rabbit mating questions

[Wrinkles]

1) my male is 6 months old, mounts my female for only a few seconds then runs off, is this normal?
2) how do you tell if a male finishes? how long does it take
3) female rabbit was not willing to breed a few days after the first time, why?

 

[Preitler]

1) Well, he's still quite young, of course he's technically fertile, but that whole social stuff may be still confusing, he'll figure it out with time.
2) LOL, you'll know when you see it, search on youtube for "rabbit fall off"
3) The girls have their moods and cycles, they aren't horny all the time. Also, the first mating could have triggered a false pregnancy, which makes the doe think she's pregnant and refuses to breed for some time. That, or she's already pregnant for real, that fall off thing isn't really absolutly necessary. And first timers might not exactly know what's that all about, or get annoyed by a buck that doesn't know what he's doing.

Apart from that, make sure you do have a viable plan for what to do with the offspring beforehand. Some people breed their rabbits because those popples are sooo cute, or they think they can make money that way, or they believe that cancer risk is lower for does that have been bred, or other such reasons that don't stand up to scrutiny.

 

[Wrinkles]

thanks so much for the help! I have been getting ready to breed for about 6 months and I finally got the perfect pair for holland lops from separate breeders of course. I'm breeding because there are not many holland lops in my area, and they have been my favourite breed for years I know pretty much all there is to know but just a few things I saw in my rabbits that confused me and I could not find the right answer online. He only mounts for a few seconds then runs around the cage and back to her, but I've never actually seen him fall off, but sometimes he does lay down on his side next to her after he has run away.

 

[Preitler]

Well, just be sure to have the buck seperated about 25 days after their first encounter and 35 after their last - I got surprise litters without noticing that the doe was pregnant. Sometimes it's obvious, sometimes not. (this year I had a hutch door malfunction when the doe was 14 weeks, didn't notice anything until 6 weeks later when there were 6 more rabbits hopping around the hutch...)

 

[Wrinkles]

Well, just be sure to have the buck seperated about 25 days after their first encounter and 35 after their last - I got surprise litters without noticing that the doe was pregnant. Sometimes it's obvious, sometimes not. (this year I had a hutch door malfunction when the doe was 14 weeks, didn't notice anything until 6 weeks later when there were 6 more rabbits hopping around the hutch...)

Another question , my female is about a year old and she has not been bred yet, what are the chances of her actually becoming pregnant

 

[Preitler]

High. Good age.
Sometimes it needs some patience.

 

[majorv]

At one year you may have to breed her several times to get a litter. Your buck might actually be getting her and you don’t realize it. We had one buck that we had to breed to a doe in a large traveling cage. He would get on her, but within a few seconds he got off. We kept trying to mate them and each time he did this. We gave up because we thought it wasn’t working, ie - he wasn’t falling off like bucks usually do. Sure enough, 30 days later the doe had a litter! You should note the date and wait 35 days, unless you know how to palpate.