# Sibling rabbits breeding help



## Charlotte93 (Feb 23, 2016)

Hi. 

I have 2 16 week old lion head rabbits. When we got them we were told they were both girls. However, the last 2 weeks one has begun to mount the other. We went to the vets this weekend to check all was ok and it turns out we actually have one boy and one girl. 

I do not want to kill the babies in the pregnant female but I am really worried after reading things online that the babies will be mutated or sick. 

Please can I have some advice! 

Thanks 
Charlotte


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## Hoppety (Jul 5, 2017)

Hi there,

Let's see if I can throw in my grain of sand.

Firstly, what has led you to believe that the possible lionhead offspring will be mutated or sick? It is true that both bunnies at 16 weeks are a bit young to be bred but perhaps the centre where you got them lied about their date of birth and they're possibly a tad older?

Whatever the case, there's no reason why the baby bunnies would not be born healthy, as long as you ensured that the female mum has a sufficient amount of food, constant supply of hay, suitable veggies (spinach leaves, carrot leaves, rocket and so on). Also on the final few days of pregnancies (between days 28 and 31) provide a nest box with soft straw.

The doe may or may not be pregnant, it's probably too early to know, so until you find out for sure my advice is that you separate her from the male, while you work on getting him fixed, wait approximately 28 to 33 days for the litter to arrive and plan to have the female spayed shortly after that. If by day 34 no babies have arrived, then she's not pregnant!


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## Amelia66 (Feb 15, 2011)

Seperate them imideatley. You need to keep them apart untill the male has been neutered and then re bond them.
Males can impregnate females imideatly after birth too so they need to be kept apart. there is a possibility males can impregnate even 6 weeks after neuter.

Do you know their background? as with any sibling mating there is a chance that kits could be born abnormal. You also need to think about the fact that as the female is so young she could die during the birthing process. its also not good for her to be growing babies when she is still growing herself.


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## Charlotte93 (Feb 23, 2016)

I have separated them both now. Is it likely that the mum will die during birth? I feel really guilty that this has happened  

Don't know much about their background other than mum and dad weren't related and all siblings were healthy. 

Is it also true that they can have 2 sets of babies inside them and when the most formed set come out the other set will too?


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## Bunnicula (Apr 26, 2014)

Charlotte93 said:


> I have separated them both now. Is it likely that the mum will die during birth? I feel really guilty that this has happened
> 
> Don't know much about their background other than mum and dad weren't related and all siblings were healthy.
> 
> Is it also true that they can have 2 sets of babies inside them and when the most formed set come out the other set will too?


First off I'm am going to shed some light on this, while rabbits do have two uterine horns both are used during pregnancy and it is VERY VERY RARE that they will end up with a double pregnancy. Second rabbits can be inbred for many many generations before real issues start cropping up. Most rabbits are able to have successful pregnancies unless the male was significantly bigger then the female. While breeding a larger female to a smaller male is preferred I know someone who will breed a male 1 or 2 lbs bigger then a female together and no almost never has issues. I would suggest switching mom to a better quality diet with a higher protein content and marking your calendar for day 28.

On day 28 supply her with a nest box and nesting material, the nest box can be almost anything you have on hand as long as mom can get in and out of it easily. At this point while you can not guarantee she is pregnant treat it as if she is and mark your calendar fro day 21 (at this time if done carefully you should be able to palate for babies), day 28 for the nest box, and day 31 is when she should be due. Though she could give birth any time between day 28-35 depending on size of babies and size of litter. If nothing after day 35 assume all babies if born will be doa otherwise she was never pregnant. Each doe is different though and I have met people who have had their does nest during week 2 of the pregnancy, destroy the nest, and remake it over and over until the day the babies were born. Or never make a nest until seconds before the babies were do and then the expecting mom was frantic.

Also as this would be her first litter that you know of do not be surprised if none of the babies survive, most first time mom's have not a clue what they are doing.

Right now and my main concern is that you should check your doe for pinched hips, while they are not necessarily a death sentence if they are severely pinched you might have to take her to get an emergency spay as it will be near impossible for her to birth those babies. You have a higher risk of a kit getting stuck. If I can get my does to cooperate I can show you the difference between severely pinched hips and what some-what normal hips look like if you hold them on their back. My smallest lion head doe has really bad hips and you will see what I mean in a photo.


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