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Is it a silly question?

cally73

Young Bun
Hi well after the locum vet mis-sexing my male:censored: my female is now about 4 weeks pregnant. :shock: So obviously I want to do everything right, i know i have to leave the babies for 1-2 weeks after they are first born and let her see to them. As she is an indoor bun she is only really in her cage when we are not around so once she has had the babies is it ok to do the same? Will she just go back to feed them when she needs to or do I need to keep her in the cage with them for a certain length of time. Probably a really silyl question but I just want everything to be ok! She has turned her nose up at basil today:shock: so she must not be feeling herself. Happy to eat her nuggets and hay though. I guess she will be due soon:D I feel more nervous about her birth than I did my own:lol:
 
You don't have to leave the babies for 1 - 2 weeks if the mother is used to your smell. I advise you to rub your hands in the mucky corner of her hutch first though. Personally I would check babies daily from birth to check they're all healthy and being fed.

You can leave her cage open, she will probably feed them once or twice a day, you may or may not see this, but if you look at the babies they should have nice plump bellies.
 
Oh ok thanks for that i would say she is usually used to my smell however at the moment she is not keen on me touching her at all is this normal?
 
has the vet confirmed shes pregnant?

also when did you find out your rabbit was the wrong sex? as your bun may not be 4 weeks pregnant does normally give birth on day 31 but it will probably be impossible to tell how far along she actually is unless you saw the deed done lol

make sure to giver her a nest box as babies can escape from teh nest and freeze to death when Crystal had her 5 the babies they used to escape teh nest everytime she fed them as they'd go looking for her so i had to place something in the doorway of the box so teh babies couldnt escape! make sure she has plenty of hay etc. i would leave the nest alone for at least 24hrs then let the doe out for a run while you rub your hands in her bed area and check the nest to count babies and see if theres any dead ones.
 
has the vet confirmed shes pregnant?

also when did you find out your rabbit was the wrong sex? as your bun may not be 4 weeks pregnant does normally give birth on day 31 but it will probably be impossible to tell how far along she actually is unless you saw the deed done lol

Hi I found out when I took her in to be speyed and my usual vet then said she was a he!!!! So I then took my female in and he examined her and said she was about 2 weeks then so I am guessing at around 4 weeks now. I havent put a nesting box in I have just given her a lot of straw and hay. She is living indoors and the babies would not be able to escape from the cage area as it is too deep for them but I guess they could leave the nest area!!! :shock: Shall I put some sort of a box inside the cage and fill it with hay and hope she decides to make her nest in that?:?
 
:wave: No expert but, I would give her a suitable nest box so that they are away from the toileting area and kept dry and warm. Do you have homes lined up?
 
It is actually important that you allow your female as much space as possible. In the wild the female would dig a little nest away from the actual warren (to help keep them safe from predators) and she would only visit them once a day to feed them (again, to help protect them against predators as the more she visits the more attention she draws to the nest). When females give birth and are then confined to the hutch with the nest of kits, she can actually become very stressed at not be able to get away from them (this is often why she will kill/eat the babies) because it is just not natural for her to be so close to them all the time and in her mind she runs the risk of attracting predators to herself and the babies. She will only feed them once a day - this does not mean she is a bad mother - it is completely normal. I would just check them once daily but avoid touching them unless you need to.
 
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