breeding for the first time...

hello fellow bunnymama's and papa's! I'm fairly new to rabbit ownership but within the first week of habving our first bunbun my honey and i knew we loved this animal and wanted to always have them in our menagerie. After looking at the amazing bunny baby pics on this site and reading the joyous words of their owners, we decided we want to mate our dwarf (unsure of exact breed) at least one time. Not for profits really, more just to share in the experience before handing them off to responsible owners. Where should I start looking for info? what do I need to do? how long does it take? yadda yadda yadda. thanks in advance!

Hi! Welcome to RO

Just wanted to point out that mixed breeding rabbits is not a good idea.
Here is a reply I wrote to someone else who wanted to breed their mixed breed rabbits. Pretty much the same situation as yours.

I'm sure more members will come along with other advice

I'm sure she will make a wonderful pet, she just should not be bred. Mixed bred rabbits ARE very hard to find homes for. Believe me, I know. Unless your going to let them go for meat or very cheaply, which means they could possibly go on to breed more mixed breeds, end up as snake food etc.

To find good homes for them, you might have to keep them for a long time, can you afford to get up to 6 or 7 more cages to house each seperately until you can get good, responsible homes for all of them?

If your friends are interested in getting a nice, mixed breed rabbit. Point them towards the nearest shelter, where they could save the life of the many gorgeous, affectionate rabbits that have no homes and could possibly end up put to sleep.

If you want to become a breeder, work on a breed, go to shows, learn the standard of the breed you want to work with , get help and advice from other breeders.

There is a lot more to breeding them just putting two mixed breed rabbits together for cute babies, that is back yard breeding. You really need to look into and think about what your planning to do.

I know your want for cute babies will probably win over the good advice given on here though, but at least think about it.

Good Luck!

Click to expand...

Also just wanted to add that so many things can go wrong when you breed, are you prepared to loose your rabbit? If she is a pet your very attached too, that could be devastating, and it does happen. Also, vet bills can run up into the hundreds if something goes wrong.

I hope I'm not coming off as harsh or anything

If you still want to go through with the breeding:

Where should I start looking for info? You can ask questions you need answered here

what do I need to do? When your doe and buck are old enough, you need to put the doe in the bucks cage and let them mate. You need to watch them in case they get aggressive. You know you have mated successfully when the buck grunts, and then falls off the doe. You can let them mate a few times if you want to make sure it was successful

how long does it take? Rabbit gestation is approx. 31 days. A few days before you will notice a pregnant rabbit will start to build a nest with hay and pull out her fur, to build the nest with. Soon after that she will give birth

Here is an excellent thread to read before you commit to breeding your pet:
http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=53539&forum_id=8

-Dawn

Hello. Welcome to the forum!
How old is your doe? You need to wait until she is 6 month to breed her. When you pick a male, you need to get one that is a dwarf also. If you will post a few pictures of her, we would be happy to try to help you figure out what breed she is or what breeds she might have in her back ground.

Emily

Silver Star Rabbitry
Raising and Showing Quality Silver Marten Rabbits in North Louisiana.

http://silverstarsilvermartens.webs.com/
http://silverstarrabbitry.blogspot.com/

[email protected]

thanks to everyone for responding! i did some more snooping arounf this site and realize there is a lot to consider before breeding. as far as what breed she is, i am not sure. i've been trying to take pics of nibbler with my cell but they are totally unrecognizable. But I saw so many postings about "peanut" dwarf rabbits and that is something that I am going to really have to prepare myself for. I would never do anything that might result in unhappy endings so i am definitely going to find out her exact breed and gfet her a similar mate.

I am by far no expert on any animal at all but mhy love and respect for them is undieing. rest assured I will not be going into this venture blindly...

I agree with what many of the other breeders have mentioned. It's really not something to be done with a pet because of the high risk of complications.

Also, to address something you said in your last post - You said that you would find out what breed she is and get a male of the same breed. I want to point out that even if she is purebred and you get another purebred to breed with her, that in no way means that things will be easier for her or the babies or that it will be easier to find them homes afterwards. The point of breeding purebred to purebred is to better the breed and the type - if she's not a show quality animal of her breed, then breeding her to another purebred isn't going to automatically give you show quality babies or something. There's a lot more to it than breeding two animals of the same breed together.

I also suggest you don't breed two different breeds together, just for the experience. There are so many rabbits out there in shelters, and by breeding irresponsibly, you are just adding to that.

Responsible breeders do a lot of research, and they breed purebreds to better them, not just because they want to experience it, or want to witness the miracle of birth (because chances are it's not going to happen with rabbits. I've watched probably 2 or 3 births and I've been breeding for 5 years. It's hard to catch, and does genuinely do not like being watched while they're kindling.)

Breeding two purebreds to better them to the standard means that you should be very familiar with your breeds standard, know how to identify faults and disqualifications, and breed two animals that will compliment eachother and produce better quality offspring.

With breeding any breed of dwarf rabbit, there is always the chance of peanuts, because it's a gene. There is no way around it. You might get a litter with one peanut, or you might get a litter that is all peanuts.

If you really want to share the experience, then look into fostering a doe with a litter from your local shelter or rabbit rescue. Then you can get the experience without personally breeding your own rabbit.

Emily

How old is your doe?U dont want to breed them until their 6 months or older,and you want them to have their first litter before a year old.And with a first time mom their is a chance she could loose her whole litter.