Female Scared of Male

[Connie]

Hi :]

My sister and I were hoping to possibly breed our two Netherland Dwarf rabbits in the near future. The two are both 6 months old.
We were hoping to sucessfully breed them after many many hours of research on the subject.
Our problem is that the female is completely terrified of the male. I cannot understand why, as they grew up together. They have been seperated since they were 2 or 3 months old, but they were well bonded as babies.
Now, whenever the female comes near the male she grunts or squeals and runs quickly away. You can just tell she is terrified. We want to breed them, but the doe is so terrified of the buck that she won't let him anywhere near her.
Is this normal? Are we doing anything wrong?
Advice would be immensly appreciated.

 

[aurora369]

Hi,

I moved your thread to the rabbitry so the breeders can give you advice.

My best guess is that your doe is not ready to breed yet. She may need a couple more months till she feels ready.

--Dawn

 

[RAL Rabbitry]

The doe does not sound like she is ready to breed. You can check her vent

to see what color the tissue is. If it is a very pale pink than she will probably

not be receptive to the buck. If it is darker pink she is ready. You could try

switching their cages for a day or housing them next to each other. Another

thing that works is to take the doe for a ride in the car. The stress of the ride

triggers hormones that make the does more receptive. Trust me when I get back

from a show all of the does that went to the show are raring togo.

Another thing you could try is table breeding. Place the doe on a carpeted

surface and bring the buck to her. You can control what goes on and keep the

buck from getting agressive with her. She may feel more secure not being in his

cage.

Good luck!

Roger

 

[Connie]

Thanks very much both of you! That is very helpful. I'll let you know how things go.

 

[polly]

Hi i agree with the others she is not ready. I would also say that it is worth leaving the nethies till they are 7 or 8 months before breeding as when i first started breeding and especially on a nethies first litter they can be still born so let them get a bit bigger.

If you leave her longer and she is still the same then i wouldn't breed her if she doesn't want to.

I would say they are not always the easiest to breed as you can get peanuts coming through the litters because of the double dwarf gene.