Scared, pregnant?!

[d0tti]

Recently "adopted" three flemish x NZ white buns that were approx 9 weeks old. They are currently 16 weeks. I got the runt of the litter (Herman) and the second largest (Austin). My boyfriend got the largest bun in the litter (Bruiser), which lives with him. We were told they were all males and the man who we got them from showed us how to sex them. For 1 month there were no issues. I came home from work one day ( 5 days ago) and Austin was chasing and trying to mount Herman, who kept running away, thumping and hiding.
I picked up Austin and his penis was out, i'd never seen this before. I looked at Herman, pulled the fur back like we've been told how to sex them, and to my shock, Herman is female! They are now separated!
Now, i'm so scared she may be pregnant. The vet would not desex the males until they were older than 16 weeks. She eats a lot, she always has eaten more than the other two, i just put this down to being the runt and "needing more food". She hasn't been building a nest or anything. I felt her tummy and maybe i'm being paranoid but, she feels fat-ish. What are the tell-tale signs of a pregnant bun?

Thank you so much!:?:shock:

 

[Hyatt101]

Telltale signs involve: stuffing lots of hay/grass into their mouth, but not eating it. Pulling out fur. Her behavior may change a little.... You can try to palpate her, but I don't know much on that, it's where you take your thumb and forefinger (i think!!) and try to feel for marble sized lumps in her belly.

I hope this helps somewhat!! ray:

If she is pregnant, don't worry. We here on RO can always give you advice!!

 

[Hyatt101]

Forgot to mention-- babies are born 30-32 days after breeding!

 

[Imbrium]

I think it's like 10-14 days along where you can tell by palpating the mom's tummy. some does build a nest pretty early, but many don't build one until a few hours to a few days before they kindle.

given that it sounds like you don't want a litter and she's only four months old (meaning she's got a lot of growing left to do and would be at a higher risk for potentially life-threatening complications like a kit getting stuck), I would ask your vet if an emergency spay is an option. iirc, an emergency spay can be done up to about 2-2.5 weeks into the pregnancy. it's basically the same thing as a normal spay, it's just called something different if the doe is pregnant - in a spay, the uterus is removed, so if she's carrying kits it functions as an abortion.

 

[JBun]

I don't know that you should palpate unless you have someone to show you how. You can actually harm the babies(if there are any) by doing it wrong. If she starts building a nest close to the 30 days, then you'll know for sure she's pregnant. Sometimes after about 3 weeks, you can put your hand on her belly, and feel the babies moving around in there. If you really do think she's pregnant, you may want to put a nesting box in there at 27 days, and a bunch of grass hay to build the nest.