False Pregnancy or Real ??

[Algie]

 Ok, here is the story: We got my female bun about a month ago from an environment in which she was definitely exposed to male bunnies of breeding age. (she is a rescue from my university campus with a feral domestic bun population. My bun is not feral domestic, she is a pet bunny who was recently dumped) I don’t know how long she was on the campus for, but definitely could have been impregnated.

However: when we took her to the vet two weeks ago, vet said there was no sign of pregnancy.

Today I found her basket lined with thick, full fur, and so I think she’s having a false pregnancy. She was recently moved into a room with our male bun, but the two are in seperate cages with no way to get to each other. 

-Is it possible their hormones interacting triggered a false pregnancy?

-Is it possible she could be pregnant and it was too early for the vet to tell?

-Should I provide her with a nesting box just in case?

 

ETA: both bunnies are scheduled to be fixed May 1st. Couldn’t get an appt any sooner due to holidays/etc. 

[Beka27]

I would just leave her alone at this point. Leave the nest where it’s at, possibly put in some additional soft bedding somewhere else in the cage if possible. Gestation for buns is 28-30 days approx… so if it were just under a month ago, it’s definitely possible she’s pregnant. Another member (Lisa43) adopted a bunny and upon examination by a vet there was no sign of pregnancy. A week or so later there were 6 babies.

Here are a few links to info about “Oops Litters” from the BB link page:

Pregnancy/Babies – Uh Oh, Surprise Litter?:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/surpriselitter.html
http://www.rabbit.org/care/babies.html
http://www.rabbit.org/care/newborn.html
http://www.mybunny.org/info/newborn.htm

I don’t really know a whole lot about false pregnancy. It can be triggered without a male present, so I don’t know if the buns being in the same room but not interacting would have anything to do with this. If it’s a false pregnancy, nothing will happen. In three days or so you could clean up the nest and fur.

[Lisa_43]

I also had a bunny that the vet told me was not pregnant, two weeks later she delivered 6 babies. Sounds like she is building a nest to give birth.

[MooBunnay]

Let us know how it goes – all my bunnies were already fixed when adopted so I have not experience a real or false pregnancy before, but it could be either one. Definitely read the articles that Beka mentioned so that you can be prepared if there is a litter.

BTW – thank you for saving that poor pet bunny! She wouldn’t have lasted long after being dumped.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

It’s almost impossible to tell if a bunny is pregnant-until they have babies. Even palpating done by a good vet can give a false negative. Generally false pregnancies occur within two weeks of mating that does not result in fertilization-from what I’ve read. So I think it’s safe to assume you have babies on the way, but it could be false.

Animals know what to do so I’d let her be. You can touch the babies once they are born without fear that she’ll reject them. I’d check the nest twice a day for babies, and twice a day afterwards incase one dies (that is always a possibility generally runts will die-but that doesn’t always happen either). If it’s possible the only thing I’d do is move the male out of the room-just so he doesn’t disturb her, and I’d give her as much quiet and peace as you can Keep us posted!

[Algie]

 Well, she hasn’t produced any babies since the original post. I’m hoping this means it was a false pregnancy since a lot of what I’ve read seems to indicate that nest-building comes right before birth, so i expect if she had babies in her, they would have popped out by now.

I’m still keeping an eye on her, checking her casa for little pink wigglies every morning/evening. 

i’ll let you know if anything happens. 

[Sarita]

Oh, that sounds good – keep us updated and let us know how the spay goes on May 1st as well.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Well that’s good then! I mean-babies are cute, but there are already a lot of rabbits out there! Keep us posted on the spay-that’ll settle her horomones down. After going through a false pregnancy I’ll bet she’ll be happy for that!

[Author]

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