hi.

I have had rabbits before but i have recently rescued two adult females from pets at home. (i know pets at home are a bit crap but they needed a new home) anyways i was gonna go and take them for their injections this week and for a general health check, just to make sure they was both fine but this morning pip (a black dwarf lop) had pulled out a lot of her own fur. iv had a check for any parasites but i cant see any. is there anything else it could be. i dont think it would be stress related but im gonna keep any eye on her anyways. pip and snowy the other rabbit both hump each other which did worry me a bit at first but i was assured they were both female. they have been together for ages or so i was told. they are about 18 months-2 years apparantly. Help

Cassie

hi, think your bunny may be about to give birth! Mine did yesterday and thats what started to happen on saturday.

my 7 month old french lop did this last week and didnt have any babies apparently its "the time of year" lol
also ive read that the dominance mating can make them have a phantom pregnancy.

but i wouldnt take p@h advice on the sex of the buns perhaps pop them along to the vets to sex them properly to make sure.

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Some females will nest, even when not pregnant. All of mine have done so far.

Its difficult with P@H to know if they are telling the truth or not. You may very well have 2 females, and that one of them is having a phantom pregnancy, on the other hand you may have a male and female, in which case you will end up with babies.

Does her abdomen look distended at all? How long have you owned them? I know you said recently, but how many weeks?

Are you able to have a look at the genitals at all? At such a mature age, it should be obvious if you have males or females.

Fingers crossed its just a phantom. I would advise you get them both neutered, as it will reduce aggression, prevent uterine cancer which is VERY common in rabbits, and will also help with such behaviours such as this.

Yeh I would say she is either pregnant or bored - try sexing them yourself and check, I wouldnt trust pets at home, my last rabbit was from there, he is now a she..hehe - fab shop but not fantastic at sexing animals-happened with hamsters ive had too x

thats what i thought. will take them asap just to be safe. was hoping i could get snowy a bit tamer before i had to take them as she hates being picked up and is extreamy strong. will just have to let the vet deal with her. lol

I used to breed fancy breeds and its a sure sign of the rabbit making a nest for her babies. Do'nt disturb her nest box just clean out her toilet area and she'll be fine. Do not touch babies as rabbits hate the smell of anything else but them on the babies and she will bite you to protect them aswell Hope this is helpfull.

iv had them three weeks. was trying to get the bigger one, snowy, a bit tamer before taking them to the vets as she really hates being messed with. pip however isnt so bad her stomach doesnt look swollen or distended and i wouldnt think she was bored, they both have plenty of toys and food etc in their seperate hutches and they am only in there at night. they have the run of the garden in the day.

its supposed to be cleaning out day today should i risk it or not. she toilets in the bed area of the hutch mostly, if the other one is a boy (which i cant check on my own) and she is pregnant would the babies be ok in the more open bit where she seems to have made this nest, i dont think she is but just in case. would i be better off just cleaning out the area she poops but should sleep in or do all of it?? bloody rabbits!!

To be honest, it sounds highly likely that she is just having a phantom pregnancy. My old dutch girl dug a burrow in my garden, lined it with fur and and hay, then filled it in again. Nesting is common in unspayed does.

My last dutch girly used to nest every few weeks. Sadly we lost her at 8 months before i could get her spayed. My current Old English hasnt nested yet, but she constantly humps her neutered male companion. It seems to be a behaviour that can increase with age. My original dutch female did it constantly, right up until she was 9 years old.

Rabbits often exhibit behaviours we interpret as meaning something they dont. Nesting doesnt always mean the iminent arrival of kits. Im not saying she isnt pregnant of course, and i would advise, like others, you get her vet checked asap.