why has one of my female rabbits starting biting the other and creating a nest, also acting out of character.?

Question

it does not bite yet has started biting me and running around with mouth stiffed with hay. acting really strange. have had to seperate from other rabbit. Both female

Answer 1

Yep, I used to help out with a rabbit breeder, sounds like your rabbit is pregnant!!.

They make a nest by pulling out their own fur, the general gestation time is 36 days, she may have up to 12 babies calleds (kittens), it is important to give her a box with straw NOT hay she will then pull her own fur out to line the nest.

If she does have kittens you must NOT handle them as she may reject and even kill or eat them as they do not like strange scents.

They are like little baldy squidgy things when they are born, but soon turn into minature rabbits.

Buy the way, it can be difficult to sex a rabbit, so you may well have a male and female, or if you have recently just bought your rabbit/s it could be a phantom pregancy.

Hope this helps

Answer 2

It could be a false pregnancy. If she has ever been in with a male in the past 30 days or so she could be pregnant though.

You did the best thing by separating them. If you leave two females together they are likely to start fighting or one of them will possibly even try mounting the other like a male would. This will raise the hormones in one or both of them and make them more prone to biting you. After 70 days old rabbits should be separated and not kept together.

If the one female tried mounting the other, the one female may think she is pregnant and going to have babies when she wasn't even bred.

If the female has been with a male in the past 30 days or so, put in a nest box right away. It may not be a bad idea anyhow just in case one of the two was mis-sexed.

Below is a sight on how to sex rabbits just in case you might need it:

http://www.debmark.com/rabbits/sexing.htm

I'm not saying you are wrong about the sex of the rabbits but I've seen people swear they knew the correct sex of the rabbit and be totally wrong.

By the way, the one person's mentioning about spaying and cancer is totally bogus. A rabbit will normally die of other natural causes long before it ever contracts cancer.

You can handle the babies right after they are born. And the mother won't reject them. Just remove any dead babies out ASAP, this is due to the mother's inability to be able to provide enough milk for them all and not from her rejecting it. Use straw for nestbox bedding. Bedding such as wood chips doesn't make good bedding due to the smell. Sometimes the female will scatter them around the pen instead of having them in the nestbox due to the smell.

Also make sure that there are small holes in the bottom of the nestbox floor. Pegboard works good as nestbox flooring. This allows any urine to drain out of the box reducing the smell in the box and the mother rejecting to feed the babies. The smell of a dead baby can also cause the mother to reject feeding the other babies, so remove dead babies ASAP.

Answer 3

are you 100% positive both are female i made the same mistake got 2 rabbits though they were the same an had 1 litter born very unexpectedly figured out a few days later wich was wich an seperated an now shes due again within the next 5 days she got preg again that quick i would double check maybe you do have one of each are they fixed if not you may have a breeder come check to see if they are both girls an perhaps you have a preg one too i would double check mine that is preg did the same she became very aggresive towards our other rabbits that she had always been around an even took to biting me then i seperated shes in a different room an has made her nest she ripped her fur out lastnight an so on if i were you i would make sure for sure just too be safe cause if she is you need to give her a box extra hay an so on good luck i gave mine salt wheels to an that mellowed her out a bit you may try that too good luck

Answer 4

I have two female rabbits from the same litter, now 31/2 years old,there seems to be a bit more domineering in one of them, the stronger of the two did the same for over a month, at first I thought one was washing the other as they have been doing since they were very young. But one day while cleaning out the hutch I was stroking the smaller one I noticed a wet patch in it's fur ,on examination I saw a sore bit the skin had been bitten through to the flesh. so to save infection and before the fly could get to her I put on some SUDOCREM I think it's called ,anyway it seemed to stop the other rabbit from biting, and has been OK since.But with yours to me sounds like the rabbit thinks its pregnant and is making a nest, which mine never have done.

Answer 5

My rabbit has this every season, it is called false pregnancy, they think the are pregnant even though there not, so build nests, gets protective and stuff like that. This happens even if they are spayed, the best thing to do is let it pass, if she is still building nests within 1 week , ask your vet.

Answer 6

Get them checked by the vets as soon as possible to check for pregnancy, the sex of the other rabbit and to book them in for neutering. If both bunnies are not pregnant, neutering will calm them down after a few weeks as they have a hormonal surge up to two weeks after the op. Good luck.

Answer 7

as some1 as as said it is difficult to sex a rabbit and you could have a male and female the female only tends to nest when she is a few days away from giving birth i had 3 lion head rabbits 2 female and 1 male he got them both pregnant at the same time the females lived happily together with their babies altho the older 1 was more dominant when they were in season i handled the babies as soon as they were born and they were not rejected by their mothers and not eaten by their father but it can happen i guess i was lucky with mine that they trusted me enough to handle their babies i only did this to check for any disabilities and to count them, and to prevent any unwanted pregnancies get them spayed as the female is prone to cancer and having her done will prolong her life good luck

Answer 8

How long have you had it? Any chance she's pregnant? Sounds like mothering/nesting behavior. I've heard rabbits can have false pregnancies (in which their body and mind thinks they are pregnant). I'd say it's time to get her fixed. Female rabbits have incredibly high cancer rates when they are not fixed. It makes them much nicer pets too.

Answer 9

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Answer 10

get them both spayed ASAP. this behavior is called "false pregnancy" the rabbits think they are actually nesting for their babies. getting them spayed will stop this behavior. i remember my rabbit going through this, i needed to pull fur out of her mouth everyday to prevent her from choking on it and she got so mad at me. good luck :)