a question from a friend

i have a friend who has taken interest in rabbit breeding and is breeding a new breed call a lionhead lop (or lion lop). it is a cross between a lionhead and holland or mini lop... she wants to try 1 litter and if she cant handle it then have both rabbis fixed... and she says she has a whole list of prospect homes for babies already ready for this 1st litter...

anyways she has a pedigreed holland and lionhead who have already bonded, she got them at a young age as well, and is now worries about having to separate them until they are of breeding age and then have to rebond them. she knows they are capable of breeding by 12 weeks but doesnt want them to until they are about 4-5 months, they are only 9 weeks right now...

what advice can i give her? is it ok for them to breed at such a young age? is there a chance they wont even try?

Hi there

This forum mainly focuses on the best welfare for domestic rabbits and generally, breeding rabbits just produces more rabbits that don't have homes. Not a very good outcome for a much loved pet.

Most of the people here feel that it is better to give a home to a rabbit from an animal rescue shelter rather than buy one from a breeder or pet store. It is a question of accommodating animals in need before thoughtlessly producing others. Many breeders who are trying to arrive at the 'perfect' breed produce lots of rejects. Some of which may be 'necked' or killed by the breeder or sold, sometimes ending up as pet reptile food or neglected. Of course, some do find good homes, but it is better not to breed rather than take the chance.

The advice here is to have your rabbit neutered so that you don't have surprise litters. This also gives buns a happier life because the hormonal urges to procreate are stopped and females have a lower risk of ovarian cancer which is very common in females over the age of four or five.

I hope your friend will think again about breeding from her pets, have them neutered and just enjoy them whatever the shape or their ears or colour of fur.

It would be better breeding pedigree rabbits where you know where the parents, grand parents, etc etc are from and if they have any known health problems. I have nothing against good responsible breeders like your friend seems to be. If she were to breed the rabbits anyway id suggest making a contract stating if under certain circumstances the rabbits need to be re-homed, to take he/she back to the breeder so she can re-home them as rescues are over run with rabbits as you probably know. Dont breed until at least a year, lionheads are quite small so problems definitly will occur if bred younger. By then the bond will be stronger and theres a big chance they wont re-bond.

Does she know their backgrounds? If she does, and knows the family have been healthy, then I think its acceptable to breed, as long as there are homes waiting, and she will take back rabbits in the future should the people lose interest or need them rehoming.

Lionlops are absolutely beautiful, I find them the best of both worlds and will only own them in the future.

Personally, I'm against breeding but if your friend really has got her heart set on it and really can find the babies good homes then I think that makes her one of the rarer responsible breeders.

However - I believe (but I may be wrong, I'm just going on what I've read...) it's common for lionheads and lops to have dental problems caused by selective breeding (for the manes) and head shape (mostly of the lops, which often have squished up faces). If she's breeding the two together, I should think the chances of the babies developing dental problems will be quite high so she will need to make sure the babies go to homes where the owners are aware of the implications of having a pet with such problems - or even be prepared to keep the kits herself. It's a worst case scenario but it's one that needs to be considered.

For this and other reasons, it is very important that she knows the backgrounds of her breeding rabbits. I don't think anyone, including sensible breeders, would recommend breeding rabbits that have come from a pet shop or similar where no information about their past has been given.

she doesn't trust pet shops at all! her babies are from past show bunnies from a breeder who seemed like she loved her bunnies dearly...

so what does my friend do about the age thing? since they are male/female and they were bonded young should re-bonding them be a little easier? Should she try when they are in "heat" (in hopes that mother nature will overrule territoriality )?

in nature wouldn't breeding occur at a young age as soon as hormones kicked in without a problem anyhow, or did our domesticating mess things up hah?