Heres one for the books. I have a dwarf rabbit that was bred with my jersey wooley...neither very big rabbits, a month later my dwarf went into labor. She originally had 2 quite large babies that were dead, and then a tiny living black one. The black one we still have.
We instantly seperated her from the male and they have not been together since...he is alone... Now, yesterday, I noticed her pulling all of the fur out of her 3 week old babies body and lining the cage, so I took the baby out for its safety. This morning there were 3 more very large dead babies in the cage. How could she have carried these babies for 3 extra weeks without dying of toxins? Now this is a small rabbit with large babies. Is this common?
2006-09-07 18:39:46 · 5 answers · asked by bunnylatte 2 in Pets ➔ Other - Pets
Two uterine horns, one litter in one, the other litter in the other. This happens with does once in a while, you don't usually see it in Dwarfs, though.
This sounds like a first litter. First litters are usually a real mess. Make sure that your doe is the same size, if not LARGER, than the buck in future breedings.
The large kits were called fetal giants. These are kits that do not get the dwarfing gene, and they are always either born dead or die soon after the doe kindles.
2006-09-07 18:45:39 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
If you took the male out after the first set of babies appeared, she may have bred with the male and gotten immediately pregnant again. For some animals (cats, dogs, rabbits, and I think sheep and goats, but I'm not positive.) giving birth can trigger a heat cycle. They are pregnant a second time literally, an hour or so after giving birth. It's common, but doesn't happen everytime.
I think that's what happened, then she had them premature. If they were big babies, her body might have rejected them or something like that.
Strange but true. Look up rabbit breeding if you don't believe me.
I hope this helps.
BTW, you can have her spayed. Call around to vets in your area. Animal control or the SPCA may know who can help you.
2006-09-08 01:53:56 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
That is an interesting story. Glad the mother is OK. I had a comment on one answer, that said, "You left her with the male for the entire pregnacy? Oops. You're lucky she has survived." I don't know if this is usually a problem. We had a pair of rabbits that we left together through the entire pregnancy, and had no problems at all. We separated them the day the mother gave birth (but unfortunately she jumped a three-foot-high fence between them that evening and got pregnant again!). After that, we kept the male inaccessible and later got the female spayed!
2006-09-09 15:51:36 · answer #3 · answered by AZKludgeQueen 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You left her with the male for the entire pregnacy? Oops. You're lucky she has survived. You should get her to a vet to make sure that there are no additional surprises as they could have concieved new babies many times over, and as you have already found out, most will not survive.
2006-09-09 10:50:36 · answer #4 · answered by dragon_priestess_santana 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
She likely didn't care for them three extra weeks. Female rabbits can get pregnant the same day they give birth.
2006-09-08 08:05:51 · answer #5 · answered by sugarcarat 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋