How soon before giving birth does a female rabbit start building a nest? Approx how many days?
2007-10-29 10:38:18 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Other - Pets
The female will start building her nest a couple of days before she is ready. Make sure you give her a nesting box and some material (like hay, not shredded paper) to help her out. Don't touch the nest as she knows the way she wants it to look like and you would only stress her as she'd have to redo it. A few hours (or even minutes) before she is due, she will rip off the extra hair that grows on her belly. Looks harsh but it doesn't hurt her as it's special hair and will make sure the little ones are nice and warm. Good luck, baby bunnies are the cutest things. Make sure you give her plenty of water and food containing calcium (pieces of fennel are the best) straight after the birth. Rabbits produce one of the richest milk in the mammal world so she needs plenty of nutrients.
2007-10-29 15:02:28 · answer #1 · answered by Laurence B 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That really depends. Normally it is best to put in the nestbox two days before she is due. Normally, they will start building the nest within a few hours before they are due or no more than about a day before. However, in special certain circumstances I have seen a rabbit have babies as much as a week after it has pulled fur.
You just really need to pay attention to when you bred your rabbit and when you checked the rabbit back with the buck. Normally they will have their babies right at 30 days. The gestation period is 28-32 days and normally it is right at 30. I've never seen a rabbit go over 32 days when having babies.
Don't use hay or woodchips for your nestbox bedding. It is very important that the nestbox is odor free. I've seen a much higher rate of female rabbits that scatter their litters from people that use hay or woodchips. Both of which have strong odors. I prefer to use straw. Straw has very little odor. Just make sure that the straw does not smell moldy. Also make sure the floor of the nestbox has holes in it to allow any urine to drain out, so ammonia and an ammonia odor doesn't build up in the nest box. Pegboard works really good for nestbox flooring. Turn the rough side up so the floor of the nestbox isn't so slick and make sure there is always straw beneath the babies to help eliminate the occurrence of sproddled leg. Sproddled leg tends to occur when babies get down onto the slick nestbox floor and their feet slide out from under them. Babies that are milked well seem to be a little more susceptible. Thats why it is sometimes more prevalent in small litters where some of the babies get over-milked.
2007-10-30 03:34:33 · answer #2 · answered by devilishblueyes 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well it really depends on the doe. I know a lady who said that her doe nests 30 minutes before giving birth. She also said that she also has had some that does it a week before. Now I have no clue what your doe is like, so I cannot say exactly. But normally around 1-2 days before. Good luck!
2007-10-29 12:13:26 · answer #3 · answered by bunnyluvr 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Rabbits usually start making a nest 28 days after they are bred, then they have babies around 32 days, so around 4 days.
2007-10-29 10:44:22 · answer #4 · answered by Caroline 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They usually start building3 or 4 days before, and pulling belly hair the day of. This is the average, but there is alot of deviation depending on the particular rabbit.
2007-10-29 10:45:26 · answer #5 · answered by stulisa42 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
depends on the doe i have had does make a nest 20mins before haveing a litter, and i have had them nest 1 week before
2007-10-29 13:47:50 · answer #6 · answered by Olivia W 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋