Behavior of Pregnant Doe

[BunMama928]

I have a doe who we estimate to be about 29/30 days pregnant. According to the person I got her from she has had one previous litter so this is not her first and she even adopted in kits from another mama who abandoned them with her last litter.

I put a nest box in her enclosure. She’s jumped in and out of it a few times but otherwise seems uninterested. She has not started building a “nest” of her own yet, no hay mustache, no fur pulling. I understand some rabbits do not do any of this until hours before they kindle. This is my first litter (if she is indeed pregnant).

I guess I am just wondering what is everyone else’s experience. What day did your rabbits usually give birth, what time of day, what was their behavior like leading up to it. Did they display behavior that gave you a fair warning of when they may kindle or was it a surprise? I just want to make sure I am prepared in case something happens to mama or kits.

 

[Preitler]

Hm, Ruth normally is between day 31 and 33, Chantal between 33 and 35.

What is a sign for me that it can't be long anymore is that they partially lose interest in food, react different to treats etc. starting about 2 days before kindling. I rarely see them nesting, they really wait until it's time. This time (one week ago) Chantal pulled fur even 2 days after kindling - this is a really impressive nest now and a quite scruffy looking rabbit, I guess she's under some stress since there is the Ruth, one doeling from last year, and six 5 week old kits in the same hutch complex (3 hutches connected with tunnels)

Patience. Don't meddle too much. Give her heaps of hay, and let her do her thing. Keep checking every few hours, the most common thing to happen are kits outside the nest, just put them in the middle of the nest if it moves, if it's and doesn't move warm it up (either with body warmth, or a pot of body warm water, kit in plastic bag nad partially submerged, or hot towels etc...), no kit is dead until it' warm and still dead. I can still remove it from the nest the next day when one doesn't make it.