pregnant rabbit picking hay to make her nest |
- A week or two after mating you will notice that the doe has become quieter, seems to eat less, and sits with her abdomen resting nicely on the floor. This is a positive sign that could indicate that she is pregnant.
- Some pregnant rabbits start trying to dig inside their cage from 2 weeks of pregnancy and beyond. You might notice the doe scratching quite diligently at the far corners of her cage. If I was not sure I had palpated her abdomen correctly, I will be very pleased to see this behavior in the doe. It frequently indicates a positive pregnancy. Although, a doe with a false pregnancy may also scratch at the wire in an attempt to burrow.
- Another pregnant rabbit clue occurs a week or less before she is due to give birth (3rd - 4th week of pregnancy). Some pregnant rabbits become desperate to build their nest. Toss some hay or straw into her cage. If the doe starts gathering heaps of hay into her mouth like a blue jay carrying twigs for a nest, this is a sure sign she is pregnant. If one of my does agitated, ready to build her nest, and carrying straw early, I have been known to give her the nest box as early as day 21, when normally the box goes into the cage exactly on day 28. Nevertheless, I still will not expect the doe to give birth on any day except day 31, as usual.
- She will start pulling out her hair to make a nest at about 30 - 32 days after mating, soon followed by producing a litter. Sometimes she fails to produce a litter after making a nest. If this happens approximately 2 weeks after mating, it is called pseudo-pregnancy. Do not be disappointed. This is a perfect time to breed her, she is willing and fertile right at the time of pseudo-pregnancy (False pregnancy)
- Her hair can easily be pulled out if she is pregnant (later on she will make the nest with her own hair which she pulls with her mouth from her body).
- During the last days of pregnancy, the teats become harder and somewhat red, and the udder will then begin to swell.
The best method however,
of checking for pregnancy in rabbits is palpation, but this requires practice.
Palpation is possible from
10 days and onwards after mating. Place the doe facing you on a table, a bench
or the floor. Put both hands on the sides and a little under the belly, gently
pressing them towards each other and upwards. Of course, you can feel a lot in
the belly. Amongst others, right behind the left ribs you can feel
the liver; all the way up in
the abdomen on both sides and just under the spine, halfway back you will feel
the kidneys. You may also feel the small fecal pellets and the guts. If she is
pregnant after two weeks, you will start to feel hard things like marbles, also
in the upper side of the abdomen. These become progressively larger until you
might even be able to feel the form of an embryo. Do not worry if you cannot
feel all these things at first. After some practice, you will be able to
identify the embryos with little effort. If this sounds too difficult, it is also
possible to check for pregnancy by putting the doe with the buck again 12 days
after mating. If she refuses, the first mating has almost certainly worked out
well. If she is willing again, the buck can repeat his work. This method has
the very small risk that an already pregnant doe gets mated again with the
possibility of starting another pregnancy halfway through the first. This super-pregnancy
occurs occasionally.
Checking for pregnancy in
rabbits
