Breeding Your Bunnies (Rodent and Small Pet Breeding in General)

Member Name: xxsaxonyxx

Product:	Rodent and Small Pet Breeding in General
Date:	27/04/06 (4871 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of fluffy babies.

Disadvantages: You may not be able to sell them.

I decided to write this review as my Mini Rex rabbit is due her very first litter on Saturday. I'm going to tell the basic goings on with breeding and wither you should or shouldn't do it.

I decided to breed Daisy as she is a rare rabbit up here in Scotland and very hard to get, i shipped her and her mate Tango up from England to begin the process of letting other people enjoy this particular breed with are nicknamed the "velveteen" rabbit due to the incredible softness of their fur.

The first thing you need to think about when breeding is wither you can sell the babies, mixed breed rabbits can be very hard to sell and even common pedigree rabbits may be trouble-some. You also need to reconise is that there is no money in breeding rabbits, any money you make from the babies will be eaten up with bedding, food, hay, hutches and vet bills so dont think its an easy few quid.

CHOOSING A BREED

Rabbits come in all shapes and sizes, from the tiny netherland dwarf who can fit into the palm of your hand to the continental giants who will probably grow bigger than your two year old children, there is a breed out there for you. You must make sure you can accomodate your bunnies, the bigger the rabbit the bigger the hutches so think about the space you have and the budget you are willing to give them.
I chose the mini rex mainly because of its fur and the wide choice of colours they are available in but they also have very good tempraments and are a nice neat size, an adult male only weighing in at 4lbs.

Mating

Once you have chosen your breed and have a pair of non related buns you can then mate them up. Please note that different sizes of rabbits mature at different times, smaller breeds like mine shouldnt be breed under 6 months, larger breeds like the giant later on at 8-9 months.

Rabbits don't go into heat like most animals, the mating action will cause the doe (female) to produce eggs thus fertilizing her utrine horn (womb). This means you can mate her really whenever you want, however it can also cause problems.
If the doe is already pregnant and she is mated again at a later date she can actually get pregnant with another litter, this can cause the deaths of babies and even the mother.

It is important to take the doe to the buck's (male's) cage for mating. If you do it the other way round the buck will be more interested in sniffing about than mating and the female may even attack him. Other than this let them meet in neutral territory.

If the doe runs away and growls she is not ready to mate at this time and you should take her out and try again at another time.

If she is ready she will accept the buck by laying down. You're buck will do his business and at the end he will squeak and fall off the doe, take the doe out and wait an hour before putting her back in again. This will increase the chance of pregnancy and the size of the litter.

PREGNANCY

The pregnancy will last 31 days before kindling (giving birth). Let her get on with it, there isn't much you can do other than ensure she has plently of fresh water and food.
If she begins to pull fur from her chest and shoulders she is only preparing a warm nest for her babies, however if she is doing this around day 20 she is more than likely having a false pregnacy. You should notice this just before she kindles.
28 days after mating you should put in a nest box, if you put it in any earlier she may use it as a toilet. Line the bottom with shavings and leave it, as long as your doe has plenty of access to hay and bedding she will build it herself. You can do it for her if she fails to do this.

You will probably never see your doe give birth. It takes ten minutes and will more than likely happen late at night when all is quiet. She will have the babies, eat the afterbirth, cover them with pulled fur and leave the nest box. This is natural that she does not "mother" the kits (babies). In the wild mothers stay away from the nest for long periods of time to avoid taking the interest of preditors. In the morning check the babies and remove any dead ones. Leave her to it for a couple of days and then check again that the babies are ok, they should have firm round bellies, this shows they have been fed.

It is common for first time mums to scatter the litters, this means she will give birth outside the nest box. If this happens and the babies are still alive pick them up and put them in the nest.

As far as handling goes it is a personal choice, some breeders will not handle the babies until they come out the nest box, others handle from birth.

WEANING

The babies will grow quickly, from near hairless and blind to little fluffy balls in a matter of weeks. There is no definate time to wean the babies, it depends on how you feel the baby is. If it's eating on its own and exploring and looking quite confident then you can start this process from as early as 6 weeks but sometimes as late as 8 weeks.

Start by taking the boldest two babies out and putting them in a separate cage, then the next day take another and the next day take another. If you notice a baby become very withdrawn return it to the mother.

SEXING

Your babies can be sexed at about 4 weeks, it's very hard to describe this so i can only recommend that you look on the internet for a site with pictures as both the male and female sex organs can look similar but do have differances.

SELLING YOUR BABIES

Advertise your babies as well as you can, word will spread quickly in the rabbit world that you are breeding. I recommend you also join the British Rabbit Council. This is the ONLY place that you can buy rings (metal identifing rings round the back leg of your rabbits) without these rings you cannot show your rabbit and your customers may prefer the rabbit rung. It will cost £25 for the first year and £20 for each year after that.

They will also provide you with a breed standard list so you can work on you rabbit breeding to produce show quality buns.
It would also be worthwhile in getting a website, freewebs offer free websites that look really great at no cost.

It is good practise to sell each baby with a weeks supply of food so that his new owner can swap the feed slowly to a new feed, you should also offer aftercare support.

Hope this helps anyone out there interested in rabbit breeding, it's great fun and you'll be surprised at how many friends you meet on the way.

Summary: To breed or not to breed!