What are the common signs before a mother rabbit gives birth
A rabbit's pregnancy lasts a period of time, but before giving birth the rabbit will show some changes, and people with breeding experience use these signs to judge a fairly specific time of birth. Some necessary preparations can be made in advance, so that when the birth happens, you will not be caught off guard. So what exactly are the signs before a rabbit gives birth? Let us find out together.
1. Signs before birth
About 4 days before giving birth, the rabbit's mammary glands begin to swell and become inflamed, with a small amount of milk secretion, the abdomen becomes sunken, and the genital area becomes red and swollen. It will eat very little, or not eat at all. One or two days before giving birth, it begins to gather fur to make a nest, and may even pull out its own fur. However, rabbits giving birth for the first time generally do not make a nest. Right before birth, there will be painful suffering, and signs of restlessness and scratching the ground.
2. Points to note
Before birth, care should be taken to move the rabbit to a more secluded place. Clean the rabbit hutch thoroughly. It needs to be placed in a large hutch to avoid stepping on the rabbits because the space is too small. Lay cloth on the bottom of the hutch. Wear gloves when touching the baby rabbits to avoid bacterial infection. After giving birth, the mother rabbit can be fed some soaked soybeans, which help promote milk production, and some brown sugar hot water should be prepared, which is nutritious.
3. Nutritional supplementation
After the mother rabbit becomes pregnant, she can be fed nutritious feed, and attention should be paid to supplementing nutrition. This mainly means supplementing vitamins, protein and inorganic salts, but overall the feed should be easy to digest and absorb. Mainly feed concentrated feed and inorganic salt feed; common feeds are wheat bran, soybean cake, soybean dregs and bone meal, and a little salt should be added to the feed. Also feed forage grass, green hay, or fresh grass.
4. Management and care
Newborn rabbits have no fur, so their body temperature must be maintained, which means a rabbit nest needs to be prepared, and they should be moved from the hutch into the nest to keep warm, and the mother rabbit should be allowed to nurse the baby rabbits; breast milk contains some mineral components, which are beneficial to the rabbits' growth. In order to feed more milk, more green feed can be given. The hygiene of the rabbit nest should be cleaned every day. After the rabbits have grown for one month, a small amount of feed can be given.
After a rabbit gives birth, there will be some reactions of not adapting, as well as physical changes, all of which are normal responses. Breeders only need to pay attention to preparing some things, feeding nutrition, and managing the newborn baby rabbits.