Pregnant Bunny

[janethane]

Hi,

I just adopted 2 bunnies (sisters).  They were previously housed in a house with multiple rabbits. The previous owner didn’t want to have more bunnies so I took both. Should I leave the sisters together in their cage?  It is the cage the previous owner had and it is 4’x3′ and these bunnies have always lived in the cage together. Should adult rabbits be separated when they’re having babies? To make things a little more complicated, the owners said the other sister recently had babies, but they didn’t make it past 3 days.

Thank you for any suggestions!

[Wick & Fable]

I have a couple questions just to get some clarity on your situation:

1. Do you know how old the rabbits are?
2. Do you know if one or both are currently pregnant? I only see information that one was recently pregnant, but it sounds like you suspect one or both are now?
3. Do you have other accommodations available, aside from the cage provided, to give them space if there needs to be separation?

Also, please note that the discussion of intentional breeding is strictly prohibited on these forums.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[janethane]

The previous owner said they are a little more than 2 year old.  One is pregnant.  The other bunny (it’s sister) was pregnant last month before however the litter didn’t make it.  It is not pregnant now.  I am certainly willing to puchase another habitat, it that would be best. I just don’t know if separating the bunnies will make the soon-to-be mom more stressed, since they have always lived together. However, I’m not sure if it would be better to separate the mom now, or once the babies are born, or not at all.

[HipHopBunny]

Hello, and very welcome to BinkyBunny! 🙂

Separating them is unfortunately for the best. My ladies went through something similar, only, they were having false pregnancies. Silver was the first one, and oh, she was bad. She tore fur from the other buns as well as herself, so, as much as it pained me, I separated them. 😥 Smokey went next, and OB was fed up with it at that point, there were some little fights, so I had them all separated. 😥

Seeing my babies all so stressed out made me feel so distraught, and it sounds as though you are having that feeling as well. 🙁 I don’t have any advice for dealing with litters, or intentional breeding, which as Wick said is forbidden. I just wanted to share my story with the hopes that they can help. 🙂

Spaying is also a good thing to keep in mind too, for females can get uterine cancer at around the age of 3 years old. 🙁 I did not know any of this at the time of my girls either, but they are all now spayed, and the sweetest little buns you could ask for. 😀 (Well, Silver can be sassy at times… 😉 )

I wish you luck, answers, and easy thinking! 🙂

[jerseygirl]

Oh wow. Did the previous owner indicate that there was possibility of pregnancy when you took them on? It’s a lot for you to now deal with. I suppose I good thing to stop the cycle though?

I personally feel a bit torn on this… it would be safer all around to separate them but it’s sad too, if they’ve been companions for a few years. That said, I have seen how different a pregnant rabbit can be to it’s usual personality.

As HipHop mentions, the pregnancy hormones could lead to some aggression. And don’t be surprised if the other rabbit experiences a false pregnancy. Also, with her recovering from her own pregnancy, her hormones will be up & down and can impact her behaviour also.

Do you know if the sister had been around any intact bucks after birthing her kits? I would follow up with previous owner about this because it’s very possible for a doe to become pregnant again right after birthing a litter. If she is pregnant again or even experiencing false pregnancy, this could bring on some competition for resources resulting in attacking another’s kits or their own kits. This is seen in inappropriate intense breeding practices. There are of course occasions where a non-bred doe might be more “motherly” to kits then the actual mother but the risk of the opposite being true is not worth it.

I’ll add that it’s not typical for the mum to spend time with the kits other then for brief feeding times. As the kits get more mobile, you’ll want to give the mother space where she can get away from them so she is less stressed.

Have you had experience with mums & babies before or are you looking for more info on that also? There are some useful links on our Resource page.

Back to the original dilemma, if you do see a detrimental effect with either rabbit when separated, then I’d consider allowing some time together under supervision. Or it might meet their needs to have habitats set up side-by-side so they can sit by each other with barrier in between.  This would only be something I’d do if not seeing other behaviours previously mentioned. That’s just my approach…I’d be interested to hear others opinions if they think it could be problematic.

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