Doe 34 Days Pregnant, No baby buns, no nesting...

[MommasLops]

So my rabbit Lady is for sure pregnant, still can feel them moving around in her tum. She has her nest box in the cage, she wont build her nest and we are now at day 34 in her pregnancy.
We have had many litters with our other rabbits but, this is Lady's first and never had a rabbit go PAST 31 days! :shock:
She is eating and drinking just fine, still active. Yet she does lay on her side more then usual.
My question is, how far along is cause for concern?
Thanks for any suggestions and replies.

**********Update 4/24/14************
Lady is now day 40!!!! If I cup my hand under her belly I can still feel kits, still no kindling yet :? But, yesterday she started getting cage aggressive big time. If still no kits by Monday, she's going to the vet.... my only problem is finding one, vets in my area wont touch rabbits sadly. Thanks for everyones advice so far, I've tried it all once a day she gets organic raspberry tea (cold), tums, and parsley.

 

[skysthelimit]

Longest I've gone is 36, Miss M 40 (41). But I'd still do some things... Start feeding lavender or parsley. Breed back is she is willing. Give extra calcium. Those are some good ways to jump start labor.

 

[ilovehome]

I had one elop go to day 34, but most of them go on day 32 or 33.

 

[MommasLops]

Thank you for all the suggestions, i'll get on trying them now and hope for the best. Thankfully she isn't in any distress and the babies are still kicking and moving in her belly as normal. Glad to know that others have had does go longer then 31 without troubles.

Anxiously waiting!!

 

[MaggieJ]

It's hard not to be concerned when a doe goes into "overtime" but it is really fairly common. Calcium can be provided by giving her one or two tablets of TUMS. (If you use another brand, be sure it is a calcium-based.) Berry or fruit flavours seem to be most acceptable to the rabbits.

And always, whether you can see movement or not, leave that nestbox in the cage. So often one hears of kits being born on the wire a day or two after the owner had given up on the doe. And that is heartbreaking.

 

[MommasLops]

I for sure will leave the nestbox in with her. It is really hard to not be worried about it, I have been breeding rabbits for a few years now and all my does went on day 30-31 or a day late. But never this far along and still no nesting. I gave her some Tums and Italian Parsley so hopefully that will get things going for her.

 

[Helene190]

I'm having the exact same issue right now with my Elop does. One is at 34 days and the other is at 33 today and they seem larger than usual but haven't kindled. They both built nests and pulled hair. I just gave them some calcium tablets. Hopefully soon we will both have babies!

 

[MommasLops]

Good luck, hopefully baby buns come soon! My doe hasn't nested at all yet! After years of breeding I have NEVER had this happen. Babies are rolling around in her belly and she had some Tums as well as Italian parsley, as well as let her run around for a few hours in the rabbit run...... fingers crossed hopefully by morning we have some kind of action going on, at the very least her nest built.

 

[skysthelimit]

this is pretty much a normal occurrence for me. its a pleasant surprise when a doe kindles on 31 because everybody here goes 32 to 35.

 

[bunnyshaw]

Wow I'm having the sane problem! It's my mini lop's first litter and she's now on day 34. She built a nest in the early hours of yesterday morning and pulled a little fur but has done nothing since. She has also changed the area that she goes to the toilet so that its well away from the nest. She looks bigger, is eating and drinking well but I don't know how to check if the kits are even still alive in there, hope they're all going to be ok. Any news on anyone else's yet? X

 

[MommasLops]

If she's building her nest they should arrive soon! On my end, still nothing. Still giving her Tums, and parsley on top of her regular diet. she has a fairly large cage we made for her (she's our most spoiled rabbit and lives in the house) but just in case we took her to the rabbit run for extra exercise to see if it would help. I'm not quite sure what else to do but just wait it out. The more I have researched I've found its fairly often does going much longer then 31 days and seems the average is around 33-35 especially the larger breeds. But like I posted earlier.... I've been breeding rabbits for a few years now and all my does kindled between 29-32 days. I can feel plenty of movement and questioned it might be gas but felt a kit push my hand as it rolled. So i'm pretty positive its NOT gas.
I'm coming to the possibility of somehow maybe I marked the calendar wrong for once lol but even still it cant be far off with the movements and size I feel.... i'm going to wait at least two weeks after her due date before removing her next box and trying again I rather be safe then sorry.
Sounds like your doe is soon to kindle, love to see pictures after she does! Good luck

 

[bunnyshaw]

Ahh thank you for your reassurance! I had read a lot online about kits being still born if they go beyond 33 days so I was quite worried but this afternoon I've seen them kicking around! They're all of a sudden very active in there!
I really hope you get some luck with yours soon! I will send photos if all is well with ours. Poppy is a very pretty fawn mini lop and the dad is a blue butterfly mini lop so hoping for some pretty colours!
Best of luck! X

-- Sat Apr 19, 2014 8:28 am --

Hi! It's now the morning of day 35 and still nothing! I can see them kicking and thrashing in her tummy though! She seems quite happy in herself still, eating and drinking well. She just looks like she's about to burst and I'm worried they're going to get too big for her to pass? The buck she was mated with is much smaller than her so hopefully she'll be ok? Any advice just in case she has trouble? Xx

 

[Comet007]

If you have any of these available to you, you could look into:

Raspberry Leaf - eases labor & supports lactation, also prevention of kindling problems like retained afterbirth and improves condition, helping with speedy and strong expulsion (might only get this benefit if given daily for the last several days of pregnancy?)

Lavender (as mentioned previously) helps with expulsion, and is pain relieving and a mild tranquilizer (the flowers)

Fenugreek - seeds can stimulate delayed labor

Blue Cohosh - dilates the birth canal, can induce labor and help with healing once the kits are born

 

[skysthelimit]

If you have any of these available to you, you could look into:

Raspberry Leaf - eases labor & supports lactation, also prevention of kindling problems like retained afterbirth and improves condition, helping with speedy and strong expulsion (might only get this benefit if given daily for the last several days of pregnancy?)

All the more reason for me to grow raspberries this year. There's something here about making raspberry tea an putting it in the drinking water.

 

[Sagebrush]

Dang, makes me wish that I had come across the lavender with Cutie. Her kits where large. She also went till day 37 before having them.

 

[Comet007]

Mmmmm, the thought of raspberry tea makes me wish that we were expanding our fruit orchard this year! Next year...

For myself and my rabbits, I have a mixture of all four herbs that I mentioned, and am planning to give one shy tablespoon of the dried mix per day if my does go past due.

I do wonder, though, about does that go past their due dates. How long is the sperm viable? I have read that the doe can keep it viable inside her for up to 14 days, but have no idea if that's true or not. It makes me think, if a doe delivers a healthy litter 7 or whatever days past due, maybe she held the sperm for several days (or more) and the eggs got fertilized several days after being bred? But then I've also read that it's viable for up to 14 hours, which gives the eggs a chance to drop, hence you could just let them breed once, then the doe has up to those 14 hours to drop the eggs, having been induced by being bred. Any thoughts on this from those in the know?

 

[skysthelimit]

I've read sperm is viable up to 72 hours, which is why I only breed once. doe usually ovulates 8 to 10 hrs after copulation.
My theory is 31 days is just an average, not an exact number. Animals are not alarm clocks. Animals and people go before and over due dates, most with no ill effects. Rarely do I get a doe that is 31, more like 33-35.

 

[Comet007]

My daughter was due on November 27th and was born on December 23rd - and even then, I had to have my labor induced. Tell me about going over a due date - and I knew for a fact the date of conception!

 

[bunnyshaw]

Ahh thank you. She has had her daily treat of dandelions and I've given her some lavender now. Unfortunately I don't have any raspberry leaf and not sure where I can get the other things that have been recommended.my doe still seems quite happy in herself though and kits are still kicking so fingers crossed she'll have them any time now! Xxx <br /><br /> -- Mon Apr 21, 2014 8:42 am -- <br /><br /> Just thought I'd update. Its now the morning of day 37 and my mini lop (who is usually very mini) still hasn't kindled! Babies are still kicking and moving around in her tummy. Poppy is still fine in herself just rather big! Do we think it might be a big litter? Xx

 

[user 10847]

Try going to a natural grocery store and buy sone raspberry tea. Make it rather strong and cool it in the fridge Give it to her for her water.