3 Litters in 3 Months

by Tayo
(United Kingdom)

My little girl and I have 2 dwarf rabbits we love very much as pets. Male and female. I never intended to breed but I’ve become the proud owner of 11 bunnies from my doe who seems to have gotten pregnant 3 months running.


I never knew she could get pregnant literally after giving birth but then she had her 2nd litter 28 days after the first one.

I kept her in the hutch with her 3rd set of babies till they were almost 4 weeks and to my surprise, she’s pregnant again all because I let her out for a few hours. I'm getting worried about her health due to this....should I be?

***** Karen Sez *****

So if I read your post correctly, perhaps the title of this page should be "4 Litters in 4 Months"...?? Now I can rest my case about rabbits breeding like rabbits!

I'm glad you've reached out to Raising-Rabbits, because your story also illustrates how great a rabbit's drive is to reproduce. Your doe has had 3 litters back to back, yet she was still willing to lift for a fourth litter. I've seen does on their hind toes, backed up to the rabbit cage wire literally begging to be bred.

About her health, yes, I'm sure that there might be some kind of a drain on a doe's health, at that rate. But, rabbits in the wild regularly breed with this frequency. Turns out that God built into rabbits some health safeguards.

As the doe's reserves begin to get used up, their litter size drops, or she fails to conceive at all. (Look for your own doe's next litter to have fewer kits in it, or for her to not kindle at all.)

And finally, at the end of the season, both does and bucks go into a rest period, where their hormones are all in the basement, and none of them wants to breed. They eat grass and forages night and day for the next couple months, and then start the process all over in late winter.

What you can do for your doe in the meantime, is to feed her really well! Give her 18% protein pellets, and supplement with whole oats or black oil sunflower seeds, perhaps a teaspoon or so per day (given that you said she was a dwarf). Your doe will be fine, I think!

Here are a couple resources on frequent rabbit litters:
Rabbit Raising Problem Solver.
Rabbit Reproduction.

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