How many rabbits can be born in one delivery?
How many rabbits can be born in one delivery?
If you have a couple of rabbits of different sex as pets, you should know that these animals reach sexual maturity very early, so a pregnancy can occur at a few months of age. But how many rabbits can be born in a single delivery?
pregnancy in rabbits
As we said, the sexual maturity of a rabbit depends on its breed and age, but it usually comes very soon, even before a year of life.
Some kinds of bunnies can start breeding as young as 4 or 5 months, and others as young as 9.
In addition to being able to start having young very soon, you have to know that these animals do not have a heat period as such, but can reproduce throughout the year.
The reason is that female rabbits have induced ovulation, whereby their eggs are released in response to copulation. And as if this were not enough, once they bring their young into the world, they are ready again to procreate.
In addition to this, it should be noted that pregnancy in rabbits only lasts about 29-35 days, so it is one of the shortest in the animal kingdom.
After that period, the little pups will be born. But how many rabbits can be born in a single delivery?
How many rabbits can be born in a single delivery?
After a first mount, a rabbit can give birth to up to 12 pups, with an average of 6.
However, there is a very good chance that all those bunnies will survive, especially when it comes to a new mother.
Newborn bunnies are very vulnerable and must be well fed and kept warm to survive.
This is sometimes very complicated for the mother when so many are born at the same time.
Not to mention that, sometimes, the mothers themselves kill and eat their young. Yes, it sounds pretty nasty, but it can happen for a number of reasons:
One of them is stress, from being in an inappropriate environment.
Another is survival. Seeing that there are many hatchlings to feed, he may decide to kill the weakest.
It also happens when the pups are stillborn. In the wild, the scent of the dead brood could attract predators that would kill all the others, so the doe eats them as a preventative measure.
On the other hand, it can happen that if the male rabbit is nearby, it is he who attacks the young. This usually happens because they see them as a future threat in the fight for the female. That is why in a natural environment, rabbits bury their young alive, in order to protect them (and yes, they survive).
Therefore, and responding to how many rabbits can be born in a single delivery, even if the number is high at first, that total is not always the number of pups that survive.
More facts about parturition in rabbits
As explained, a female rabbit can give birth to up to 12 pups at one time, although not all of them survive. However, given the reproductive capacity of this animal, the number of young per year can reach 80.
When the bunny is pregnant, she herself will start preparing her nest. To do this, he will use all kinds of things that are within his reach: papers, rags… Even his own hair!
Rabbits need to live in a calm environment with a stable temperature, but this is even more important for the future mother and her young. If this is not the case, there is a great danger of abortion or that it will end its young when they are born.
At the time of delivery, instinctively she will know what to do, it is not usually necessary to intervene. Even so, the ideal is to be aware while maintaining a certain distance, because if you detect a certain complication it will be necessary to consult a veterinarian.
Therefore, it is advisable that before delivery you have located the phone number of your trusted veterinarian.
