Palpating the doe would be the only sure way of detecting pregnancy prior to the actual delivery of a litter. This is a process of ';feeling'; the embryos inside the doe. It takes practice, and can be harmful to the doe and litter if done incorrectly.
For the novice, it is sometimes just better to just wait the duration of the gestation period and hope the doe kindles a live and healthy litter.
You should be sure to mark down the date when your doe was bred. As the gestation period is 28 - 32 days, a nesting box should be provided to the doe about 25 or 26 days after the date she was bred. The box should be filled with a nesting material, such as straw or another material that she can use to build a nest. In most cases, the doe will also pull some of her fur to include with the nesting materials, and act as a blanket for the new born kits.
The nesting box should be about 2 - 4 inches longer and wider than the doe herself. Larger boxes may encourage her to use it as a resting place, and she may foul the box.
After you believe the doe has had her litter (if any signs indicate such), it is good to try and check the box. Remember, the doe may be protective of her newly born kits, so be careful. Remove any afterbirth or dead babies from the box, as they will decay and the doe may abandon the remaining live kits due to the unpleasant smell.
Mother nature should take her course and the doe should raise the kits with no problem. Dont feed her anything extra until she has the babies...then she should get all she wants.How can you tell if a rabbit is pregnant?
Rabbits are pregnant for approx 32 days. What day did they get together? At about 28 days, if you press gently on her tummy you can feel grape like shapes. These are the babies. However, be careful not to press to hard as they are extremely fragile. The mother will also start to build a nest in a corner of her hutch or cage. You can notice her pulling out the fur of her chest and gathering the materials from her bedding. There is no sure way to tell with rabbits until close to the due date. You do not need to give her extra food, but you need to make sure that she is getting all of her vitamins and minerals daily.
Your rabbit could think she is pregnant and not be. This is called a phantom pregnancy. They will show all of the signs of being pregnant, but there will be no babies. This happens after they have been in contact with a male.
Also, with a rabbits first litter, they often die. This is because the new mother is unexperienced with raising kits. The litter will also most likely be smaller than you expect. This is also naural with a doe's first litter.
Good luck with the babies (if she is pregnant), and I hope it all goes to plan. Soon, you may have some bundles of joy! :)
i have raised new zealand rabbits for 12 years. you can take her to a vet to find out if she is pregnant or put her back in with the buck and if she run from the buck she is pregnant. i assume that you don't wont to put her back with the male cause if she not pregnant she will get pregnant. just assume she is pregnant. you need to get a nest box for her to have her babies in and put hay in the nest box. you will need to put the nest box in around the 26 day after she was breded.she will have then around 28-35 days. she will pull fur to line her nest with.
Don't give her a lot of extra food maybe a 1/4 of a cup more of rabbit pellets.if she is a small breed rabbit not that much.two weeks after the babies are born put the mother rabbit on full feed with rabbit pellets around this time the babies will start to come out of the nest to eat solid food.
It's generally hard to tell if a rabbit is pregnant just by looking at her, unless she's carrying a large litter of more than 8 kits and she's about to deliver.
In my experience the best way to tell is to palpate her 2 weeks after breeding. Don't worry about hurting the kits, just support her head under your hand, push down gently while you put your other hand under her belly and kind of squeeze your hands together and move your hand around, squeezing and feeling for firm knots about the size of large marbles.
You will need to let her free feed (eat as much as she can) as soon as you discover she is pregnant. I know my does really well and I can usually tell a week before they deliver that they are pregnant and I can judge about how many they will have.
she will get considerately bigger, and when she's close to giving birth she will rip her fur out of her chest and lay it in the hutch as a nest for her babies
EDIT:
i would give her more in a bowl in her hutch, and a big bottle of fresh water on the hutch.
i would get her vet checked, also when letting her out of the hutch i would separate her away from the other rabbits, as they could be a threat to newly born rabbits
If it's a LARGE rabbit, then maybe a little otherwise it wont hurt if you feed normally. Try feeling the stomach for lumps or movement, this is particularly difficult if you never done it before, try looking up a visual aid for Palpating(Feeling for babies) Without experience with this it probably wont give you an exact answer so just to be safe put a nest box in the cage with a little bedding in the bottom then if she starts nesting you probably have some babies on the way.
I am not exactly sure, but as she gets bigger, rub her belly and see if she twitches or uncomfortable when you do it. Although, i would recommend that if you are still unsure then do arrange an appointment with a vet and they will be able to diminish any worries you have.
She could definitely be pregnant, they don't have to be with the male for long to get pregnant. Feel her belly, if it is soft she is probably just flat, if it feels kind of hard and kind of like little lumps she may be pregnant, it might be easier to tell in a few weeks.
Ask it.
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