Girl Bunny Development

[housetb]

Last night my wife was telling me that she felt little bumps on our mini-rex, Babs, stomach. The reason this was even alarming was because we've been nervous that our dutch boy, Rupert, may have got her pregnant (even though Babs is still pretty young).

Anyways, this morning, I was checking out her stomach and felt what my wife was talking about. We were told to press against her stomach slightly and if she was pregnant, we would feel little marble size bumps (which would indicate she was about 2 weeks along). Well, these bumps definitely were not inside her, they were outside, and I am pretty sure they are nipples. This leads me to my question: do girl rabbits develop nipples as they grow in sexual maturity or do they only start to show if they are pregnant? I know it may seem like a silly question, but I was unsure and I am hoping someone can answer. Thanks for the help!

 

[idreaminglasscolor]

Well i have no help, unfortunately, but i am interested to know what they are..

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

Female rabbits will have nipples. I am not sure (and not going to check right now), but males might also have them. With females, I am pretty sure they have them from birth, but they can become more prominent when they reach maturity and if they get pregnant. I've never had a really young female (all of them have been at least 6 months when I got them), so I could be wrong.

 

[LaylaLop]

I found this on an exotic pet vet site:

"the female rabbit has four or five pairs of mammary glands and nipples, and unlike other mammal species, bucks do not have any nipples. Females may develop an infectious mastitis or a non-infectious cystic mastitis of the mammary tissue."

But it appears if they do have nipples, they are a girl. Hopefully the lumps are nothing serious!

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Most mammals nipples tend to enlarge with pregnancy, but this may not be the case. Male rabbits are the only mammals that do not have nipples.