Kweli is acting weird

So... As many of you may already know last weeki moved Kweli in to the same room as Sully. i got Sul from the HumaneSociety already neutered, his history papers said his nueter was Sept31. 05. he was quaranteened until Nov.3. 05 and on that day Kweli movedin. i waited an extra couple of days to make sure the spermies were allgone. BUT...

Kweli has been acting VERY strange. Friday night she was very calm andcuddley. (Normal Kweli is a spazz) and on Saturday morning i awoke tothe sound of her building a nest. She is just about 6 months old andunspayed. Nest contruction has continued all weekend, and if that isn'tweird enough she actually started humping my slipper on Sunday morning.

Sully and Kweli have not been out together, but one at a time andsometimes unsupervised. (which i though was okay, cause all the spermshould have been dead, and he had almost a 3 week quaranteen)

Now Kweli is about 6 months old and her hormones can be kicking in, but this is strange.

I'm wondering, could Kweli be pregnant? Or maybe the close quarters with a boy is causing her to nest/hump?

Please Help, I'm very confused.

Nicole

When I was a kid, I thought my female rabbit waspregnant because she pulled fur from her body and acted exactly how apregnant rabbit did. It was a a false pregnancy,though. She never had bunnies.

Has Sully mounted Kweli at all? If hehas, he could have sent her into a false pregnancy. Sometimesthe act of being mounted by a male will send the girl bunnies into afalse pregnancy.

I wouldn't be too worried about her, just make sure her nipples don't get infected if she starts to lactate.

--Dawn

I'm going to assume the latter is true. She'sprobably just having her instincts kick in with a male around.Nevertheless, you may want to keep a close eye on her. If she didperchance get pregnant, it was probably the first or second time theywere out together. If that were so, it seems too early for her to beactually making a nest for expected babies. I'm going to assume it'sfalse.

Thanks for the responses,

Shuu they were not out together, but i understand they could have hadcontact through the cage. Kweli's cage bottom is about half a foothigh, so it would be very diffcult for Sully to reach her.

is there anything i can do to help her with her nest? Right now she has plenty of hay, and pulled out some fur.

they have only been together a week, and i'm wondering when typicallynests are built and for how long? I'm also wondering if a vet candetect pregnancy after one week?

Dawn, what would i be looking for in infected nipples, and how would i treat them?

thanks, Nicole

sorry,more questions, i was reading insome old posts about nesting boxes? Should i put a box in her cage eventhough she is already making a nest?

should i support herpossible "false pregnancy"?

would removing her nest stress her out?

Thanks

It does sound like a false pregnancy.Even if she WERE pregnant, she couldn't be more than ten days or so,right?

I wouldn't move the nest unless she messes it up (pooing or peeing init). I also wouldn't bother with a nest box unless thebehavior continues and you can confirm the pregnancy. Thoseboxes don't go in untilright before the birth.

Laura

Thanks Laura,

it would be less than 10 days.

should i move Kweli out of Sully's room or leave her there?

Gosh, so may questions but i just want to do the best/right thing.

Nicole

ps - i will DEFINATELY get Kweli spayed in January, that is the very quickest i can afford it.

Nicole,

It might stress her more to move her now. I think she'll be fine. Just keep an eye on her.

Laura

okay thanks again

Just make sure her nipples aren't swelling upand getting hot. You will feel a noticable difference in herbelly region if she starts to produce milk, the glands will swell upand her belly will feel more "squishy".

I would leave the nest be, Wildfire had a false pregnancy the firsttime I tried breeding her, and I just left the nest for a few days tillshe lost interest, then clean out the cage likeI normally do.

The best way to find out if she really is pregnant is topalpatate. It's really tricky to do, and I've only done itsuccessfully once. And also, as she nears the end of herpregnancy, you should be able to feel the babies move, and even seethem when she's lying down (it's really cool, I actually could see allthe individual babies when Wildfire was pregnant).

http://www.islandgems.net/palpating.html

This website hasa pretty good description of how to palpatate.

I really doubt she is pregnant though, you took an awful lot of precautions with Sully.

Thanks Dawn that was a cool site.

i'll try keep everyone updated, and all advice is VERY appeciated.

you guys are the best!

after looking a pictures of nests i noticed, Kweli's had almost no fur, it was all hay.

Today i removed it. and i feel terrible, however it's been a week. hope i did the right thing.

Any advice?

Thanks,

Nicole

Hi Nicky:
If she hasnt pulled a lot of fur, built a nest of hay,. and IS humpingyour slippers ( LOL sorry ) , then I would say she IS NOTpregnant , lol dont feel too badly about taking hernest away she may have been only makinga sleeping site and if so willrebuild yet another untill she gets sick of it .

Thanks Gypsy. my instinct also tells me she'snot. i tend to worry not only about my bunnies' health, but also theirhappiness. i drive myself a little nuts sometimes. (this is why ichoose not to EVER have children.)

i'm lucky too cause Kweli seems to recover quickly from stressful situations like going to the vet and stuff. (knock wood)

Thanks again

Greetings Nicole,

I bumped a post called False Pregnancy by cirrustwi. Even if it is afalse pregnancy, there are some things that you should just keep an eyeon her for.

-Carolyn