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what age can they get pregnant?

rosey_cake

New Kit
Hiya, I have two buns, a boy and a girl (mini lion lops) from the same litter, they will be 12 weeks old on Saturday. The vet told us we can get him neutered at 4 months, and they should be ok living together until then.

However he has started trying to hump her, I called the vet to ask what to do and they said to separate them just in case. (I know humping is a dominance thing, they've both done it before but now it is just him and he keeps trying). So we've separated them now but I am now totally paranoid that she is already pregnant. I've searched on the internet, replies ranged from "she can get pregnant at 12 weeks and will definitely die because she is too young" to "rabbits cannot get pregnant til they are 2 years old"....i just need a straight answer cos I am getting really paranoid. Is there a chance she is already pregnant? And if she is :( will she be alright?

thanks,
Rosey
 
You've definitely done the right thing separating them, some breeds can get pregnant as early as 12 weeks (though I'm not sure which breeds mature the youngest). I'm shocked your vet thought it was okay to keep them together until 4 months, that sounds like a recipe for trouble :shock:

It's fairly unlikely she will be pregnant though I guess possible. (Somebody more experienced than me might be able to give a better answer on this bit).
My rabbit "Tinkerbell" had a litter very young, pregnant at about 12 or 14 weeks :cry::cry: (The RSPCA removed her from an overcrowded situation). She was too young to undergo an emergency spay and it was decided the best course of action was to let nature take it's course and hope for the best. She brought up two kits, bless her, it must have taken it's toll though as she was only a baby herself when bringing up the kits.

I hope you've managed to separate them soon enough, thank goodness you did.
 
It is possible that she is pregnant. Although at 12 weeks you might be lucky and she's not yet reached puberty.

If she were to be pregnant she may cope BUT she will be at a much higher risk and her kits may well have abnormalities/congenital problems given that the Doe and Buck are brother and sister.
 
oh my word :( will i know if she's pregnant or will I just have to wait and see? They're going to the vets in another week and a half for their VHD injections, would she be able to tell? I'm not sure if the boy bunny is mature yet, as he doesn't have visible testicles (the vet had quite a hard job determining he actually WAS a boy on tuesday, she said it didn't look like they had dropped yet as otherwise it would be quite obvious), and it's not like he's humping everything in sight.

I am really worried about my poor baby I feel terrible :(
 
Youve came to the right place for help :) Its not good your vet said to keep them together until 4 months :shock: Thats a recipe for disaster :shock: You've done the right thing seprating the bunnies. Once your male gets all his bits he can be neutered, hopefully it wont be long now. Remember, after hes been neutered to keep them apart for another 4-6 weeks :)

I doubt she is pregnant, shes very young... obviously theres a possibility. I had a bunny come into rescue recently who was very young, she had 4 babies but she was just too young herself to raise them :cry:

Got everything crossed here for your bunny. Keep us updated :) xXx
 
Smaller breeds mature quicker than larger breeds.

And isn't it 6 - 8 weeks after neutering you have to seperate them?
 
Rabbits can't get pregnant till they are 2 years old? :shock:
I just have to say something there, rabbits should NOT have their first litter at 2 years, they're actually too old at this time.. A breeding doe should have her first litter before 1-1.5 years or the chances of birth-complications become significantly greater:cry: (If she has had a litter at 1 year its "okay" to breed again at 2... for her health anyway, not always so for the rabbit population)

As for your question, I separate rabbits at 10 weeks just to be sure, the youngest doe I've known to give birth was merely 4 months (likely to have become pregnant at 12 weeks:cry: ) She was lucky, she survived and had two
healthy kits, but I wouldn't risk it.
A 12-year old girl can have a healthy baby, but that doesn't mean she should.. Its the same with animals, most of them mature too early for their own good. :shock:
 
we had an 8 week old male get his mum pregnant so i would say from 7 weeks onwards for males to be fertile.Hopefully the girl is not mature yet.depending on when this happened you better keep an eye out between 30 - 35 days.
 
we had an 8 week old male get his mum pregnant so i would say from 7 weeks onwards for males to be fertile.Hopefully the girl is not mature yet.depending on when this happened you better keep an eye out between 30 - 35 days.

8 weeks is VERY rare but it can happen. I've heard of one other case of 8-week old bucks humping, but normally I've kept my babies with their male till they were 10 (well 10 weeks for the first litter, 8 for the second) and nothing happened. The school bunnies also stayed together for 10 weeks (mother sometimes taken out earlier).
 
I guess it is possible, but highly unlikely given how young she is and the fact that his plums haven't dropped yet.

Once he is neutered, keep them apart for another 4 weeks (he can still father kits during this time!!). Are you going to get her neutered? I do hope so, did you know the chances of her getting uterine cancer is 90% before she's 3 years old if she's not? If it comes down to money and having to save up and do them separately I'd have her spayed before he's neutered.

I think you need to find a vet who is rabbit savvy, your vet doesn't seem to know much at all about bunnies.
 
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