Dodgy ground re: friend

Hiya

A friend of mine (I can assumre you its not me!) has bought 2 rabbits from petshops with the intention of breeding them. I have no problem with breeding animals if done responsibly but, in all honesty, she's pretty much clueless about the whole thing. The rabbits are VERY well cared for but I am concerned about the idea of them having babies. I don't think it's occured to her at all that she needs to remove the male at some point.

As I have mentioned previously, I would like a pair of rabbits myself but (because I'm a geek and research EVERYTHING that I am interested in!), have not done so yet. I have identified the breeds that these rabbits are (2 completely different). I bought myself a book on ebay last night about rabbits but I am wondering if i'm better off giving this book to my friend? Does this sound offensive? I don't want to seem patronising.

I know that everyone on here will be angry about this situation but, despite how I feel about it myself, I do not want to go in all guns blazing because this is someone I've known my whole life and I know this is a case of lack of information. She really loves the buns she has now. She told the petshops what her intentions were and they made no effort to educate her.

A female can get pregnant again within 24 hours of babies being born, meaning she would be nursing a 4 week old litter already when new kits were born. babies shouldn't leave mum until they are 8 weeks old, so this would be a terrible strain on mum.

Although you have identified the breeds - they are unlikely to be pure-bred (unless they have a ring on a back leg), so breeding will mean that the genetic history is unknown. Buns could have teeth problems/heart problems etc (caused by in-breeding etc), which would be passed on to the babies.

Daddy bun may well kill babies when they are born.

There are some leaflets that you could get for her re rabbit breeding/care & the fact that there are currently 33000 buns sitting in Rescues in the UK. I'm sure someone can point you in the right direction.

I met a woman recently off the free ads, who had 2 females & 1 male bun (male was mis-sexed) since last summer. She's had to rehome 30 odd buns in the last couple of months because breeding was out of control. They were "pretty" colours - but demand wasn't high enough for her to "sell" 30 cross-bred baby buns.

You never know, she might actually have 2 of the same sex. Pet shops seem to be so poor at actually sexing rabbits that I would not be suprised to find an intentionally bought breeding pair were in fact 2 boys

Joking aside, could you perhaps refer her to somewhere like the rabbit rehome site so she can see how many are already waiting for homes. To say nothing of the pages of free ads etc etc. I do hope you can persuade her to rethink

Julie

You know what?

Who am I kidding? Why don't I just tell her exactly how it is? I've known her long enough. Knowing what I know and 'pussyfooting' around, I'm almost party to the whole thing!

She's not a bad person, just doesn't realise the impact of what she's doing. How would she feel if Mummy or Daddy rabbit killed the babies? Which is a a possibility (as has been said).

Thanks for the replies.

Get her on here

Good luck - I hate confronting friends over stuff

You may find this article useful in explaining your concerns - http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/care/breedingrabbits.asp

Don't forget if she bought them from the same shop and they were the same age they could well be littermates - breeding brother to sister is a very bad idea genetically!

Caz

There is a sad story on Rabbit Care section where Angie and another rescuer (sorry i forgotten who it was) went to help a lady who had a litter from a pair of rabbits mis-sexed. The mummy rabbit then died as well as one of the babies. maybe by telling her that could happen it may change her mind? Even BRC breeders will tell you that breeding is such hard and heart breaking work and there is no profit in it for her. I do hope you can persuade her not to breed petshop rabbits who she doesnt know their background, and without reasonable hutches to put them all in.
Oh i know another thing.. as well as having to remove the dad after mum is pregnant.. she would have to sex the babies and separate those as well into single sex groups or she will soon be overrun.. hmm means she would need at least 3 hutch/run set-ups :wink: GOOD LUCK and well done for researching and getting information yourself :wink: