mixing breeds for cute factor

[starseed]

my little Mahle if the sweetest bun i've had to date. she loves attention, she doesnt chew cords, she's generally well mannered overall. (except for late-night digging, but we wont go there.)

the breeder i got her from breeds holland lops and red thriantas, which are super cute, but a little more high-energy and a bit larger.

she breeds for show and for 4-H, and she's the only breeder i've seen who also bred for temperment. all the buns i've seen at her place are the sweetest little things!

i want to get her a red thrianta for a friend, and since neither are fixed yet, and most 1st litters are pretty small, would there be any harm in mixing the breeds? i'm going for personality, really, and both are top notch.

so i guess aside from having to take the time to find good, permanent homes for the kits, is there any particular reason i shouldnt?

thanks...

derrick

 

[TinysMom]

starseed wrote:

i want to get her a red thrianta for a friend, and since neither are fixed yet, and most 1st litters are pretty small, would there be any harm in mixing the breeds? i'm going for personality, really, and both are top notch.

so i guess aside from having to take the time to find good, permanent homes for the kits, is there any particular reason i shouldnt?

thanks...

derrick

First of all Derrick, let me start out by saying that I am a breeder - of lionheads. I have done 2 mixed breed breedings - I mated my Holland Lop buck with a NZ Mix doe - because I had requests for lop eared rabbits from people and there is no lop breeder within a 3 hour drive (one way) that I knew of. I have arranged to buy a Holland Lop doe so I can do purebred breedings as I really believe this is the best thing for the breed.

With that said, I felt I was able to do the cross because the doe is larger than my buck (and she has had NO problems having his babies - she had 5 in the first litter and 6 in the second litter).

What you are talking about though - sounds like you would be taking a larger buck and mating it with a smaller doe. I went and read about the sizes of thiantras and it seems like they get bigger than Holland lops. This could cause your doe problems with stuck kits and if that happened - you could even wind up losing your doe.

I have been doing research with two Holland Lop breeders (who also breed lionheads) before buying my doe. The comments that were made to me led me to believe that it is better for me to get a "brood quality" doe (bigger- not so much show quality) and use her with a show quality buck. This way, I would be less likely to have problems with births ~ because a "typey" doe is more likely to have problems - even if bred to another Holland Lop - let alone a thrianta.

So I guess that what I'm trying to say is .... I would not recommend this breeding at all. I think you could be putting your doe's life at stake and I really don't see where you would get a good cross from the two breeds. (In my case, the NZ doe appeared to be part lop also).

If you really wanted to do a breeding - I would ask the breeder if she would breed your doe to one of her bucks - she will probably charge you a fee for stud service. I also would have her look at your doe to make sure she is large enough to not have problems.

I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm raining on your parade here....normally I would not go for mixed breedings at all - but as I said, I have done so twice due to requests and since they were popular enough- I will be breeding one or two does to my Holland Lop.

I do commend you for taking the time to research this before just doing it....that might have saved your doe's life!

Peg

 

[starseed]

alrighty, thank you for the insight. i wasnt sure if the 2 pounds of difference in breeds would make it difficult for the doe in question.

but good to know! i'll just get them fixed instead.

thanks for the quick reply and good advice!

derrick

 

[spitfire]

Hi. Sorry to burst your bubble ...but breeding is a serious thing. When you breed a rabbit or any pet for that matter you take responsibility for those babies for their entire lives - whether it be an emotional responsibility or a phsyical responsibility (keeping all of them). On that note, a mixed breed bunny has a lesser chance of being cared for properly in my opinion. You see, with a purebred when an owner stops caring for it that purebred can go on to a breeders and have a good purpose in life. He/she will be fed and groomed properly. His/ her quality of life has been insured by being a purebred. However, a mixed breed bunny is at the mercy of his people. When they tire of caring for him it is hoped that a responsible person will come along and take him home as a pet. This doesn't always happen and I'll spare you some gory details for now...but you need to think about what kind of lives the babies will have in the event you decided to breed mixed bunnies. Even for just one litter you might not want their well being on your conscience. Just take a look at all of the bunnies in the nearest shelter to you - do they have any purebreds? How many in comparison to mixed breed bunnies? I wonder how many bunnies end up at the shelter in comparison to those poor bunnies that are still living in cardboard boxes or being ignored or being fed only once every other day... or how about the ones that never get their cages cleaned? Not to mention the abuse some are suffering right this very minute!
I dont mean to give you a hard time! I just think that if more people would be honest about these answers then we'd have less unwanted shelter animals.