Rabbit Problem... Please help.

Kimbot

Folks I got Bugsy nearly a year ago, he seemed to be getting bored during the day so today we got a female friend for him. Neither are spayed yet but Bugsy will not leave her alone. He is constantly getting up on her and he is grunting going mad all the time unless they are together.

What can I do to calm him down so we can see if they can get on or not?

cos!!

get them spayed and neutered?

Kimbot

I will be getting that done but what can I do to get them throught the night.

He is grunting and slightly aggressive when they are apart. When they are together he is trying to get up on her and she is grunting at him!!

cos!!

oh right i see sorry didnt read it right the first time!your just going to have to seperate them i supose?and you could probably end up with babies already?i dont know to much about rabbits just know if you plan on keeping them together they'll need to be neutered!

Kimbot

cos!! wrote: »

oh right i see sorry didnt read it right the first time!your just going to have to seperate them i supose?and you could probably end up with babies already?i dont know to much about rabbits just know if you plan on keeping them together they'll need to be neutered!

I could seperate them but only have 1 litter tray etc at the moment so looks like I will have to sort something quick for the new bunny. Its gas tho, when he is not around she is just cute and laid out.

Maggie.23

I would keep them seperate tonight - they could end up getting into a terrible fight - and give them both plenty of individual attention and distractions (for the male especially), like a cardboard box to tear up.

00112984

A male and a female together is never ideal unless you want to establish them as a breeding pair. Even at this stage, bring the female to the vet when you're getting her vaccinated (you are getting her vaccinated, aren't you?) and check as she could very possibly be pregnant already.

All you can do is keep them apart, get an appointment to get him spayed ASAP, keep them apart while he's recovering and then get her done once he's on the mend. Clean out the hutch/cage completely once both are fully recovered and ready to be put back in together to eliminate territorial scents. It'll take patience to let them hop around a common area and get used to seeing and smelling eachother. Once they're happy to interact, they should be fine to go into the hutch together but try leaving something like a box on its side in the corner in case either needs to get away for a few minutes. They'll have a few little tiffs but should calm down fairly quickly. You'll see that one (most likely the male) is the dominant one so give them separate food dishes and give him his food first. Separate water bottles at opposite sides of the cages will also help as they won't be clashing over access to water and food.

animalcrazy

I can almost guarntee you that she is pregnant now, rabbits don't have a heat cycle and can get pregnant at any time, you now have alot of preparation ahead of you, it only takes 31 days for a female rabbit to give birth.

First step is to decide whether you want her to have babies of not, if not, then bring her down to the vet and get her spayed ASAP. If you do want her to have them, then it's time to start getting ready.

First, you need to buy a new cage for the female rabbit, you can't leave her to have the babies in with the male, because she will kill and eat the babies due to stress, and it's not nice to find bits of babies all over the cage.

At 28 days, you need to give her a box to have her kits in, a large shoebox will do, it needs to be big enough for her to be able to turn around fully. Put loads of hay in the box and leave it in her cage.

Sometimes straight away the mother will start to pull out her fur and use to make a nest in the box for her babies, she will rearrange the hay and fur to the way she wants it, and you should leave it that way. Some mothers don't pull fur until right before the babies are born or right after.

Around day 31 she should have the babies, it is usually during the early hours of the morning, if you walk in on momma giving birth don't stay there, leave her alone, she could get very stressed if you are there.

A couple of hours after they are born have a quick peek in the nest and take out any dead babies or uneaten after birth. Make sure to cover the babies back up.

24 hours later, check each baby one by one, check their bellies, if their bellies are nice and round then the mother is feeding them, if their bellies are sunken and wrinkly then she isn't feeding them, consult your vet.

You will probably never see the mother rabbit with her babies, they totally ignore them till feeding time, then they just stand over them and feed them then hop out again. You will probably never see her feeding them.

Check the babies every 24 hours to make sure they are developing, remove the dead ones through the process.

00112984

Very interesting post there, Animalcrazy. Out of sheer curiosity, roughly how many kits will there be in a litter?

animalcrazy

00112984 wrote: »

Very interesting post there, Animalcrazy. Out of sheer curiosity, roughly how many kits will there be in a litter?

It depends on the size of the breed, small, large or medium.

A small breed rabbit will half approx. 2-8 babies, but it can go over that or under that and the larger breeds will have even more then that.

It's sort of like in dogs, terriers have less puppies then bigger dogs.

I also forgot to add that when the babies are six weeks old they need to be weaned off the doe, which means you need to buy another cage, where they will stay until they are eight weeks old and then can be rehomed.