Have you bred your buck and doe rabbits together? How can you know the breeding ‘took?’ Are there ways to know if she’s pregnant or not? And knowing these 5 clues becomes even more crucial if you suspect a breeding took place by accident.
Your first clue a doe is pregnant is her mood – she gets cranky. A doe who was your best friend might suddenly flee to the back of the cage when she sees you coming. She might growl a little if you open the door to her cage. Does can get grouchy as early as a few days into her pregnancy.
Second Clue: The surest way to know if your rabbit is pregnant is to “palpate” her abdomen – meaning to feel for little baby lumps. You do this as early as day 10 or as late as day 14. This requires some practice, usually.Set the doe on a carpeted table or in your lap, head toward you. Be careful – she might be cranky by 10 days pregnant. Place your right hand under her tummy, palm up, making a bit of a cup with your hand. You want to gently explore the doe’s tummy with your 4 fingers on one side of the back bone (from underneath), and with the thumb on the other side. Simply push upward gently, lifting the doe’s hindquarters up a bit. Then slide your hand up and down, and see what you can feel.If you can feel distinct, soft little grape-sized lumps in a row on either or both sides of the abdomen, this confirms the pregnancy. (Hard little lumps along the middle of the abdomen are probably little poop-balls.)
Third Clue: Some pregnant rabbits start trying to ‘dig’ inside their cage from 2 weeks pregnant and beyond. You might notice the doe scratching quite diligently at the far corners of her cage. If I wasn’t sure I had palpated her abdomen correctly, I would be very pleased to see this behavior in the doe. It frequently indicates a positive pregnancy, at least in my rabbits. Although, a doe with a false-pregnancy may also scratch at the wire in an attempt to burrow.
Fourth Clue: Some pregnant rabbits become desperate to build their nest. This pregnant rabbit clue occurs a week or less before she’s ready to give birth (3-4 weeks pregnant). Toss some hay or straw into her cage. If the doe starts gathering heaps of hay into her mouth like a blue jay carrying twigs for a nest, this is a sure sign she’s pregnant. We call that bundle of hay in her mouth a “haystache” because with a little imagination, it looks like a mustache made of hay.If one of my does seems agitated, ready to build her nest, and carrying straw early, I’ve been known to give her the nest box as early as day 21, when normally the nest box goes into the cage exactly on day 28. But I still won’t expect the doe to give birth on any day except day 31, as usual. The doe whose hormones are running her ragged will calm right down once she’s built her nest.If your doe doesn’t carry hay around, it doesn’t necessarily mean she isn’t pregnant. You give them a nest, and they start eating straw out of it. Just to complicate things, the occasional doe will wait until the night she kindles to actually form her nest.But, my point is this: if you see the doe carrying the straw after day 21…she’s for sure pregnant.
Fifth Clue: Sudden and random jerking of her sides during her last week of pregnancy. That will be little bunny-feet kicking around in her womb. Look for quick little kicks, especially when she’s laying on her side. You’ll know it when you see it. And when you see it, you’ve definitely got a pregnant rabbit. Don’t confuse the little kicks with the rhythmic rolling movement of the rabbit’s intestines, however. Actually, the two are very easy to tell apart, especially when you’ve seen both.
More Pregnant Rabbit Tips
Pregnant rabbits don’t always ‘look’ pregnant, not even on the day they kindle (give birth). Of course, if there’s 15 kits in her belly, she’ll look big enough to pop. Most frequently, they’ll lose their waistline along about the last few days of the pregnancy. That’s why it’s helpful to know these pregnant rabbit clues for confirming your suspicions.The pregnant rabbit usually gives birth on day 31 without fail. But the bunnies can arrive on day 28 up to day 34. If I’ve bred the doe and buck in the evening, I can expect the kits on the morning of day 32. If no babies by day 35, the doe was probably not pregnant. (“Probably,” because on a rare occasion, the doe manages to hang onto her kits until after day 40. If you’re still seeing bunny-feet kicks and day 35 has come and gone, consider getting a vet’s opinion on whether the doe needs additional help, or whether you only need to be patient.)
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