My rabbit is past her due date

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djbella779

Via’s Bunnies
Joined
Dec 12, 2022
Messages
16
Reaction score
3
Location
London Ontario
I was away for 2 weeks while my mother way taking care of my rabbits, I have 2 females (a mother and her year old daughter) and a male (the father of the daughter). My mother made a mistake changing their set ups allowing the male to escape and break into the girls area. She found him after 2 minutes and moved him back. This happened Saturday November 5th. I’m the 29th day of gestation (dec 4th) I saw obvious baby bunny movements in both females tummy’s. The mother (older female) has been pregnant twice before and gave birth both times on time, although she never nested / pulled her fur until 15 minutes before going into labour both times. So I don’t see fur pulled until babies are actually born. Today is the 37th day of their gestation (dec 12th). The baby bunnies are still moving in their stomach showing obvious signs of life, but neither females have pulled their fur to nest or gone into labour and given birth yet, which wouldn’t be unusual for the older female, but given it’s the younger ones first time I’m not sure of her breeding habits. I’ve done research on how to help induce labour. Two days ago I gave both females raspberry leaf tea (which they drank and liked) along with fresh parsley. Still no signs of nesting or labour. I’ve seen studies on rabbits taking up to 40 days to give birth but that’s only 3 days away and I’m getting a little worried. Is their anyone who has had a similar situation or has insights on what may be happening and what I should do?

The older female Mimzy is a polish rabbit 2 years old
Her daughter Ponyo is a polish mini Rex mix, who turned 1 year on nov 4th ( a day before the impregnating)
Finally the male Keanu, also 2 years a mini rex
 
Hi @djbella779 ! My first question for you would be about the belly movements. Is it smooth, rolling movements across the belly area or quick, random jerks more like a bunny kicking in there?
 
MuddyFarms said:
Hi @djbella779 ! My first question for you would be about the belly movements. Is it smooth, rolling movements across the belly area or quick, random jerks more like a bunny kicking in there?
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Smooth rolling movements ig would be the best way to describe it. Mimzy (the mother) has a lot more constant obvious movement in multiple areas, I’ll see if I can upload a video. Ponyo on the other hand (the daughter) has small more light smooth rolling movements. In both rabbits it looks like an area or the fur is rising in spots and moving around if that makes sense.
 
djbella779 said:
Smooth rolling movements ig would be the best way to describe it. Mimzy (the mother) has a lot more constant obvious movement in multiple areas, I’ll see if I can upload a video. Ponyo on the other hand (the daughter) has small more light smooth rolling movements. In both rabbits it looks like an area or the fur is rising in spots and moving around if that makes sense.
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Right. So that looks more like rolling gut movements, rather than bunny kicks or bunnies moving around. That’s the way their gut functions, by creating those rolling movements. I think there are some other threads on RT that explain this a bit more, as well.
 
MuddyFarms said:
Right. So that looks more like rolling gut movements, rather than bunny kicks or bunnies moving around. That’s the way their gut functions, by creating those rolling movements. I think there are some other threads on RT that explain this a bit more, as well.
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Rolling gut movements? Like their not pregnant ?
 
MuddyFarms said:
Yes- those were helpful
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Awesome thank you. So even for the brown one that doesn’t look like baby movement to you? Do their guts naturally move that much? I’ve watched YouTube videos before and the movement for mimzy looks identical. I may be wrong tho but I did feel movement even when putting my hand on her stomach I felt something pushing up at me temporarily like a kick
 
It is still possible that they could be pregnant, but those movements don’t look like kits so much to me. I would still leave nest boxes with them for a few more days to be safe.
 
Yes !! The top left. There’s more kick like movements now in mimzy than there was there. I’m still not 100% sure about ponyo her movements aren’t as kick like, but she still has a nesting box just Incase
 
djbella779 said:
Thank you for all your help!
Click to expand...
Sure!

djbella779 said:
Yes !! The top left. There’s more kick like movements now in mimzy than there was there. I’m still not 100% sure about ponyo her movements aren’t as kick like, but she still has a nesting box just Incase
Click to expand...

I do see that little jerk there…not sure if it’s still part of the gut moving around? But that’s great that you’ve got the boxes still for them in case. From what I have read and learned from experience, if they are not acting distressed or seem to be in prolonged labor, it’s probably best to just keep and eye on them and see if they kindle. It’s pretty unlikely that they will kindle at this late point, especially since the older doe has kindled before on time.
 
My veterinarian will only give oxytocin to help a doe expel kits after taking x-rays to confirm that there are kits to be expelled. This was when one of my does took 5 or 6 days to deliver her kits.

So X-rays are an option some people will take, but probably only if they are showing signs of distress or are in very prolonged labor…
 

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