My Mom Wants Me to breed my rabbit

My mom wants me to breed my rabbit with her friend's rabbit. I know it is not good because of all the overpopulation and health problems. I keep telling her but she does not listen. She wants to because she can make money. All she wants is money. So someone please help me convince her not to. yes i lied about my age

Tell her that reproduction can lead to cancer, and that if the rabbit is over one year old it usually leads to false pregnancies and birth defects

To be honest your not getting much money with how you need hay and lots of food most of the time you dot make much money especially if it was a cross between to rabbits and not pure bred. Also most female rabbits die from cancer because they have two reproduction tracks giving them a very high chance in getting cancer if not spayed. Also tell her that many rabbits die in shelters and most likely they will go into a home and be dumped because people think they are cute without research.

Reproduction does not lead to cancer, there's no connection. My oldest breeding doe is 8years, smaller litters, but no birth defects or an unusual amount of stillborns. It can be more difficult to get a doe bred the first time when she's older than about 1 1/2-2 years, depends on the individual rabbit, even 5 yo get happily bred if you absolutly do not want them to.
What's right is that false pregnancies can occur, that is something that is hard or disturbing to watch, but usually doesn't hurt the rabbit (some get it real bad so it can become kind of stressful for all involved). Some good reasons to spay pet rabbits are connected to this topics, but I guess that's not the question here, doesn't sound like anyone would fork up the money for that.

Starting with the wrong arguments isn't the best way to convince someone.

So, what would I consider valid arguments? You mentioned an abundance of rabbits, bring free market into play and you get low prices. Unless those rabbits of yours are pedigreed, show quality rabbits there simply is no money to make. And even if your rabbit was expensive (that only says that you paid a lot for it, nothing else), you do not run a rabbitry with good reputation, so nobody would pay much no matter what.
As you said yourself, too many rabbits out there, all those people who thought like your mom, thought it is just cute to breed their bunnies, or simply had one of those very common "accidents" ruined the market.
It's actually pretty hard to make a rabbitry pay for itself. I charge 12-15€ for my mutt rabbits, can sell max 20% of the offspring in 5-6 months.

Not sure about the zoning laws in the US, rules of city or neighbourhood, your country is chocked up with so many rules and laws on so many levels that sometimes it's hard to tell how many animals are allowed - one big litter could be too much in some places.

Also, raising rabbits isn't for free. Food isn't for free. Vet isn't for free ( Enough money should be set aside for any kind of emergency, and what I heard vets aren't cheap over there). Cages and space aren't for free. Young rabbits are not litter trained, so there's quite some cleaning work involved. Has your mother bred rabbits before?
There's always the possibility that you can't sell all rabbits in time, what to do with those? More cages and supplies needed.
Also, breeding sometimes sometimes leads to difficult situations and decisions one should be prepared to deal with.


I make a clear distinction between lifestock and pets. My breeding does live outside in hutches and dig up the backyard, my two pet rabbits share my house and garden with me, no cage or any such thing.
If this is your pet rabbit, that you care for, your responsibility, without question, in my opinion it would be a violation of your rights and you can say No. If your mom does most of the work, or this is the common family pet, well, than it would be more up to discussion. I would try to convince or involve some allies too, but I wouldn't spread the argument to everyone.

Hmm, this reminds me of a friend. Her mom wanted to breed her bunny. So they asked to borrow my buck which I let them to do. It was a successful breeding the doe and ended up getting 7 healthy kits. They had trouble selling the kits and had to fix cages to home them. One of the bucks escaped and made a doe pregnant.

Took quite a time to find the bunnies a home, it was also the last time they breed bunnies.

Take up facts and use them to your advantage. You can’t earn a lot of money of breeding bunnies, if you take care of the bunnies correctly. Also finding proper homes and not giving them away for the first to pay, will take ages to do.

I bought my buck for 30$ and he’s a pure breed netherland dwarf and it was only two kits being born. So 60$ for two kits, the breeder had to provide me with medicines for deworming because the mother and kits had gotten it. The food and she had to bottle feed my bunny since he was new born. Because he had been abounded by the his mom.

When you breed a bunny, your mom should be ready to take the responsibility that comes with owning a pet. Will she do everything for the kits, do you have space, if you have to go to the vet will you pay for the expenses.

Just take the facts and scenarios that can happen when it dosen’t go as planned.

Thanks for your help. This is a family pet, So I will try to convince them.

there are many points to connect too to tell her but its all in your opinion!
- not a lot of money gain(like previously mentioned#bigchugustherabbit)
- your rabbit depending on the age could get infected
- if its the first litter they will most likely be stillborn
-you already spend a lot and will have to spend more on them until sold
- your bunny may straight up not be ready!
I wish you the best of luck and remember... IT IS YOUR RABBIT!

You could argue that her friends male rabbit could injury yours. They have fairly fragile skin, it wouldn't take but a bite to cause a nasty infection. The vet bill would not be worth the money you would get for the babies. I had to spay our female, as soon as she came into heat she became really mean, she would leap at you if you got near her nest and give you a good bite. She also started spraying everything in the house with her urine. I had no idea a female rabbit could spray three feet high on walls! Spaying fixed her spraying and biting, but she never became a lap rabbit again. My female rabbit and her mates were dumped off on our dead end dirt road in the middle of winter when we had over two feet of snow on the ground. There are too many people just dumping them and those in shelters. As cute as baby rabbits would be, I'm impressed how responsible you are being.

I bred and sold rabbits for 3 years and I only made about $50 profit. NOT WORTH IT. I was just a small rabbitry. 6 does maybe. I spent well over $1,000 on everything. With pellets to feed all of them babies to help them grow, help keep the mom's milk production up, and all of that hay. Supplies $5 per water bottle and having to replace them because they break or rust, making nestboxes, feeders at $7 each. But the hay and pellets were the most expensive. Plus, there is no reason to breed them. There are plenty of rabbits in shelters that need homes. And female rabbits need to be spayed before they are 3 because after 4 years old they have an 80% chance of getting uterine cancer.

Let us know how it went/goes! I am so proud of you for your will power, I'm only 13 and I know completely how that goes. Good luck again!

Agree completely that there is no money in rabbits. Seriously. I love mine dearly, but they are a constant financial liability. This goes double for babies. A pregnant and nursing mother can eat up to five times her normal food intake, and this goes on for at least 3-4 months. Growing babies also eat like bottomless pits and may require vet care as they are very, very fragile. Furthermore, as everyone else said, overpopulation is a serious problem and rabbits are being given away for free right and left. People are constantly trying to give me more rabbits. I seriously doubt she would be able to make any money and would probably lose money. Not to mention, if the mother does not take care of the babies, which is very common with a first-time mother, there will be additional costs to buy expensive milk replacers.
highly likely you would not be able to sell all of the babies and then you will have to pay to keep them as well.
Not to mention, suppose the worst happened and your rabbit died as a result? Then she would have to replace your rabbit, another expense.
Best of luck to you and thanks for looking out for your bunny's best interest.

Reproduction does not lead to cancer.
Having an unspayed doe over age a year can lead to increasing female cancer risks by 80-85% by some veterinary sources.