Crossbreeding

[ZapharaNova1300]

Hi! I have a tortoiseshell dutch rabbit. I got her from someone who breeds rabbits for showing. However, her ears were too short and tail was too long so I adopted her because she couldn't be used as a show rabbit. She has a unique eye (one is brown while the other is a sky blue), so I was thinking about breeding her. I don't have another male dutch but my neighbors have a male large rabbit and offered for me to breed my rabbit with theirs. (An all white rex, not 100% sure what breed he is) I've been getting mixed answers if it is or isn't okay to cross breed a smaller rabbit with a bigger one. Is this okay? Could my rabbit have any complications? I want to make sure it's safe before trying to breed them.

 

[Preitler]

What's their weight, respectively?

It is said that the buck shouldn't be too large, a range of up to 3/4 doe/buck is not that uncommon though. Haven't read about someome trying a more extreme combination, so I can't tell if that what's being said is right. There are people arguing that kit growth is controlled by what the placenta delivers anyway and that the bucks genes will come into play after birth, but I'm not the one to say "just go ahead".

I wouldn't advice breeding anyway if you don't have a solid plan for what to do with the kits, mongrels are plentiful and the chances that eye colour would be a selling point are slim, imho.

 

[ZapharaNova1300]

I'm not 100% sure how much the buck weighs, judging how he looks I'd say 8-9ish pounds? My doe weighs about 6 pounds give or take. Thank you for your advice. I know that the change in eye color isn't a super rare thing. I just thought it would be a cute combo. I've bred dutch rabbits before and always have a set plan for after the babies are born, where they are going etc. I just don't have the experience to know if it's safe to cross breed 2 different sized rabbits. Anyway, thanks again! I really appreciate it.