# Confused rabbit - false pregnancy?



## Yuriy (May 8, 2017)

I am new to breading rabbits (and this forum) and need advice. One of my does (a meat mutt with some giant breed mix) failed to birth a litter after being bred. This is her first breeding at about 1 y.o. She seemed to be "acting pregnant" (gained weight, flopped on her side when resting, made a nest). I did not palpate as I was not sure what to look for. She made an awesome nest with a TON of fur which she started pulling about day 26.Then day 35 came and went and no litter.

So yesterday we rebred her on what would have been day 36. No problems breeding, did not fight or run, just laid down and let the buck do his thing.

The problem: This morning she is at it again trying to build a nest, pulling fur and all.  Any ideas what is going on with her? Do you think this was a false pregnancy or did she reabsorb the litter for some reason? Could the proximity of another doe and her litter in the next hutch be causing her to keep nesting?

I welcome any ideas or suggestions, if she keeps up with the fur pulling I will have a hairless rabbit.


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## Marie28 (May 8, 2017)

It could be a lot of things. If she is pregnant at 37 days you should be able to tell just by looking at her belly when she lays on her side. She could just be hormonal. When you bred her did the buck fall off multiple time? I know that for most breeds you should breed before one year, breeding after a year has a very high chance of not producing a litter. I think the only thing to do is let her be. Try putting her in with your buck again today and see what happens in about 30 days.


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## mygoldendoe (May 14, 2017)

Hi,
Her behavior sounds like could be false pregnancy and hormonal. But prepare yourself bc she may be a dud. I had a doe who just would not get pregnant but went through all the stages of acting pregnant. We tried seperate males each time. We bred her along side another female we bred with the same male, he got the other pregnant but she never got pregnant. Every time. It was a shame. She had great personality I would have loved to pass on.
Sometimes you get a dud.
How is her weight? Sometimes they get too fat to get pregnant? What's your feed routine? If you give pellets is it medicated?
Edited to add that some rabbits have been known to go close to 40days. But surely u would see very belly thats noticable babies close to 25days


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