How to care for a pregnant rabbit

Rabbits are productive breeders. Both males and female rabbits who haven’t been neutered can start to reproduce at ages as young as 4 to 6 months.

Rabbit litters range between sizes from 2 up to 12 baby rabbits, called kits. The smaller breeds are inclined to have smaller litters and the larger breeds will frequently have more kits per litter. Your rabbits can get pregnant all over as soon as they are done nursing, so you may likely end up with more rabbits than you expect.

About Rabbit Pregnancy

The female rabbit is called a doe. It reaches sexual maturity when it is 6 months of age but some even develop faster and can get pregnant when they are 4 months old.

Larger and giant breeds on the other hand can reach sexual maturity when they are 12 months or more.

How rabbits breed

The female rabbit let the male rabbit know she is interested in breeding by lowering and flattening her back (this is called lordosis) then raising the pelvis, and showing the male her vulva area. The females may start acting more hyper and will tense when touched in preparation for being mounted. The vulva will often become very big and may develop a purple coloration.

Some factors like temperature and daylight cycle of a place can sometimes affect your rabbit's reproduction and make it get pregnant in the spring. However, this is not always the case when rabbits are rared indoors where owners control temperature and lights.

The regular gestational period when rabbits get pregnant is typically 30-32 days. Rabbits tend to resorb fetuses if needed and this typically occurs at 11-21 days post-conception.

What to feed your rabbit during pregnancy

Your doe should have access to good nutrition before, during, and after its pregnancy. You can keep offering them timothy hay and start adding alfalfa hay and pellets to their diet.

You should limit your rabbit's intake of fats and carbohydrates as these would lead to obesity and affect the gastrointestinal (GI) bacteria.

Birthing and Pre-Parturition

Your female rabbit may begin building a nest a few days after or even the day she is going to give birth. The nest would be typically made from hay, straw, and fur. Your doe will always pull fur from her belly, sides, and dewlap to use in the nest. You may notice that your doe's fur gets loose or pulls out easier up to 5 days before she gives birth. Make sure you provide a quiet area and ideally a covered box for your doe to make her nest in.

Many rabbits usually give birth in the early morning hours. The actual birth takes about 30 minutes in total. After birth, the doe will clean the kits, eat the placenta, and sever the umbilical cord on her own in most cases. The doe may continue to ingest the afterbirth material for up to 5 days post parturition.

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Nursing your rabbit

You need to nurse your Female rabbits once daily, usually overnight, and the nursing period should last for about 5 minutes in total. Female rabbits have 4 mammary glands but may have more nipples to feed all their kits. The kits can drink up to 20% of their body weight every time they feed.

Kits bury themselves deep in the nest after feeding and you may not get to see the kits much at all originally. Your baby rabbit will begin eating the nesting when it is about one week of age and will have eaten the majority of it by two weeks of age. By their third week and the kits will be out exploring more and starting to eat more hay.

Generally, to help your rabbits live well, you need to help them exercise. You can get Tunnels & Wheels to help with this.