female rabbit acting weird...

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bluedimplett

bluedimplett

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Location
San Diego, California, USA
So, i got a spayed female rabbit who is about 3 years old about a week ago because i was going to bond her with my neutered male. Before i got her i had taken him a bunny date prior to meet her and they were very nice to each other. It seemed like a good match to me. I have not put them together yet but their cages are a feet from a each other. The first 2 days she was constantly grunting at my bun and would try to "attack" him from within her cage. He on the other hand was not phased by it and seemed interested in her.

So, this morning she woke me up with rattling the cage. I figured that perhaps she was hungry and was in need of more hay. I grabbed a handful of hay and i put it in the cage. At this point she grabbed as much hay she could in her mouth and started to move her head up and down for 5 minutes straight. After that she started to dig in the cage and she is still doing that as of right now. I tried to look up what this behavior means but i couldn't find anything. I'm really worried that this is a bad sign and if so i don't know what to do. Help?
 
It sounds like typical nesting behavior... Even to the point of objecting to the presence of your male.... are you sure she is spayed?
 
BlueGiants wrote:
It sounds like typical nesting behavior... Even to the point of objecting to the presence of your male.... are you sure she is spayed? 
Click to expand...

The lady i got her from said she was spayed when she was 6 months old. So that means she has been spayed for 2 and half years. Besides taking her to the vet, how else can i know that she is spayed?
 
Ok, i have an update:

I had stayed in contact with the lady who i got the bunny from. I told her about how her bun was acting just to see if this had happened before. She said that
"no" and that she did not feel comfortable knowing how the bun was acting and wanted me to bring her back. I did because i just felt that my male bun was too stressed. In any case, the lady just emailed saying that her female rabbit has been hiding all the hay, not eating well and pulling fur. AND, she now tells me that when she got her bun at the petstore they had told her it was spayed.

SO, now there is a possibility that the petstore may have lied and the bun may be unspayed and my male has been neutered for almost two months. If memory serves me right i was too keep him away from unspayed females for 2 months just in case.

Could she be pregnant? If so, we got a problem and i don't know what to do.

Any suggestions, comments, questions, links to threads are greatly appreciated.

Side note: The bunny date they went on was on Dec 20th and he has mounted on her before i could pick him up. *sighs*
 
did you see him fall off or grunt cause thats a usual sign he has hit the spot so to speak!! she would not be due till around the 20th of january as the pregnancy is 31 days so it could be a false pregnancy or she is nesting early as its her first litter. Hard to tell. Might be an idea to see if a mod would move this to the rabbitry for you so the breeders could give you their input :)
 
Though I do not consider myself a huge expert, in reading other people's experiences, with her nesting behaviour and being upset at your boy's presence...it not only sounds like she may be pregnant, but given that it's the 11th, and their pregnancies usually last about a month, it sounds like you may have just over a week before you have a litter on your hands.

BUT...NO WORRIES...you're in the best place possible for this to happen!! :hug:

I've gone ahead and moved this to the Rabbitry section...and there are so many wonderful people that are so familiar with bunny births, you're going to have excellent help! :)

Just stay calm...the calmer you are, the calmer she and her boyfriend will be.

Someone will be along here quite soon to help you out with excellent advice and help!

:hugsquish:
 
There is a good chance she could be pregnant but I find myself leaning towards thinking it might be a false pregnancy if she's pulling fur this early. Most of my does will not pull fur until shortly before they give birth - even if they do make nests earlier than that.

I would say that someone needs to keep an eye on her till the 20th or possibly the 22nd or so....but my guess right now is that possibly being mounted made her think she was pregnant and she has a false pregnancy going on - in which case - you can remove the nest after the 22nd or so......unless she destroys it herself before then.

Peg
 
So the bunny is back at the woman's house and still acting weird? If she is due to deliver on the 20th of January, and already building a nest, I think it might be a false pregnancy (as Peg said). Usually a doe that starts building 2 weeks early only "thinks" she' pregnant. She's three years old ("spayed at 6 months, spayed for 2 1/2 years?). I doubt she'd concieve that easily (although it could happen...) Your boy was probably still "functioning" at that point.

I'd still err on the side of caution and be ready, just in case. Let her build and stash her hay. Give her a quiet place, and wait and see. If nothing shows up by the 22-23rd, I'd clean out the cage and see if she moves on.
 
Hi,

I just wanted to give an update. The woman emailed me and said that as of the 14th the bun has destroyed the nest and is now eating the hay instead of hiding it.

Um, she will still keep an eye until the 22nd just to be safe. But, it may just be a false pregnancy. Which is a huge relief, i was real worried about her well being since she is 3 yrs old.
 
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