Breeding Help

Hi :wave:

I'm afraid this is a pro-rescue forum, as there are already over 40,000 rabbits in rescues all over the country, breeding just adds to it when people buy rabbits for children or whoever, and they realise they can't afford the vets bills and things and they end up needing another home.

You need to know a fair few generations back before actually breeding because of how prone to dentals and things they can be. I don't think you can keep them together because rabbits can get pregnant soon after giving birth.

Hi,

Welcome to the forum

Ideally rabbits should not be bonded unless they are spayed/neutered because of the risk of fights due to hormones (this is presuming they are the same sex- if they are opposite sex then it would be cruel to the female and risky for the babies to be together). When a bunny is pregnant she will have even more hormones and so the risk of fights increases even more. Naturally, in the wild the doe will take herself off and make a burrow just for her kits. If you are to keep any bunnies together then you need to have masses and masses of space, far exceeding what the RWA recommend for bunnies (which is 44sqft of permanent access). It's not personally something I would risk though.

It would be advised to bond them back once both are spayed.

You might want to have a read of this, about breeding responsibly. http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?327922

Please do be aware though, that many members of this forum are anti breeding, although some are not anti breeding. I personally am anti irresponsibility, be it breeder or pet owner or whoever.

I guess my question is do you have a reason as to why you want to breed

Sky-O said:

Hi,

Welcome to the forum

Ideally rabbits should not be bonded unless they are spayed/neutered because of the risk of fights due to hormones. When a bunny is pregnant she will have even more hormones and so the risk of fights increases even more. Naturally, in the wild the doe will take herself off and make a burrow just for her kits. If you are to keep any bunnies together then you need to have masses and masses of space, far exceeding what the RWA recommend for bunnies (which is 44sqft of permanent access). It's not personally something I would risk though.

You might want to have a read of this, about breeding responsibly. http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?327922

Please do be aware though, that many members of this forum are anti breeding, although some are not anti breeding. I personally am anti irresponsibility, be it breeder or pet owner or whoever.

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:thumb:


To add - an unneutered male should definitely not be kept with an unneutered female when she's pregnant. She could have her babies at any time and the male can inseminate her pretty much immediately after birth. If you had the intention of removing him after the babies birth, you probably wouldn't get there in time. A mother who has a new litter of babies and is pregnant again will not be able to successfully raise both litters, and frequently won't be able to raise either. It puts a lot of stress on her and even if she tries her best she can't raise a full litter while being pregnant. Once the second litter is pregnant she's likely to abandon the first - way before they should be weaned. So basically not a good idea :wave:

yaretzi said:

:thumb:


To add - an unneutered male should definitely not be kept with an unneutered female when she's pregnant. She could have her babies at any time and the male can inseminate her pretty much immediately after birth. If you had the intention of removing him after the babies birth, you probably wouldn't get there in time. A mother who has a new litter of babies and is pregnant again will not be able to successfully raise both litters, and frequently won't be able to raise either. It puts a lot of stress on her and even if she tries her best she can't raise a full litter while being pregnant. Once the second litter is pregnant she's likely to abandon the first - way before they should be weaned. So basically not a good idea :wave:

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You got me before my edit :lol: Curse you!

If the bonded friend happens to be her Mother or sister then I think you can keep them together. But not if it is a male as he will most likely kill the babies and mate with her straightaway.

Dave81 said:

I guess my question is do you have a reason as to why you want to breed

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I'm wondering this too.

I would be so worried about where the little ones would end up. Have you got any plans in place?

I think your questions have already been answered, I used to be involved in the breeding 'world' a lot and what I will say is PLEASE go to someone incredibly trusted if you must breed (although even then you can't be 100% sure) to get the right rabbits, rabbits can carry all sorts of hidden genetic diseases and problems which can not only affect them when their immune systems are lower, or when they're undergoing operations such as neutering etc. but it could also be brought up worse in the babies, I've seen a few and heard of all sorts of problems when people have bred rabbits without knowing their full genetic history and it's been heartbreaking for them and the rabbits probably suffered a lot I certainly wouldn't do it again, it's too big a risk and there's already too many rabbits in the UK, suffering or in rescues (tens of thousands infact) mainly because they're being bred for no real reason, good on you for at least researching it though, many don't

If you still decide to go on, and you care for the lives of the young ones PLEASE homecheck as a rescue would, don't give the rabbits out 'first come first serve', get everyone to fill in forms asking about rabbit care, if they have other pets/children etc, if they are planning on vaccinating and neutering, and try visit them if you can and see what size (and how safe) the place is they plan on keeping the rabbit, if not demand pictures, only choose the very best to rehome your rabbits to, and if you don't have enough brilliant homes, keep the remaining rabbits until you find those homes, and do not give the rabbits away for free, that's just asking for them to be snake food/chavs dog toys

Yeah I agree this forum is very pro-rescue , just think there are thousands of rabbits up and down the uk in rescues waiting for a home, would you know where the kits would be going ?
Is there a reason you want to breed for ?
I wouldn't recommend the male staying in as he would probably kill the kits in attempts to mate again
Good on you for researching it first

I had a female come in a while back with a young litter, on tthursday last week she had another litter as she must have still been with the male when she had first litter, well she had the 2 nd litter overnight andd when I went out on Fri she was trying to kill the 4 wks old so no she neeeds to be on her own even if with a sister she will still try to kill the litter