Delayed pregnancy????

[cmany]

I haven't been on in a while...crazy summer with all the animals here on the farm...

Early June we were having excessive heat...and lost the last litter that was born...talked to a few people around here...they were having the same problems...HEAT...

But we bred 3 of our does on and around June 18th...No births...

So...my one doe, I decided not to breed her...but bred my other 3...about 2 weeks ago...its been cooler so we decided it was time to start again...

But the one I decided not to breed - who was last bred back in June...Just had 3 babies...which we were not prepared for...thus it was a little chilly and we were not able to save them...we tried for over an hour...and it was just too late...

And what really makes it worse...is that she was pulling hair yesterday...but KNOWING that she was well passed her due date from her last breeding I figured she was maybe expelling the dead babies...boy was I WRONG...

I know for sure that I did not breed her...I bred my other 3...1 to my buck that I have had the whole time...and the other 2 to one that I got a few months back...he was supposed to be a she...but surprise...

Is it possible that she had a delayed pregnancy?? She was bred to the younger buck and he was only 6 months when I gave him his first try...he had fully dropped...so I decided to give it a try...

When they didn't have litters I figured he was just maybe still a little to young...and figured with the heat we were still having that it would be best to wait...

I just don't understand this...I know that I did not breed her since that last try in June...she is older and I decided that with her age (she is about 3.5 yrs old) that either the heat was too much or maybe she was at the end of her run...

They would have been very healthy too - if I could have saved them...I just feel so bad...

Anyone have any ideas???

Thanks

Christine

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

It was not delayed from the June breeding. Baby rabbits, like baby people, continue growing for as long as they are alive inside the womb. So if your doe had been pregnant from the June breeding (hypothetically speaking), 5-6 week old kits would have just been born...not normal, newborn kits.

She would have been bred approximately 31 days before she delivered. If she is housed next to a buck, bucks can breed a doe through the cage wire. Or maybe they were put together or left out together by someone else- but she was definitely bred a second time since June.

 

[cmany]

I hear what you are saying...

I know it is absoultely not possible that a buck got to her..she is 3 cages away from the closet buck and probably 20 feet from the other one...and the cages are wood with mesh doors and bottoms...

Obviously I messed up somehow...but I just do not recall putting her in with the buck...then again...things are so crazy around here...I could have been mistaken...and forgot to write it down...

UGH...I just feel so flipping bad that this happened...

And the kids couldn't have done it either...they don't pick the rabbits up...and this one is a jumper...plus they never would have been able to get her back in her pen...she gets too grumpy after breeding...

They don't remember me breeding her since June either...but who knows at this point...

But on a positive note...at least she can still breed...and it would mean that our newer buck is capable...just sucks that this happened...

 

[Hyatt101]

I'm sorry, and i hope she is able to be bred!! ink iris:

 

[ldoerr]

I had a doe that I would breed, think that she was breed and give her a nest box at the appropriate time. Then NOTHING would happen. I always left the nest box with her for about a week after the due date. Still nothing every time. Finally I would remove the nest box and then a few days to a week or two after that she would have babies. It was crazy. I always felt bad that she had babies and because of me they would be dead (no nest box). She would morn the death of her babies. This happened a couple of times. I ended up selling that doe. I still to this day do not know how she could keep the babies inside her for so long. When they were born they would be normal size. She was not near any bucks either. What I am trying to say is that this sort of thing happens. I havenever herd of it to this extream, but still.

Also bucks can go steral if the temperature is above 80-85* for more than a few days. The steralization last for about 2-4 months and is VERY annoying.

 

[Iveybreeze]

I know for a fact that my French lop doe was not with any other buck except the one we bought her will. We got them home and in separate kennels (non adjoining, 5 feet apart) at the end of February. I am the ONLY keeper. I do not need a litter of kits right now so I figured if she were pregnant when we got her, we would be ok but had no plans to breed. No, there is no other buck. Today is April 4th. She started nesting yesterday. Figured it was simply an impulsive thing or habitual. Not. We had babies today. Alive and nested. I keep a nice box in with the bunnies so the conditions were perfect. I've done this a long time. I've heard old timers tell stories of delayed births. I saw the reality of it first hand. Perhaps they can't delay birth...perhaps they delay pregnancy. I've been told the sperm can stay dormant until the females stress levels and conditions were right (in this case, stress from coming to a new place) I don't know. But I know the facts here...and there is no other possibility.

 

[woahlookitsme]

Sperm in inadequate conditions inside a doe can only survive for 72 hours. Or so I remember reading. I don't believe delayed pregnancies can happen until I experience one myself. There is usually always some type of explanation.

 

[Azerane]

Embryonic diapause happens in some species, but not in rabbits from what I'm aware of. It's most common with marsupials. The egg is fertilised, but then essentially goes into a period of stasis (different for different species) until the environmental conditions are suitable for reproduction. It's a nifty survival strategy that ensures that whenever good conditions are available, that the animal can still produce young and saves the trouble of finding a mate by which point the good conditions may be nearing an end.

9 months is also a very long period of time for that sort of thing I think, so I'm sure that there must be some other explanation.

Having said all that, I've just found one reference to it in rabbits: Bottom left hand column of the first page, goes onto the right column. Would have to look up their reference. http://humrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/11/3/651.full.pdf

 

[DAHILLGIRL60]

I have a lionhead that has a kit 1 month old, she has not been with the buck AT ALL since she bred in April, she just had 2 more babies????? whats up with that?