Possibly pregnant and she’s too young! :(

[foreverfluffle]

My sister and I each have a rabbit – my bunny Aurora is a fawn and blue mini lop girl, and my sister has “Annuska” a black half-wild “girl”. 

Aurora was born this leap year, 29th February 2016, so she’s about 3 months. And “Annuska” is about 5-6 months.  

We have been getting the “girls” to bond, and they were getting on really well on their play dates, except occasionally Annuska would try to jump on Rory which I stopped right away.

This weekend I was away from home; and when I came back today the story came out that my sister had got Aurora and “Annuska” together. And apparently she saw “Annuska” actually mate her  Annuska’s new name is Charlie, or Charlie Noonoo.

I’ve heard it is possible for three month old rabbits to get pregnant, and I’m really worried that she might be. I don’t want my baby to die, or any other babies to die. I’ve heard you should be able to tell if they are pregnant or not two weeks after mating. I will have to wait, and hopefully she will be alright.

If it turns out that she is pregnant; I would really appreciate advice on how I can help her and babies get through the ordeal alive.

[BinkyBunny]

It is not usual for “mounting” to happen even from the same sex. As it is a behavioral action during bonding — nothing to do with actual mating.    Have you checked Annuska for male parts? Sometimes males can bring their male bits back up into their body and so it’s not always obvious but you may be able to see the testicles. For now this is my advice — Keep them separated, of course, and take them to a rabbit-savvy vet to get properly gender identified, and If Annuska really is a Charlie, you can discuss with the vet your concerns and options for Aurora, if she is indeed pregnant. 

Here is a great Vet list:

http://rabbit.org/vet-listings/
or
http://www.bunspace.com/vets/search 

Keep us updated!!

[lunavenus]

From what I read, female-female rabbits can hump each other, male-male rabbits can hump each other, and female-male rabbits will hump each other. It’s not odd that one humps the other despite the gender because this is how they determine which bun will be the dominant bunny and which will be the submissive one like a hierarchy. Honestly, in some bunny relationships, the female bunny humps the male bunny and becomes the dominant so can’t really put human logic (assuming the stronger bigger bun will become the dominant) into bunny behavior sometimes haha. The dominant gets most of the grooming done on him/her by the submissive rabbit sooo they may just have humped each other because they were trying to figure out who is going to be the top bunny between the two.

Regardless, if you aren’t sure if one is really a female or male then you should get both your bun and your sister’s bun checked out. It can turn out that yours or your sister’s OR BOTH turns out to be a male because a lot of people say its really hard to determine a rabbit’s gender when they are young. I got my two bunnies gender checked 4 times by 4 different people to make sure both are females.

I also don’t think (not too sure) a young bunny getting pregnant will die….. Unless there’s some major health complications. But, it’s probably still unhealthy to get pregnant at such a young age. 

[Bam]

Breeders breed does very young, so I wouldn’t worry a lot about that. 3 months seems a bit to early for a girl to be able to become pregnant.
My buns are both male and neutered, but during bonding efforts they humped each other so much I had to X-rate the video I took of them.

[Azerane]

Agree with the others, keep them separated and make sure you double check the boy to make sure he is a boy. On the chance your girl is pregnant, you will want to keep note of what day it happened, and mark out 31 days on a calendar (normal rabbit gestation). A nest box should be provided I think around day 28 or 29 as a precaution.

[Gina.Jenny]

Humping can’t be used as a reliable way of sexing a bunny, or guinea pig either. I just had to separate my two boy piggies as one kept constantly mounting the other.

[LBJ10]

I agree with the others. No reason to panic yet. I think taking them to a vet to have them properly sexed is a good idea. Like the others said, it can be very difficult to tell gender when they are very young. A breeder may have tried to separate them by gender when they were old enough to be weaned, but mistakes happen more often than you think. By now, it should be fairly easy for a vet to determine their gender.

[foreverfluffle]

Thanks peoples I’m much more relaxed now… Seeing there is a big chance she isn’t actually pregnant. I’ve been researching about pregnancy in rabbits though, just in case, and also it’s quite interesting
I questioned my sister about whether it was just the h/jumping behaviour that made her think him a boy, she says after she stopped him from mating she flipped him over, and “there it was!”. I’ve heard they can pull it inside; so that’s why the person we got him from thought he was a girl.
If she IS pregnant, I’ll update for help!!

[Bam]

They are really difficult to sex, they can pull all of it in, even the testicles. But since your sister has seen it, it’s there. Annuska is a boy =)

Please keep us updated!

[foreverfluffle]

Hmm… I’ve been reading that pregnant does need more food than usual. I’m wondering whether it would be harmful to keep Aurora’s food amounts the same as usual, or should I increase slightly? Because I can’t be certain if she is pregnant, I don’t want to be feeding her double and then find she wasn’t pregnant. She is a comfortably chubby weight, and I’ve been told she was the largest of the litter but I’m worried at the risk of her getting overweight if I fed her more.
Would possible babies be alright if I didn’t double their mama’s food? Would she be alright?
Thank you

[Author]

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