How Soon After Giving Birth Can a Rabbit Get Pregnant Again

Due to the large variations between rabbit breeds, size, and weight at adulthood, there are many variations between the times at which certain breeds are sexually mature. On average, smaller breeds reach sexual maturity faster than larger breeds.

A small breed rabbit female can get pregnant at 4-5 months, and a male rabbit is prepare to brood at 6 months. A medium-size female is ready to breed at 5-half-dozen months and a medium buck at vii months. A heavy breed doe is often set up at six-8 months, and a heavy buck reaches sexual maturity at nine months.

The gestation period (the time betwixt breeding and kindling) is on boilerplate 31 days. Once a rabbit doe has kindled, she is set to brood again after half dozen weeks. While selecting rabbits to breed, its advisable to choose a breed with ancestry that has evidence of good genetics and productivity.

At What Age Can Female Rabbits Breed?

Breed Size	Age Rabbits Attain Sexual Maturity
Miniature Breeds (e.chiliad. Netherland Dwarf, Shine Dwarf Hotot, Britannia Petite, Holland Lop)	125-150 days
Medium Breeds (due east.g. Florida White, Mini Lop, Dutch, Havana)	150 to 180 days
Big Breeds/ Commercial or Standard Breeds (eastward.1000. New Zealand, Champagne d' Silvery, Californian, Palomino)	6 to 7 months Depending on the breed, commercial breeds will sexually mature at 9-ten pounds of body weight
Behemothic Breeds (e.g. Giant Chinchilla, Flemish Giant, Checky Giant, French Lop)	8 months Giant breeds don't reach consummate physical development until this age

The boilerplate female becomes sexually mature at 3 to eight months of age, depending on her breed, size, and torso weight. She can excogitate at any time of the year for the entire duration of her life. However, egg and sperm production decline after 3 years of age, co-ordinate to Reproduction Toxicology.

During mating, the rabbit cadet volition mountain the rabbit doe from behind, insert himself into the female and perform rapid pelvic hip thrusts. This run across volition last just 20-40 seconds, subsequently which the buck will throw himself backward off the doe.

The gestation period in rabbits is short and ranges from 28 to 36 days (boilerplate 31 days). Longer gestation periods lead to smaller litters, whereas shorter gestation periods yield larger litters.

The size of a litter tin range from 4 to 12 rabbit kits. Female rabbits tin give birth to up to 60 rabbit kits per yr if living conditions are ideal. Following nativity, a female rabbit tin get pregnant equally early on as the next day.

Unfortunately, the mortality rates of rabbit embryos are high. This is often due to trauma, infection, ecology stress, and poor diet. Therefore, a high fertility rate is imperative to counter this.

Signs Your Rabbit is Pregnant

One time a rabbit reaches sexual maturity, it tin brainstorm to produce offspring. If an intact female and intact male were left together, and both were over 3.5 months in historic period, you will have to monitor the female for any signs of pregnancy.

Nodules In The Belly

Similar most mammals, a pregnant doe's belly will go bigger as her babies grow and develop inside her womb. Therefore, a growing belly is a visible sign of a rabbit being pregnant.

ten-12 days later on breeding, you may exist able to feel multiple marble-sized bumps inside your doe's tummy. These tiny bumps are the baby rabbits within your rabbit'southward belly, and they'll be big plenty for you to feel.

The bumps will continue to grow inside your rabbit for another 2 weeks or so, until its fourth dimension for your rabbit to give birth (near 1 month later convenance).

Behavioral Changes

Significant rabbits eat more than and are oftentimes more than irritable and moody. However, if your rabbit is usually reserved or unfriendly, it may be difficult to determine that she is pregnant based on her mood lone.

Nesting

The most noticeable sign will be your rabbit starting to prepare a nest. She may begin piling up bedding or digging into a corner of the cage.

A rabbit will normally pick up hay or other items that tin be carried in the mouth to make a comfy space for her to give birth. She may also push loose bedding together or push blankets.

What'due south most alarming to owners who haven't bred rabbits before is a nesting rabbit pulling out her own fur to line the nest. This is completely normal.

If your rabbit is nesting, look her to give nascency within one week. If she starts pulling her fur out, she'southward probably going to requite birth within the side by side 1 to 2 days.

Nearly rabbits give nativity at night, and then anticipate waking up to a litter of kits.

If your pregnant rabbit hasn't given birth afterward 35 days of breeding, contact your veterinarian equally shortly every bit possible. Your vet will either induce labor or accept the babies removed via surgery.

A pregnant rabbit may prove nesting behavior about a calendar week before she is gear up to requite nativity.

Rabbit Labor

A rabbit's gestation menses is more often than not between 28 to 36 days, with 31 days being the average.

When a rabbit gives nativity, it is called kindling. Kindling occurs at nighttime or in the early hours of the morning and takes around 15 minutes.

The process of giving birth is instinctive, so they rarely need homo help during the delivery.

In one case you've checked all the babies, leave your rabbit's nest alone for the start few days. Agonizing a female parent rabbit'south nest tin can stress her, which may stop her from feeding her offspring.

Rabbit Litters

Rabbit young are referred to as kits, and each litter tin can have 1-14 kits, with six beingness the average. Kits are built-in bullheaded, hairless, and deafened. ten days later, they will begin to develop properly.

The mother rabbit will nurse her kits one time every dark according to the Biology of Reproduction.

Nursing takes around 5 minutes but because of the high energetic value of the female parent's milk, every bit indicated past a written report published in Animal Reproduction Scientific discipline.

Rabbit kits are fully weaned when they're 4-half-dozen weeks onetime. Continue to keep your female rabbit split up from the males. A female rabbit tin go pregnant again just hours after giving birth.

Fake Rabbit Pregnancies

Although rare, some rabbits do experience fake pregnancies. A rabbit with a false pregnancy may show typical pregnancy behaviors, such equally nesting.

If you suspect your rabbit has a false pregnancy, take her to a vet. If y'all don't want your rabbits to get pregnant, information technology is highly recommended that you become your rabbits spayed or neutered.

Why You lot Shouldn't Breed Your Rabbits

Information technology's easy to forget that rabbits are a prey species when we get them equally companions. Like other prey animals, rabbits continue to produce offspring to keep their species alive and counter loftier predation in the wild.

However, in the case of domesticated animals, breeding may create the trouble of too many rabbits.

Rabbits differ from other mammals because female person rabbits ovulate after existence mounted by a male person — a process called induced ovulation. This is the simply time a rabbit doe produces an egg.

What this means is that one time a rabbit gives nativity, there's a high risk she will become pregnant once more if a male person is still present. A rabbit tin can get pregnant as early as a few hours later on giving birth.

Rabbit Breeding Problems

Pregnancy-related problems are far more than astringent when a rabbit is young while giving birth. Regardless of age, the post-obit are some mutual problems that may occur if a rabbit gets pregnant.

• Your rabbit may exist dislocated and may not build a nest for her babies, causing the newborn kits to dice of exposure.
• Your rabbit's milk may non grade or she may be unable to feed them.
• There's an increased risk of rabbit kit mortality, particularly if they are hand-fed by humans.
• If the father was a larger breed than the mother, the mother may have difficulty while delivering babies and die during labor.
• If the mother isn't salubrious, she may get sick due to the stress of conveying and giving birth to her babies.

If you do permit your rabbits brood, have a prepare plan for the 4-12 surviving offspring. You may determine to either observe caring and responsible homes for them or take care of them yourself.

If you do determine to keep them, understand that they will be your responsibility for the next eight to 10 years. You lot'll also have to spay and neuter each of them.

Any rabbit that is born either through planning or by error is taking a abode away from a rabbit in the shelter. Several rabbits die every year every bit a outcome of not finding homes.

Therefore, if you are looking to add more rabbits to your family unit, consider visiting your local shelter. Encounter if other rabbits desperately need homes.

Why Yous Should Spay Or Neuter Rabbits

Ideally, you should be spaying or neutering your rabbits. Female rabbits that have been spayed alive longer because you eliminate the adventure of mammary, ovarian, or uterine tumors.

Male person rabbits are far less aggressive, fight less with their hutch mates, are less territorial and more reliable one time they accept been neutered.

More chiefly, rabbits that have been neutered or spayed cannot produce unwanted litters. This helps control the number of homeless rabbits in shelters.

Rabbit Breeding Principles

Keep the following principles in mind if yous want to breed your rabbits:

• Breed rabbits of the same brood. You cannot sell pedigree rabbits with mixed claret in its background that goes back iv generations.
• Avert keeping rabbits in the same cage if they're 3 months or older. Rabbits mature faster, do not breed and practise non fight when alone, thereby eliminating unwanted results.
• Check the bottom of the muzzle for signs of loose stools or diarrhea. Never breed a rabbit with this condition until it has been treated fully.
• Check signs of disease/infection in the genitals of both rabbits. Look out for ruby flags such as severe redness, soreness, belch, or scabbiness.
• Accept the doe to the buck'southward cage. Doing it the other manner around will reduce the cadet'due south tendency to breed as he's too decorated sniffing around the doe's enclosure.
• If you decide to remove your doe after your rabbits take mated, place the doe back with the buck 1 to 12 hours subsequently breeding. This increases the likelihood of pregnancy and increases the number of offspring.
• Record the twenty-four hour period you breed your doe in a calendar and test her for pregnancy by the 10th to 14th day of the initial breeding.
• To exam your rabbit's pregnancy, palpate her lower belly with your thumb and forefinger. You should feel marble-sized bumps.
• Place a nest box adjacent to the mother rabbit's cage on the 29th 24-hour interval after breeding.
• Never brood closely related pairs, such every bit brother and sister, mother and son and begetter and girl.

Avoid checking your rabbit's pregnancy by mating her again. Not only is this method more inaccurate, but it's also risky for your rabbit and her offspring's lives.

Female rabbits have two uterine horns. Both horns tin can comport babies. When you breed your rabbit doe once, her get-go horn gets fertilized. Breeding her twice causes her 2nd horn to exist fertilized. This creates a hormonal imbalance.

Hormonal issues tin can bear on the development of the babies, causing the mother rabbit to pass blobs during her kindling. On some occasions, this may too reduce the mother'due south chances of survival.

schachtcied1946.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.rabbitcaretips.com/what-age-can-rabbits-get-pregnant/

Share this post