Severe Nervousness?

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Butterfinger

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So, I've said this before, but some of you may not have caught it...
On Winter Break, if everything goes right, I might be bringing home a Belgian Hare...:)(The breeder I contacted said that his hares come and go, and that another breeder was coming to buy a lot of his animals the first week in December ((Spring Break is late December)) but that I should email him a couple weeks in advance before I can come up, and he'll see if he has any for me ) So, I've been doing research on the breed, and ran across....whaddaya know.. that very same breeder's web-page.
He had a lot of useful information on how to breed, raise, and show Belgians, but there was one thing that concerned me somewhat.
He wrote that (And I quote) ......

"They can react to unexpected events in the rabbitry with a fury that can move cages off their supports, dislocate joints, and break bones. This is compounded by the fine bone structure and extreme length of the animal which seems to invite broken backs and legs. Also, this nervous nature seems to complicate breeding, because, in many cases, fright and panic get in the way of normal mating urges. Most important, this nervous temperament seems to translate normal events in the life of a Hare to an overall stress level that can compromise its auto immune system and open the way to bacterial and viral diseases. Perhaps, this nervous tendency came for past breeding attempts to make the Belgian hare more like lepus Timidus which was suppose to be so fearful so as not to close its eyes even in sleep (Wilkins 1896)."

Does anyone know if this is exactly true? Having a rabbit that is constantly scared out of its mind isn't something that sounds all that....great.
If it is true, does anyone know if spay/neutering would affect this issue? In many cases, rabbits calm down significantly after their hormones die down.

I would be willing to work with a rabbit, if it wasn't very severe, but this breeder really seemed to know what he was talking about. But...he even went on to say that a 'good' animal was "... firm in flesh, alert, and has a nervous disposition."

Extremely nervous, or just 'slightly more than normal rabbit' nervous?

This is the link to the website I'm taking this from:
http://users.bentonrea.com/~frankz/raisingbh.htm (There are multiple pages; links are at the bottom)

Does anyone breed or has bred hares and could tell me more about them? :?
I'm not too keen on having a bunny go into a wild panic and break its back just because I walked in the door.
Perhaps this is just an issue with this breeder's rabbits in particular? I've heard them described elsewhere as being relatively mellow.

Any help would be appreciated :? I'm having second thoughts because of this issue. (I think Pam mentioned that her son used to breed Hares? ....Or was I thinking of someone else? )

Sorry for the long post, I'm just worried about this..

~Diana

 
Hi Diana! Sorry that I don't have any info for you, but I just wanted to say that that's very interesting. I can understand why you are concerned about this! Hopefully this was an exaggeration or only some hares are like that. Also, was someone trying to breed lepus Timidus to be nervous, or did it just kinda happen? How very odd and not nice if they were trying to breed nervous rabbits!
 
lepus Timidus is the scientific name for the wild hare (The British one, I think, if there's a difference in hares) ;) Belgian Hares were selectively bred to resemble wild hares, even though Belgian Hares are still domestic rabbits. (Just ones that look like hares) I guess if he's right, then they just took it too far and bred them to resemble them SO closely that they even wanted to make them extremely nervous, like wild hares are? I have no idea why they'd want to do that :?
So I'm hoping it's just an exaggeration.

Looking at the 'rabbit breeds' section of the forum, and their 'Belgian Hare' entry, it looks like the Belgians there are nicely tempered, and not nervous at all..... but they did say they were from the UK (Not somewhere I can easily access :() Perhaps I can find more breeders like that, though

Thanks for replying :)

~Diana
 
Hares do have a tendency to be high strung, but they don't live in a continual state of panic ;) Ours are rather laid back, very gentle and easy for my 8 year old to handle.

Unfortunately, bloodlines are rather limited and Hares can be prone to some genetic health problems.

Pam

Hares1.jpg


Heart2.jpg



 
We had hares for a short while too, and they were wonderfully gentle and docile. But we had to take precautions to talk as we approached them, not scare them, they do tend to be more high strung than other rabbits, and made my Flemish look comatose!

Our buck got snuffles about 6 weeks after we got him andwe lost him... we gave the doe back to the breeder because we thought she would be happier there. Cage/coop space requirements are different than other bunnies... much longer with run room.
 
Pam yoru hares are gorgeous :D

Diana i can only go on wht i know over here one of the firend s i have made on the show circuit breeds Hares AND regularly sells them as pets they are menat to have great natures and are certainly a lot more placid than the polish that they also breed!
 
Pam:

Oh my, I love your pictures :p
Thanks for the reply! Do you happen to know specifically what kind of genetic problems they might be prone to? I know greyhounds are very sensitive to anesthetic... hares seem to be a similar shape/build, do you know if that would be the same?(They might have nothing to do with each other, but I was just curious)
Would the bloodlines still be as limited if I got the rabbit from a breeder inthe UK? They seem to bea little more popular over there,still. (Or at least more than here)
I might be able to ask to have one flown over from a different state or country for a Christmas present ;)

BlueGiants:

Thanks for the reply :)Would you possibly know if spaying or neutering would help the nervousness?

Polly:

That sounds like a wonderful description:) I hope there are more breeders with animals likethata little closer to home (But if not, does your friend have a website I could look at? Haha:p ) Thanks for replying!

~Diana

 
Sorry, I don't know if a spay or neuter would have helped... Honestly, they weren't THAT nervous, I was just cautious around them, made sure they knew I was coming and where I was... no surprises... that was based on what the breeder told me when we got them... and as I said, we did not have them that long. They were very friendly and loved attention, (which they got a lot of here!). I was pretty upset when we lost the boy.
 
Thanks, BlueGiants :) That calmed me down a lot about their dispositions...I do have a kitten, though.... I'm wondering if Kadaj goes into one of his 'hyper hours' (Tearing around the house and jumping on stuff and growling like he's possessed) if that would be a big problem :? It kinda seems like it.... Or maybe I could just lock him out of the room the bunny's in when he does that?
I wonder if I should still buy from this breeder (Who practically described them as ticking time-bombs of nervousness ) or find someone else....
I'm thinking I'll probably go up and visit him first to check the bunnies out and decide for myself after that if I need to find a different breeder...but I may end up getting one from really far away if it doesn't work out, though. Hare breeders aren't too common nowadays :?
 
You might want to post a query on the Etherbun list (on Yahoo), as at least one of regulars has a spayed (or is it neutered?) Belgian Hare. They certainly are beautiful buns! (Great pics, Pam. :))
 
I imagine with the strength they must have with their long legs and stuff - they can bounce around a lot if they are scared.

I absolutely love them tho. I saw one or two at the show this summer and they were fine. Didn't seem nervous or anything.
 

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