Breeding in doors and are they pets?

[BaileysMom]

I was wondering for those of you that breed, does anyone breed or have litters in your house, or do you all have them outside? How do you keep the maile and female seperate once again do you house them indoors or outdoors, and are any of your breeders pets as in house rabbits that when they don't have a litter get to run around in the house and play?

My husband and I have been thinking about breeding flemish giants but I was curious as to how you guys house them? Is it possible for them to be pets also?

 

[4kr]

Hi Angela,

I've had house buns before and it would be possible to breed and raise babies in the house. However, my hubby didn't like the extra fur and clean up required. So we have a portable building that we insulated/drywalled and has A/C. So now the buns have their own 'house'. I think you could do it. Now I've never owned flemish before but I would think they would need a lot of extra space to stretch their legs.

All of my breeding/show rabbits are pets, only one particular doe will get ugly when she's in heat but other than that I believe they are just as sweet as neutered/spayed pets.

 

[LindyS]

We breed inside our house as our buns are inside right now and outside is not an option for us at the moment. An as I am recently employed I like my buns inside at the moment. Anyway all our buns are pets. We dont breed just for show but also because we love them very much. Right now we have Sarah who is nesting and due in two days. We have Bell as well who will be due in a week.The good thing is I dont have to worry about the heat.

 

[BaileysMom]

Do you guys have to worry about them spraying all over the place and peeing or since they "breed" and get it out of their systems so to speak does that help with that?

 

[4kr]

Personally, I think it totally depends on the rabbit. I've owned one buck that sprayed, he was really hyper and would rub his chin on everything too-he was in testosterone overload, LOL. The rest of my bucks never did and my current two bucks don't spray either.

 

[LindyS]

I dont really have spraying issue but I do however have urin gaurds that I have made that are 4 inchs high from the bottum of the cage. It lines the innner bottum of the cage so when any peeing goes on it hits the gaurd and drips into the pan. Its a flexable galvenized metal that shapes and bends to your needs. Very cheap. We have done two cages and can do four more with just one roll that costed me $11.

 

[BaileysMom]

But what about when you let them out to run and play or exercise, you don't have problems w/ them pee'ing then either?

 

[4kr]

Now my bucks will pee outside of the cage and poop too, like when I let them out in the house to run(one at a time). Since they are not in their territory they do want to mark. We use a soft bunny harness and elastic leash to walk them for out of cage time in our fenced backyard. Some buns don't like it at first and others don't mind it, but they can get a lot of exercise this way.

 

[SNM]

A majority of our rabbits are litter box trained. The ones we've had for a couple years know the routine. They are some smart animals. Everybody is on rotation, Tequila will be in the house, others outside in the pens, and then the few that are in their cages. etc.....
Our females are nice to each other, we've never had an incident. We always keep the males apart.

The babies that are inside are a lot easier to monitor, they tend to develop more quickly, and they like human interaction more. (compared to outside raised litters)

Spraying depends on the bun. Mickey is an expert at spraying me. He just gets excited whenever somebody comes up to his cage, and he gets to spraying and running around.

 

[LindyS]

Wish my females got along. They go to each others cages and "start talking smack". Lol but they all get bedtime with me and get some grooming I put towels on the bed to help out with accidents. I'm startiing to think the floor might be a better choice but my tv's are Mounted on the walls and my neck hurts.

 

[BaileysMom]

Well if we do, we will only be having the one pair of actual breeding rabbits, So I won't have to worry about keeping the male seperate from other breeding males other than keeping him seperate from Oreo my pet house rabbit. I do have other pet house rabbits. We were originally thinking about building outside hutches and then in the winter time we could put them in our basement but I do agree that helping raise the babies and getting them use to people would be a LOT easier if they were indoors, but I'm afraid of the NON fixed ones to pee all over.
I would love to see some of the cages/pens you guys have for the doe's and their kits inside your house. Might give me some better ideas rather than keeping them outside. I agree the "elements" and climate control would be a lot easier to deal with and control inside I just am not sure quite yet how I would pull it off, and I'm looking for all and any advice.

 

[LindyS]

I'll take pics soon and then post. But if you want a pic now I use the stacking cages from tractor supply. They have three sizes I believe but we use 24x24 because we have small buns.

 

[SNM]

You can use outside cages inside. It saves space, but you have to clean every other day to contain the smell.

Pictures are on my website under About us and then Our rabbitry

 

[GorbyJobRabbits]

Honestly keeping the babies inside or outside does not effect personality. It's how much time you put into it. I can't stand the constant cage scrubbing that comes along with a litter in the house. and if you put rabbits outside, don't bring them in for the winter. They adjust, as well as their coat for winter. If you live in canada and it drops to -10, your summer temperatures are not what they are in SE ohio, .. so the rabbit will adjust.


and just because I'm a stickler and have to ask, as well as other people on here generally ask... what is your point in breeding? if its just wanting to flood the pet market, what is the point? I'm not trying to be rude, but I think breeding should have a point. I think there are too many in shelters, too many people who don't believe in the meat market, and too many who breed mix breeds for a cutesy pet market. I'm not saying this is you, but I was just curious and sorry that it does come off as rude. I'm not sure how else to word it lol

 

[LindyS]

Crystal that's not rude. You want to see rude about who is breeding for why purpose? Go to the dobermantalk.com and whippetworld.com sites. They don't know you and you breed and don't show or race they rip into you like your nothing and your a horrible person. Thank gosh my dogs are neutered. If you leave your dog outside for to long they eat you for lunch!

 

[TinysMom]

GorbyJobRabbits wrote:

Honestly keeping the babies inside or outside does not effect personality. It's how much time you put into it. I can't stand the constant cage scrubbing that comes along with a litter in the house. and if you put rabbits outside, don't bring them in for the winter. They adjust, as well as their coat for winter. If you live in canada and it drops to -10, your summer temperatures are not what they are in SE ohio, .. so the rabbit will adjust.


and just because I'm a stickler and have to ask, as well as other people on here generally ask... what is your point in breeding? if its just wanting to flood the pet market, what is the point? I'm not trying to be rude, but I think breeding should have a point. I think there are too many in shelters, too many people who don't believe in the meat market, and too many who breed mix breeds for a cutesy pet market. I'm not saying this is you, but I was just curious and sorry that it does come off as rude. I'm not sure how else to word it lol

As a moderator I want to address this issue from sort of an "official" point of view for the forum.

For a long time we only really "encouraged/supported" breeding for the purpose of show/improving the breed.

However, a while ago - the view changed more to "we support breeders who do RESPONSIBLE breeding" - meaning - they breed rabbits that are healthy - are willing to get vet care - and are making "good" choices - i.e. - they wouldn't take a flemish giant buck to a holland lop doe, etc.

I'm not saying that this is MY position...but we found that by being "sticklers" for "improving the breed only" - we were driving away people who might need our help but be afraid of being torn apart on the forum.

I'm saying this because I just want everyone to understand the OFFICIAL viewpoint on this (at this time) and that we try to limit discussions about "why" a person breeds because it causes arguments, etc.

I hope I make sense!


P.S. Reminder - we don't discuss meat breeding on the forum either due to our "forum decorum" which can be found here.

 

[LindyS]

Oh ok. I didn't know we were not suppose to ask. Sorry again. I just thought that wasn't as rude as I've seen some pet breeders be.

 

[TinysMom]

LindyS wrote:

Oh ok. I didn't know we were not suppose to ask. Sorry again. I just thought that wasn't as rude as I've seen some pet breeders be.

It isn't that you can't ask...

It is simply if the discussion gets going - I want folks to understand where the "official" stand of the forum is directed and why.

We used to be really hard-nosed about only being for "improving the breed", etc. - and we drove folks away.

When you consider that this forum is to help rabbits....it just seemed like we needed to back off a bit.

It isn't that we encourage mixed breeding (although right now I have a flee-lop (flemish e-lop) that was an accidental breeding when my girl got into Brady's pen when he was exercising....and my husband has asked me to do a repeat breeding because they are so cute and people are interested in them.

However- there are very few breeders around here - no shelter/rescue for rabbits - so my situation is different here than if I were in Ct. where my friend works with a shelter and it seems like they're always slammed with bunnies!

 

[CiaraPatricia]

My rabbits are all outdoors because there's more space for them there, and other reasons, I like having them outdoors and spending time outdoors with them. But they are all my pets even though I breed them.

I just keep the males and females in separate hutches/runs, but the females get to live together when they're not breeding/raising a litter. I have 4 females, and 2 males (one new baby). And they are all my pets.

I try to treat the new babies as pets and give them lots of socialisation but not get too attached.

I really want to keep one of the baby ones I have now, but to do that I'd really have to sell his dad, and I don't want to sell any of my rabbits, because they're my pets. When they retire from breeding, I'll get them neutered and they can live together. Probably when they're about 3 or so.

You could breed them indoors, I don't see any problem with it, as long as you have space for a big litter of babies when they start getting big and adventurous

 

[BaileysMom]

GorbyJobRabbits wrote:

Honestly keeping the babies inside or outside does not effect personality. It's how much time you put into it. I can't stand the constant cage scrubbing that comes along with a litter in the house. and if you put rabbits outside, don't bring them in for the winter. They adjust, as well as their coat for winter. If you live in canada and it drops to -10, your summer temperatures are not what they are in SE ohio, .. so the rabbit will adjust.

I don't live in Canada, I live in Illinois so I get the hot humid summers and the freezing cold winters. I would just be starting out so wouldn't be able to afford heaters, or air conditioners or anything like that. But I am starting to think that if I built hutches outside I could attach a fenced yard (hopefully I could figure out one that I could fold flat to make mowing easier) they would get more run/exercise time, during the day they could run in the fenced yard all day, I have great danes that pretty much keep all the stray animals out of the yard, and we do have turkey vultures around here but I don't know how well they would be able to get a hold of a flemish giant. Plus their hutches would be open during the day still so they could hide in them if needed. Just trying to figure out my options.