Day 33

[bigrockfarm]

Hello! I am new here.
I am wondering about my rex doe. She is on day 33 today. Please tell me she didn't build this beautiful nest for nothing?! She has not pulled any hair. She will be a year old in March and this will be her first litter. I tried breeding her last month, but she was not pregnant and made no attempt to build a nest.

 

[MuddyFarms]

Howdy, @bigrockfarm ! My Rex does have had the longest pregnancies out of the two breeds I have raised. Most of the time they have had first-time litters on day 32 around 12pm in the afternoon (multiple does did this!). When did she build her nest? Do you know if she gained any weight since you bred her?

 

[bigrockfarm]

Howdy, @bigrockfarm ! My Rex does have had the longest pregnancies out of the two breeds I have raised. Most of the time they have had first-time litters on day 32 around 12pm in the afternoon (multiple does did this!). When did she build her nest? Do you know if she gained any weight since you bred her?

The day before yesterday she packed all the hay in the nest box. Yesterday she made it into that perfect little nest. I didn't see her messing around with it too much today. No sign of hair pulling. Unfortunately I did not get a before weight on her.

 

[MuddyFarms]

Normally, I would say nest-building around 30 days would indicate a real pregnancy. You mentioned breeding her last month as well; there isn't any chance she could be not as far along as 33 days? It is still possible that she could kindle. I know there are quite a few threads on here about does kindling quite late. Usually waiting until around 36+ days before re-breeding is recommended because of that. I can see if I can find a few of those threads...

 

[MuddyFarms]

Okay! There are a ton of threads about does going late (I searched 'day 33'). You may need to look them up if you want to read them since there are too many to link (although I am sure you probably already have). Lots of them have does still kindling just fine. My does will sometimes build nice nests ahead of time and then pull fur only as they kindle.

 

[MuddyFarms]

Normally, I would say nest-building around 30 days would indicate a real pregnancy. You mentioned breeding her last month as well; there isn't any chance she could be not as far along as 33 days? It is still possible that she could kindle. I know there are quite a few threads on here about does kindling quite late. Usually waiting until around 36+ days before re-breeding is recommended because of that. I can see if I can find a few of those threads...

Sorry, I don't mean to question your rabbit records or anything! Just thinking through timing for if she was having a false-pregnancy/psuedo-pregnancy. Those are interesting to deal with, I've heard.

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

Sorry, I don't mean to question your rabbit records or anything! Just thinking through timing for if she was having a false-pregnancy/psuedo-pregnancy. Those are interesting to deal with, I've heard.

What's a pseudo pregnancy?

 

[bigrockfarm]

Sorry, I don't mean to question your rabbit records or anything! Just thinking through timing for if she was having a false-pregnancy/psuedo-pregnancy. Those are interesting to deal with, I've heard.

no worries! Yes, I am pretty sure of her dates. I went out to check this morning, still no changes. I will wait a little longer but I am starting to get bummed out about it.
I am new to rabbit breeding so I have a lot to learn.

 

[MuddyFarms]

What's a pseudo pregnancy?

Sorry, I misspelled that in my post! 'Pseudo' means 'false/fake'. So you can say pseudo-pregnancy or false-pregnancy. I sometimes use both so there is no misunderstanding.

 

[MuddyFarms]

no worries! Yes, I am pretty sure of her dates. I went out to check this morning, still no changes. I will wait a little longer but I am starting to get bummed out about it.
I am new to rabbit breeding so I have a lot to learn.

Goodness! Sorry about that! It is definitely disappointing when a doe fails to kindle. And she even made such a nice nest!

Giving her a few more days before rebreeding her is probably a good idea, as is keeping that nest in there just in case.

 

[MaggieJ]

no worries! Yes, I am pretty sure of her dates. I went out to check this morning, still no changes. I will wait a little longer but I am starting to get bummed out about it.
I am new to rabbit breeding so I have a lot to learn.

Keep that nest box in there! There is a very good chance your doe is pregnant but running late on kindling. This can happen with any species of mammal.

I don't know how many times I've heard the wailings of rabbit keepers who removed the box thinking the doe was not pregnant only to have her kindle on the wire and lose the kits to chilling.

 

[bigrockfarm]

I will keep it in there just to be on the safe side. I really hope we have some new bunnies soon! I will update here if there is any news.

 

[MuddyFarms]

I will keep it in there just to be on the safe side. I really hope we have some new bunnies soon! I will update here if there is any news.

Sounds good!

 

[bigrockfarm]

Prim hasn't touched her nest box in days. I decided to put her in with the buck and he fell off 4x within 5 min. So, I guess she wasnt pregnant. Hopefully she is now though!

 

[MuddyFarms]

Great!

 

[MaggieJ]

Prim hasn't touched her nest box in days. I decided to put her in with the buck and he fell off 4x within 5 min. So, I guess she wasnt pregnant. Hopefully she is now though!

All the same, leave the nest box for another couple of days. Sometimes with a doe who is late, the stimulation of breeding will cause her to go into labour. Chances are that she was not pregnant, but why take chances?

 

[bigrockfarm]

All the same, leave the nest box for another couple of days. Sometimes with a doe who is late, the stimulation of breeding will cause her to go into labour. Chances are that she was not pregnant, but why take chances?

For sure! I would feel so terrible if she had kits on the wire. Her nest box will be with her for few more days to be on the safe side.

 

[ladysown]

the positive you take from this.
1. she has good instincts.
2. hormones (the willingness to breed) drove her to build a nest. It's a nice way for her to say "I didn't take but I'm willing to try again".

 

[bigrockfarm]

Her litter mate sister is now on day 34 and has built a nice nest starting a week ago. Still waiting for kits!

 

[bigrockfarm]

I thought she was going to do what her sister did, but I came home to see 3 kits in a nice cozy fur nest. I checked her before I left, was gone about 2 hours. She got down to business quick!