Breeding - prevention and how to breed properly -

You may have heard the expression "breeding like rabbits". This is because rabbits are known to breed quite a lot! If left unattended a male and female rabbit who are sexually mature will breed numerous times and you will end up with lots and lots of little bunnies. Breeding is serious and people often let young rabbits play together and do not realize and they think how could this happen as they are not adults but rabbits can mate from 12 weeks old (this should not be allowed as it could kill the mother as her bones have not properly developed yet). If you are not wanting this to happen there are lots of ways to prevent it. I do not recommend breeding unless you are really interested and dedicated and have the time and facilities to do so.
So many people don't care about their rabbit getting pregnant but it is serious - you wouldn't just let your dog or cat get pregnant - these are little lives that are being put in jeopardy by careless people.

These are different breeder hutches that you can get.

Prevention:
Rabbits can breed from a very young age (12 weeks) so if you have a boy and a girl seperate them. Also, make sure that if you have two rabbits living together or interacting that you know the sexes (sexes can be known from 4 weeks old). Pet shops, etc can get it wrong so get a second opinion by a vet or someone who knowsa lot about rabbits. Make sure you know the sexes or next time you go out there could be lots of bunnies.
Get your rabbits neutered. A neutered male and female can be great companions and the sooner you get them neutered the better as this allows them to play together without the risk of babies and also prevents sexual frustration (which may be taken out on ther things - your foot etc). There are also many other reasons why you should neuter your rabbits as well as preventing babies (check out my blog: Neutering).


How to breed properly:
If you are thinking of breeding then first consider that breeding is most definitely not an activity to be entered into lightly, or casually, without assessing whether you have the knowledge and extensive time-commitment required – and permanent, responsible loving homes for the youngsters.

Before breeding, please ask yourself:-

• "Why do I want to breed my rabbits?"
• "What will I achieve through breeding?"
• "Do I have the time commitment, knowledge and experience to proceed?"
• "Do I have good, responsible and loving homes for the offspring?"

These are all very important to consider whether you are breeding for a hobby or a business.
The first thing to do is gather interest. You want people to know that you breed rabbits so that people will contact YOU to find out if you have any available. That way you will have homes for the kits when they are old enough and will have a waiting list of people wanting a kit instead of them being born and then not having any homes. You can get interest by setting up a website, word of mouth, posters, etc.

What age should your rabbits be when they should start breeding?
Rabbits can breed from as young as 3 months but should not be allowed. A small breed doe is normally ready to mate when she is 5 months old, and a buck is ready at 6 months. The medium size doe is ready to breed when she is 6 months old and the buck at 7 months. The heavy breed doe is ready at 8 months and the buck is ready at 9 months. I would suggest though to wait until your does are at least 9 months old before she has her first litter (no matter what breed she is).

Now the actual mating:
It's usually a good idea to select rabbits to breed whose ancestry has evidence of good productivity and good genetics. That's where productivity records and pedigrees listing show winnings come in handy. Keep productivity and show records of your herd just for this purpose.
You may keep a ratio of one buck to 10 does if you wish. The buck may be bred up to 7 times a week effectively. Sometimes, you can use the buck twice in one day. The most I use a buck is twice a week.
If you have a buck and a doe put the doe into the bucks hutch or area, as this will encourage mating to occur quicker because if you put the buck into the does he will want to investigate and most likely the female will attack the buck as they are extremely territorial. Some leave the doe with the buck overnight. Others put the doe in, watch it, and when they have mated, remove the doe. If you do the latter, put the doe back in with the buck 1 to 12 hours after the initial breeding. This will increase the likelihood of pregnancy and may increase the number of offspring. However, do NOT let the doe and buck mate multiple times or freely as they please as this can cause problems because the doe has two uterine horns, each of which can carry babies. It is possible for one horn to be fertilized on the first mating and the second to be fertilized on the second mating. This will create a hormonal imbalance and cause the babies in both uteri to not form right, causing her to pass blobs instead of babies at the date of kindling. There is also a chance these "mummified" blobs could cause complications leading to the death of the doe. So - if you let them breed then a week or so later she may have got pregnant the first time and also the second so she and the kits may die.
After they have mated, pick up the doe and hold her rump up to contain the semen. Once they have mated, seperate them and once you have picked the doe up put her comfortably in her own hutch as if it is her first time she may be slightly traumatised . She should have a nice straw bed and plenty of hay to make her nest. It is a good idea to have a nest box for her as she will give birth there and the babies will be safe inside. Also if the mother is being annoyed by her kittens, she can go out of the nest box and get some peace. If you do not have a nest box, at the edges of the hutch ake sure that there is a lip bit to stop the kits falling out as they are born blind.

One example of a nest box

If you have a doe and want to breed her but do not have or know a buck you can get a stud rabbit. This is particularly good if you have a pure breed doe and want to get a pure breed buck with good standards and a good blood line. This will will help give you an outstanding litter of kittens which can be sold for a lot of money. Also if you have a very outstanding BRC buck with champion blood you can rent him out as a stud if he is not neutered. This can give both parties the best of both worlds if you do not want or have the space for both a buck and doe.

Who Can Be Bred To Whom?
Never breed brothers to sisters. Other combinations are fine: father-to-daughter, mother-to-son, cousins, etc. Until you gain some knowledge as to how genetics works with inbreeding, I would recommend your not breeding closely related pairs.

Rabbit Diseases 2

Malocclusion

This post is in dedication of an art teacher i know called Mr Macdonald who has a rabbit with constant growing teeth. He has had them removed but nothing works. We never get the chance to proparly talk for long enough about it and it is such a big problem in rabbits that i thought i ought to just type away about it.

Malocclusion is the constant growing of rabbits teeth and disalignment of the incisors.

The largest problem rabbits have is with their teeth. 90% of rabbit illnesses and problems are to do with their teeth. Many health issues and illnesses lead back to their teeth. Let me go into it.

The classic picture of a rabbit for most people is the goofy buck-toothed Bugs bunny or Dylan from the magic roundabout. Whilst these seem healthy cartoon characters, rabbits with teeth which do not meet or whick have poor enamel are in a dangerous state.

How?

Rabbits teeth grow constantly all of their life (as much as 2mm per week) and if they grow too longthey can be very painful. If the teeth are not worn down by chewing, the cheek teeth grow too long and are forced together. Further growth forces the mouth open slightly so that the front incisors do not meet properly and they start to overgrow and lengthen. The upper incisors curl back into the mouth and the lower incisors protrude outwards. This is usually the stage at which a problem is noticed but there is already considerable damage by this time. If the molars or cheek teeth do not meet properly they wear unevenly, causing sharp spikes to form. They erode at the gums causing painful ulcers.

Signs

Bottom teeth start to protrude.

Rabbits may lose their appetites because of the pain the are not able to eat or chew.

Loss of weight.

Other signs of dental disease can be persisitent runny or infected eyes. This is because the tear ducts will be affected by abnormalities of the roots of the incisor teeth.

Dental problems may also affect the rabbits ability to eat their caecotrophs which then stick to the rabbits bottom and attract flies. Failure to eat caecotrophs may also  lead to nutritional deficiences which can be fatal.

Rabbits will struggle to groom themselves at all.

The rabbit may dribble.

Abscesses in the mouth and jaw.

As the condition progresses the jaw may become lumpy as the jaw bone erodes. This is very painful and may lead to infection in the tooth roots and abscesses on the face and head.

Why?

Malocclusion in rabbits is either inherited (hereditary) or acquired.

One reason is that the bones of the jaw do not form properly due to deficiences in calcium and other minerals.

Inherited malocclusion is more likely to happen with dwarf breeds of rabbits. They have been bred with small heads so the rabbit’s teeth may not sit correctly in their small jaw.
Acquired malocclusion happens when teeth aren’t ground down over time, or an accident, or even excessive pulling on the wire of their cage, changes the alignment of the incisors.
One main reason for malocclusion is that many rabbits are bred wrongly and i do not recommend buying a rabbit from a pet shop as they are not bred right and you do not know their ancestory and if there is a hereditary dental problem. Therefore, the teeth do not grind down as easily as they should. Another reason is wrong nutrition. Many people do not feed their rabbits the right stuff with the right nutrients and do not provide the tools with which to keep their teeth short. Some breeds actually are prone to dental problems (genetic malformation) so check out the breed first. Dental disease is often the underlying cause of other disorders of the rabbit (e.g. digestive system, malnutrition, skin disease, fly strike, social disharmony and aggression.)

How to prevent and help it
Feeding should mimic what a rabbit would eat in the wild (i.e not all pellets!). Hay and grass foods should form most of a rabbits diet. People think that its food bowl should be full all the time and it is true that rabbits shouls eat a little often but only a little dry food should be given and as long as they have hay/grass and water they will be fine. They are especially good for dental health as the gnawing action required to eat them helps rabbits to wear down their teeth. Chew toys and large blocks of wood are also good for gnawing on and mineral blocks and twigs (make sure first though that the tree is not poisonous). If wood is not given the rabbit will start to eat away the inside of the hutch. Plastic food bowls and toys and treated wood are not recommended as if chewed can harm your rabbit. Overgrown incisors should be shortened by being filed down by dental burrs or clipped if really bad however sometimes clipping teeth can damage teeth and gums. If the case is very bad one long term solution is to remove upper and lower incisors. When getting a rabbit, check out the ancestory and make sure the breed is not prone to teeth problems and that the rabbits ancestors did not have dental problems as it could be passed on. Remember and check your rabbits teeth daily as its better to look for early signs that can be prevented quickly.





Rabbit dental burrs



Dedication to Dusty

On Sunday 29th May my beloved childhood french lop Dusty died. She had just turned 9 yrs old. She had began to get really old and slowed right down but she was such a great rabbit. Her sister Floppsy mourned over her for a while but is now doing much better and i have been letting her have more interaction with her friend Fudge who seems to be making her happy. There are two pictures of Floppsy and Dusty on my blogger (one at the top of the page and one at the bottom) Dusty is the grey and white one. She never liked to be lifted up much and i called her my "wee ground rabbit" as she was so happy and felt safe when she was on the ground. She would come over and stretch her wee neck out for you to clap her. She was fantastic at doing tricks and was great at walking by my side on the harness and agility. She won competitions for agility and was so responsive to signals. I miss her ever so much and no other rabbit i get will ever compare to her.

R.I.P Dusty my wee Princess