Pringles planning pregnancy???

[kralspace]

Yikes! I would like to know what you guys think of what’s happened today.

The lovely Pringles is my intact female (at least until thanksgiving when I can get her to Dallas). I have 2 neutered males, Daisy runs the front part of the house, Toby, my bedroom. The lovely hussy Pringles has been traveling back and forth between the two territories for months, with few problems, as long as I keep the males out of each other’s territories.

At 4 am this morning I heard a ruckus, got up and it looked like Pringles had gotten stuck trying to crawl under my desk so I pulled her out and gave her and Toby a bit of hay to keep them quiet. Same thing at 6 am,  but she had managed to get all the way under so I let her be. After getting up I was sitting on the floor rewiring a swtich and my tools kept disappearing from beside me. I was down to one screwdriver and Pringles bounded into my lap and snatched it  away and took off. She ran under the desk and used her front feet to shove it under. She then returned to snatch the instructitons page I was trying to read.

In the course of an hour she had managed to pack that small space with crumpled paper from the trash can, 3 screwdrivers, a lot of her own fur, lots of carpet threads, my hairbrush, a dishtowel, a small blanket out of the cat’s bed, a magic marker, hay from the litter box (which left an easy trail to follow) AND my floorlength housecoat. This thing is long, very loud colored and she pushed and shoved it in there so it forms a wall around her enclosure. She was working very hard on dragging my quite sizable tennis shoe over there too when I realized what was going on. Right now she’s pulling on the throw I’ve got on my lap. She has sheetrock plaster on her head from when she tried to grab the small trowel I was using.

Now, I would assume I just had an insane, obsessive packrat on my hands except she has been harrassing the boys all day. Getting them all wound up, circling and squawking till they just have to mount her and actually get seriously down to business. This went all most of the day, I’d separate her from Daisy and she’d run for Toby, til the guys wanted nothing more than a nap ( or perhaps a cigarette). That behaviour has settled down, now Pringles is eating everything is sight! I mean like she’s eating for a pack of babies.  This has got to be a false pregnancy, right?

I had read that rabbits didn’t come into heat until they had been bred. Pringles seemed to have decided to build the nursery and then went shopping for a father. It’s quiet right now and I don’t know how long it will last. Her cave is a very tight fit, if she keeps eating like she is, she won’t fit by tomorrow. Is this normal  for a growing girl??

[wendyzski]

Poor baby – sounds like a false pregnancy to me (The boys are neutered, right?).  Could be their pheremones set her off. She must be frantic because her hormones are telling her to get ready for the kits she’s gonna have RIGHT NOW OMG!

You ARE gonna get her spayed, right?

[kralspace]

Yes, the boys are neutered, and she’s scheduled to be spayed over the Thanksgiving hoildays. The closest vet is Dallas, 2 hours away and I need to be able to take off 2 days from work to take and pick her up.

It’s just so crazy, this morning’s everythings normal again. I can understand the nest building, but why the heck does she need screwdrivers and a flyswatter?

[Thumpers_Mom]

Sorry, I don’t have anything to say other that that is HILARIOUS!!! 

[Sarita]

Wow, it does sound like she’s building a house! It certainly sounds like a false pregnancy and hormones. I’m not certain about going into heat – I’ve heard that rabbits don’t actually go into heat like dogs and cats though.

[Scarlet_Rose]

Oh my goodness kralspace, you had me laughing. I would say a false pregnancy, I will assume that the boys had the snip snip a long while ago and no viable wrigglies are possible. As for the screwdrivers, maybe to put together a crib and the flyswatter to keep unwanted hands out!   My land that is one determined bunny.

[(dig)x(me)x(now)]

Ha, I have to second what Thumpers Mom said! Those are some silly objects that she collected!

[BinkyBunny]

I have heard of bunnies that hide things before. SO either she is going through a false pregnancy or she is part pack rat. You will know as time goes on. If it’s a false pregnancy, it shouldn’t last more than three weeks. IF this is a life long habit forming, you may have to just always look in her special hiding place to find your stuff.

[kralspace]

I hope it’s a phase she’s going through, had she gotten pregnant way back when Toby was nuetered and they broke down the gate at 3.5 weeks after, she would have had them a couple of weeks ago. And if she was really about to give birth, why on earth would she be insisting on mating with the guys? She’s a funny girl all round.

Which is nicer than what I was calling her after pulling Toby off of her for the umpteenth time that day.

[hockeygurly17]

Rabbits don’t actually “come into heat”. They can be bred at any time. They release eggs when they are stimulated by being bred. As long as the bucks are neutered then there shouldn’t be any possibility that she’s pregnant…

[hockeygurly17]

Also, she would have pretty much had them at the time you expected. If it’s about two weeks after you MIGHT have expected them, then that’s way too late. How old is she? Because they usually start to want to breed at about 6 months.

[MooBunnay]

That is so funny! She must be a really strong bunny too

[Gravehearted]

from the franticness of her actions and the fact that it started so suddenly, it sounds like a false pregnancy to me. Glad she’ll be getting spayed next month.

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