Question on Mating

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bethcookie

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Location
, Maine, USA
I am new to this forum. I joinedbecause I have a question I need answered right away and my daughtersuggested to find a forum. I have two bunnies and I am tryingto mate them. She runs from him the whole time and she ismaking funny noises. Quiet squealing noises. When Itried to pick her up she grunted loudly like a pig and ran fromme. Does this mean she does not want to mate withhim? Should I separate them and give up? She alsotrys to hump him. I have tried on 3 other occasions to matethem and the same kind of behavior happened. I would wait 10days afterwards but she was never pregnant. Maybe I didn'tleave them together long enough? Or is one of themsterile? Sorry, so many questions.
 
She is mating him because she is showing herdominance over him. You could try waiting a few days andtrying again. Or you could try to hold her in one spot so hecan get on her. Keep holding her there until he isfinished. Do not leave them alone together unless you arewith them. Sounds to me like she could injure him.Some does are like that. Others are very passive andcooperative.

Sharon
 
Successful breeding only takes a fewseconds. The buck and doe should never be lefttogether. I have seen bucks ruined for breeding because anaggressive doe intimidated them to the point where they would nevermount a doe again.

I also don't let the buck chase the doe due to possibility ofinjury. The doe's behavior is not always an accurateindicator of receptiveness. If the doe's vulva isdry and pale, she is not receptive. It should be pink andmoist. Generally does are not receptive if the vulva ispurple (they are past the receptive stage at this point).

Before attempting to breed your rabbits, I would take the time to do more research.

Pam

http://www.geocities.com/pamnock/

 
They are both a dwarf, lionhead mix about 6months or more old. They have tried to mate before butnothing happened.
 
Starlight Rabbitry wrote:
Or you could try to hold her in one spot so he can get onher. Keep holding her there until he is finished.
Click to expand...


Sentences like these are why I'll never get into rabbit breeding. :melodramatic
 
Smelly - The reason that you hold the doe in onespot is to prevent injury to her or the buck. If she isallowed to keep running around the cage in circles, she could break herleg or even her back! Some does like to play "hard to get"with the bucks, but as soon as you hold her in one spot, the buckmounts her and she lifts on her own. If she doesn'tlift, she is most likely not ready.

Hope this clarifies the reason breeders do this. We are notforcing her to breed, we are protecting her and the buck frominjury. I don't want to see anything bad happen to my animalsas they are also my pets, not just breeding stock.

Sharon
 
I know it's legit and all. Doesn't make it any less weird to me. :) Just ain't my thing.
 
Well I put them together again today.I held her still and he did it, but he didn't rollover. Does that mean it didn't take? Ifelt so mean holding her. And she made the whining noiseagain the whole time. Guess I have to wait another 10 days tosee. That is always the hard part, the waiting and then itdidn't take. She is happily munching on greens now.
 
I am sorry, but I believe if you dont know whatyou are doing, then DONT do it. There are far too many homeless rabbitsout there for someone to be breeding pets.
 
Some bucks do not "fall off" thedoe. The only way to be sure is to palpate or just wait the30 days. You should be able to feel babies at 28 days forsure.

Sharon
 
Starlight Rabbitry, I think smelly just meansthat it's an odd idea to be holding onto something while it's beingmated with - which does sound strange when you think about itespecially from the point of view of a pet owner not a breeder.

I wouldn't be mating cross bred rabbits either bethcookie, there is just no point.
 
Minilops, What exactly is a crossbred?? A mix? And what do you mean there is nopoint??? Is there only a point if you can mate them to sellor show??? I am mating them for LOVE. We love ourpets. Lily is an indoor house rabbit. Sheis kind of like a cat. She loves to be held and she licks melike one of her kind. Philip is great too, but he prefers tobe outside during the day and comes in at night. He loves towalk on his leash too around the yard. We would love to haveanother rabbit! We have already found 4 homes if they ever havebabies.Phillip will be getting fixed as soon asLily gives birth.
 
Are you SURE they are of theopposite sex? Many times pet stores will get the genderswrong. Have you attempted to sex them yourself? Agreat website with pictured instructionsis located here:http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/sexing.shtml

Bucks (Boys):http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/sexingboys.shtml
Does (Girls):http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/sexinggirls.shtml
  • Is there a particular reason you are trying to breed these two? (other than wanting another Pet Bunny?)
  • SHOULD these two rabbits be bred? Do youknow their ancestry and do you know if they carry any genetichealthdefects that SHOULD NOT be continued?
  • Are you prepared for the possibility of losing your doe due tokindling difficulties and the possibilities of stuck kits?
  • Do you have a fall back plan for the kits in case their motherdoesn't nurse them? Are you aware that hand raising is verydifficult and the chances of any single kit surviving through bottleraising is about 25%, if not less?
  • Do you have homes for the offspring once they're ready to leave their mom (6-8week old)?
  • What are you going to do with them if one of the homes changes theirmind?
These are all very important questions, although theycan be tough to answer from the heart, arewhatmustbe considered before introducing a buck and a doe forbreeding. I strongly suggest you thoroughly think thesethrough.

Since you've already introduced them (be sureyou write downthe exact dates of theattempted pairings)... your best betwould be to read this thread:PIN:The Bunny - From Conception to Weaning and BreedingBasics

If you still have questions after reading it... we'll be happy to help as best we can.



And yes, Cross bred rabbits are another term for "mixedbreeds". The reason Minilops stated that there "was no point"was mostly due to the afore mentioned questions. There isalso the consideration that there is little to no market for mixedbreed rabbits mainly due to the unknown ancestorage. Manypeople who look for rabbits as a pet or other want to know #1) How bigwill it get when full grown, #2) Is there a history of illness /disease in the family tree, #3) What general traits (personality /physical) are there in the family history.

All these questions are unknowns when it comes to mixed breeds, howeverthese are all traceable with papered pure breeds. It does notcome down to a point of selling or showing, it's a point of ethics andguaranteed health.

If you're looking for another bunny to add to your home, for the loveof the bunny that will be added - I suggest you look in your localshelter and adopt. Not only will this save a life, but it maysave 2 lives (if complications were to occur with your doe).

Just a thought.

~Sunshine

 
Not to sound harsh or anything but..

Thereare risksin breeding, and since they are closepets, I wouldn't take the chance. What if she dies giving birth? Or youhave to spend hundreds of dollars in medical expenses if she hascomplications? If you want another rabbit, maybe look into adopting?Rabbitscan have large litters, so what if you can't findhomes for the extra babies? Will you rebreed her to get another litterif the kits die? I take breeding very seriously, and there is a lot oftime, thought, worry andmoney that goes into it.

With the litter your planning on having just puts a shelter rabbit atrisk of not finding a home. You might not be affecting the rabbitdirectly, but to me there are far too many homeless rabbits that willbekilled because people have litters out of love.
 
I agree - if these are pets, there is no reason to put the doe at risk by breeding her.

I've been breeding for many years for show and here are some of thefollowing pregnancy and kindling problems that myself or others I knowhave commonly had to deal with:

Dwarf breeds are more prone to birthing difficulties (dystocia) thanother breeds. Kits can get stuck in thebirth canal (A c-section can cost $200 or more).The doe can also hemorrhage to death.

In some cases, the doe may delivery part of her litter successfully,but an inexperienced breeder may not be able to palpate and is notaware that a kit is still retained in the uterus. This canlead to a fatal infection.

Ketosis can cause sudden death in the doe immediately before or after giving birth.

Mastitis. The kits cannot be nursed off a doe with a mammarygland infection, so alternate feeding method must be found.Mastitis can be chronic and difficult to treat.

Does may also eat their young. One of the worst cases I'veseen was the doe who over-cleaned her young, removing all theextremities: ears, tails and legs clean down to the truck.The tragic part was that the kits were all stillalive. I've also seen a number of times where thedoes have eaten half the heads off.

Enteritis can also be another heartbreaking diseasebecause it kills young kits and is nearly impossible to treat.



Love is simply nota reason to justify putting a pet animalat risk. I would advise spaying and neutering your pets.


Pam

http://www.geocities.com/pamnock/

 
I wasn't trying to insult you, bethcookie :),sorry I didn't elaborate. I have been there myself with cross-bredrabbits and people do usually seem to end up dropping them off inshelters when they tire of the rabbit. I don't know why but a lot ofpeople get into buying a 'mixed breed' rabbit as you guys call it, thenlater find out more about purebreds and wanna have a cute littlelionhead/holland etc and be able to show off to friends and familyabout the parentage etc.

My rabbit had babies a month after getting her, and they were mixed. Ihad a lot of trouble with one getting badly crusted eyes and had totake a few trips to the vet. She had 7 babies again a few monthsafterwards from a wandering buck and lost a lot of her condition as shewasn't that well to begin with. I had people bring their kids over tochoose a bunny and throwing them to the ground when they discoveredthat bunnies have claws. It was a nightmare! It was rally sad for mehaving to rehome them too, it's just a lot of heartache for what reallyamounts to a few weeks of cuteness. That's what I meant by not worth it:). I had some good homes lined up too but I never even thought shewould have 7 so the last 2 were really hard to rehome and in the end Iwanted to keep them but our landlord said no way. It was awefull!
 
A rabbit (Depending on the breed) can have quitea lot of babies. Mini-lops can have anything from 1-8 kits in onelitter (The most I've ever had with my mini-lops are 6 in a litter) andif you are thinking of keeping ALL of the babies, there is the questionof housing.
Males and females would have to be separated and/or neutered/spayed andthere is no guarantee that the mother would want to be kept with herdaughters or that two daughters/sons would want to be kept together.Like humans, some rabbits just don't get along. So that would mean in aworse case scenario a whole lot of hutches!

If you are thinking of maybe keeping only 1 or 2 of your babies, thereis the problem of getting attached. It can cause a whole lot ofneedless heartache when you only have room for 1 baby but you love thewhole litter.
Try weighing up the pros and cons of babies first, then if you thinkthe pros outweigh the cons and you have accurate knowledge of how tohandle breeding then go ahead and I hope you have a great time :)
 
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