This is strange

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

Ok.. this is very strange to me... I weaned the babies from a doe .. the babies are 5 weeks old when I weaned them.. It has been 3 days since I have done that.... The problem I am finding it strange is the Mother... every time I put some food or a treat or what ever... she rubs her chin on it... I thought ok you want to breed... NOt going to happen.. .. that's fine.. today I put some hay in her cage like every morning I do this.. Then she goes over and started to do the hay mustache ... I am like What?? I didn't breed her again.. I only take her out of the cage to groom and clean her cage and back in.. Is this normal or is there a slight chance she is preg and give her box and see what happens..

 

[MaggieJ]

Is a buck housed in the next cage? I have heard of rabbits managing to breed through the cage wire... Don't ask me how they do it! It could also be a false pregnancy.

If there is any possibility at all that she is pregnant, I would give her a box. It can't hurt and it reduces the chance of kits being born on the wire.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

There is a buck next to her.. but , I use plywood sides so that don't happened...they cant see each other.. If she still does it tomorrow when I give her hay.. I am going to give her a box..

 

[akane]

You can give her a box but I'd lay bets on post pregnancy hormones going nuts. Rabbits have a strong "heat" (technically rabbits are induced ovulators and don't have heats but I don't know a better word for it) shortly after having kits. Some also get very hormonal around the time their kits are to wean. My creme d'argent doe would drive everyone nuts and tear down barriers to get to bucks after she weaned her kits. She kept condition aside from a slightly ragged looking coat so I just kept letting her breed constantly for 4 years until I decided to butcher her because her litter sizes had dropped dramatically and I needed to disperse most of my rabbits. She probably would have just kept breeding but with litters of 4 instead of 8.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

that sounds more like it... There is no way she had a buck service her... I don't want to breed her till next year. But I never seen a doe have hay mustache not been with a buck.. Here that is...

 

[Zass]

I've had two does I've purchased from separate breeders that I was assured it was 100% impossible for them to be pregnant.
In both cases I was suspicious and contacted the breeder a second time to ask, ARE YOU SURE SHE WASN'T BRED?

In one case I trusted the breeder and didn't provide a box, in another case I was away for a day and 8 hours too late in providing a nestbox. Both cases I lost the babies.

I've never had an unexpected pregnancy with my own girls, but I always give a box just-in-case if I see any suspicious behavior.

I've learned my lesson.

 

[michaels4gardens]

I have never seen this myself, and don't really believe it is possible-- but -I have had 2 fairly reliable breeders tell me that they had does have kits right after weening when the doe was not bred-- but-- I guess we will see what happens--

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

I cant see it either... I will see tomorrow morning if she still does the hay mustache