Is my daughters rabbit pregnant?

Question
Hi Kelly, My girls each got a baby rabbit for there birthday. The rabbits are now 5 months. There grandparents said they were both girls bye the time we found out one was a boy it was to late. Obviously they nor I have a clue about rabbits. Obviously I think she my be pregnant. The male is in his own cage now. The female I think is 2 weeks along her nipples stick out and her stomach is hard and she is breathing kinda heavy. I think she is trying to make a nest for the babies, she pushes the hey to the corner. Could this be a false pregnancy? Or is she really?
Oh and also the rabbit loves cuddling with my girls but now the rabbit does not want them to hold her or touch her stomach. She will only let them pet her and that about it. Can you please help me out with this!

Answer
Hello,

Without knowing the date of conception, it's impossible of course to know when she is due. Since she is visablly pregnant, we can assume it is too late to use palpation to determine if your doe is pregnant. Palpation should occur on day 14 of the 28-32 day gestation period.

You will need to wait it out. On day 26 you would normally place a nestbox in the doe's cage. (As always, each rabbit should have its own cage). You can find information about nestboxes here:

http://islandgems.net/nestbox2.html
http://www.bunnyrabbit.com/price/nestbox.htm
http://www.thenaturetrail.com/BuildingNestBoxes.htm

Since you are unsure of the gestation day, I would get the nestbox in immediately. The nestbox is very important and is a must. Sometimes pet owners in a case like this have a hard time finding one is stores and try to make use of something else. That will not work. You can try finding one locally at stored such as Rural King or Tractor Supply, but I personally have never seen them sold aside from rabbit dealers at shows. In such a case you or someone you know will need to build one.

The gestation period is 28-32 days. If by day 33 or 34 she has not had a litter, remove the nestbox. Once again, without knowing how far along she may be this is hard. Although you can easily guess she is at least a few weeks along due to her increase in size, I would wait 34 days from when you separated the buck to be safe.

In the meantime while you wait, you should start to read up on baby rabbits...

http://islandgems.net/bunbreeding.html
http://www.debmark.com/rabbits/breeding.htm

You might also consider joining the ARBA. Not all owners are breeders, many pet owners join as well. Membership includes a great guidebook and full color bi-monthly magazine. I highly recommend that anyone that owns a rabbit joins. Their website is: http://www.arba.net

Good luck! Let me know if you have any further questions, especially if babies arrive!