question that has always bothered me...

[SterlingSatin]

knowing RabbitTalk, it's been addressed somewhere, but,
lets say i bred a doe. i palpated her a couple weeks later and couldn't feel anything. i decided the breeding didn't take. but i was wrong, she was pregnant.
i put her back in with the buck, thinking she wasn't pregnant, and she let the buck mount her again and "do his thing" (i know its very unlikely she would let him, but i have heard of some does not putting up too much of a fight). is that going to hurt her? i've heard of dual horn pregnancies. what are the dangers of that? can she even carry two litters at the same time?

 

[ladysown]

some say yes, others say no.

I know that when I butchered a pregnant doe once (just bred one time) she had kits in both sides of her uterus. So I say NO. this whole dual horn thing/double pregnancy I think is hogwash. I've seen litters of kits born that have varied in size from the half-formed fetus, to the regular looking popples -- from does only bred the one time. I tend to think this is where the dual horn pregnancy idea comes from.

 

[MaggieJ]

I used to accept the idea of dual-horn pregnancies, but it has never happened in our colony, even though the buck is in with our does all the time. I'm not saying it is impossible... just that I've come to think it must be an extremely rare occurrence.

 

[3mina]

It doesn't make sense that only one horn at a time would be used. The entire uterus is readied all at once so it would be asking for trouble biologically to only use half at a time.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

I think it is *possible* but not certain. I rebred a doe once that I thought missed and she accepted the buck like normal. Two weeks later, she dropped a litter of 6 on the wire. No other kits appeared. BUT, I don't intentionally practice "test breeding" since I feel it IS possible, and palpating is usually pretty clear, at least for me. That being said, I palpated two last night that are easy breeders and did not really feel anything. When I put them in with the bucks, both fussed,ran, and clamped their butts to the cage. NOT normal for these two does...I took them out and will *assume* that they ARE bred....just in case.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

The fertilized eggs are free floating in the uterus until placentation (attachment to the uterine lining) occurs at 7 days. Usually both ovaries release eggs, but they float freely throughout the entire uterus before implantation, so an egg from the left horn could implant in the right horn, and vice versa.

This link describes the process of placentation:

http://placentation.ucsd.edu/rabbitfs.htm

This discusses the release of eggs from both ovaries and the interesting fact that if one ovary is damaged or removed, the other ovary will produce more eggs in response. See bottom of page 10 and into 11:

http://jeb.biologists.org/content/6/2/190.full.pdf

I am now of the opinion that "dual pregnancies" are highly unlikely unless the doe has two separate uteri. The hormonal changes in the uterus probably prevent release of eggs in response to copulation, and if not I would think that the condition of the uterus would be so far advanced compared to when implantation normally occurs that it would be impossible.

 

[Cindi Davis]

Im not good at palpating until right before kindling. I Think Im afraid of squishing the kits LOL

 

[garden lady]

I used to accept the idea of dual-horn pregnancies, but it has never happened in our colony, even though the buck is in with our does all the time. I'm not saying it is impossible... just that I've come to think it must be an extremely rare occurrence.

That is good news to me.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

Im not good at palpating until right before kindling. I Think Im afraid of squishing the kits LOL

You cannot really squish them, and you have to squeeze pretty hard to feel them at 10-14 days....keep at it, you will get better!