A simple question about breeding

[jujubear03]

I hope the users here are nicer.

I have a year old Lilac colored Mini Rexmixfemalethat I have been asked a thousand times aboutbreeding. I live in Northern Michigan, where there aren't anyrabbit shelters, as its mainly a dog and cat place, and it's impossibleto find a pet rabbit without traveling 250+ miles. I justbought a Holland Lop male, 8 weeks old, and plan on breeding them forpets for spring, for a few of the friends I met at the fair and throughmy mom, who volunteers at the animal shelter. They arelooking for pet rabbits, but they can't find anybody to buyfrom. I have always wanted to breed her, and decided to doso. I'm not planning to until spring, and let me make thisPERFECTLY clear: I am in NO WAY breeding for cute babybunnies. I am helping out friends who want rabbits but can'tfind any. And they all either have farms, and/or have otheranimals and have had rabbits in the past. I know the babieswill all have good homes, and I wanted to make that clear.

Now my question is: once I breed the bunnies I have,Bunny Foo Foo(female) and Futter Bunny (male), will they bebad pets? I plan on having them fixed after the litter isgone, so I was just wondering if anybody had any experience withthis.

 

[Shuu]

I've never heard of rabbits suddenly turningmean after they've mated. After they're fixed they should calm down andbe fine pets.

 

[Snuggys Mom]

Hi there,

I would think they'd be fine, especially if you're getting them fixedafter the litter is born. Just remember to keep them separatefor at least a month after they're fixed to prevent anotherpregnancy.

If you haven't read the stickied topics on this forum, it's a great resource. Here's the link:

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=7329&forum_id=1

Best of luck,

Laura

 

[jujubear03]

Thank you. I just want to be carefulbecause Bunny is such a good girl and I'm hoping Futter will be,too. A good boy, I mean.

 

[juicyjuicee]

I'm?a * * * * * * * * * * * member and i thinkthe only reason you thought they were rude is because they told youwhat you didn't want to hear which was 'Don't breed your rabbits'.

Edit: Also i beleive you said "I drove over 200 miles downstate to gether and i bet NONE of you would do that for a rabbit" Which made peoplequite angry. and i also don't think they like to be told to "Shut thehe** up" or called "morons"

 

[The BUNFATHER]

I don't want to be mean - but why are youbreeding a Holland Lop male with a Mini Rex? I've not seenboth breeds - but I don't think that would be a good mix at all - Lopshave different style heads and are more prone to malclusion(sp?).

I'm sorry - I don't think you should breed these two particularrabbits...I think you could be setting yourself up fortrouble. I have no problem if you bred like-breeds together -but I think you're asking for trouble if you try with these two.

I'm not on petshub - know nothing about it - but I sure hope they recommended you don't breed these two.

Peg

P.S. I am a breeder and I don't have anything wrong withpeople breeding responsibly but I think you're setting yourself up forproblems due to the type of head of the lop....but I've never seen amini-rex before....

 

[TinysMom]

The BUNFATHER wrote:

P.S. I am a breeder and I don't have anything wrong withpeople breeding responsibly but I think you're setting yourself up forproblems due to the type of head of the lop....but I've never seen amini-rex before....

oops...didn't mean to make that post under Tiny's account - sorry!

Peg

 

[rabbitgirl]

jujubear03 wrote:

Now my question is: once I breed the bunnies I have,Bunny Foo Foo (female) and Futter Bunny (male), will they be badpets? I plan on having them fixed after the litter is gone,so I was just wondering if anybody had any experience withthis.

This is a very good question. In my experience, mating does not changethe bond to the owner in the least. Pregnancy does, though!! Femalescan get mighty snappy, but should return to their old selves afterweaning the kits.

See, rabbits that mate only see each other for maybe half an hour, moreor less. It's not enough contact for them to bond to each other reallystrongly.

I had a very funny experience: I had an inexperienced buck with a verystrong sex drive and no clue what to do about it. He had previouslydecided I was his one true love, as he'd never had a female rabbit as amate. Well, I finally bred him, and the doe got irritated with hisattempts and wanted nothing to do with him. He ran frantically betweenme and her, obviously hoping ONE of "his women" would be "in themood"!When both of us pushed him off, well! He was thesaddest looking thing.

She did accept him, eventually, and he sired nine babies and had thesame wonderful personality although he never saw the doe again.

Just my experience. My Holland Lop doe also did not change in the least when she had her litter.

One thing you may or may not have considered is whether thebuck is larger than the doe. Hollands have bigheads....something to be careful of. Also, both carry the dwarfinggene, meaning you'd have some possibility of peanuts.

Rose

 

[seniorcats]

Your friends may also want to look atwww.petfinder.com toseelocal rabbits available for adoption. There are288 listed for the Traverse City, MIzip code. Thereseem to be quite a few dutch rabits and lops.

 

Im Not going to bemean here but IF you would like to breedfor pets I will suggest investing in aMini RexBuck and a HollandLop Doe Keep likebreeds breeding not crossing them . Irealize where your at there is limitedrabbits as pets , but I bet ifyou look hard enough you will findthe quality your are lookingfor . cross breeding is trickyenough with out throwing a holland into the mix ,Mix breeds dont do allthat well as pets , people get sick ofthem fairly quickly , Especially IF thereare underlaying medical conditions thatwill need imediate and frequent vettingservices . Which can get veryexpensive in a short period of time , andYou as the breederwill be held accountable . If you breed and petout or sell sicklyanimals soon you willbe known as someone notto have anything to do with .

Your best bet is to breed the same genisof rabbits and not cross breed

AND! whom ever you ae squabblling with from theother forum Take it To PM wedont need to hear it.

 

[jujubear03]

I've checked petfind before. All ofthe rabbits are from downstate at least 250 miles and I do not have avehicle able to go that distance again.

 

[jujubear03]

gypsy wrote:

AND! whom ever you ae squabblling with from theother forum Take it To PM wedont need to hear it.

I didn't say anything about squabbling. I said I hope the users here are nicer.

 

[Carolyn]

Welcome jujubear03,

As you see, I changed the name of your post. I don't allow bashing of other forums and their members. It's not condusive.

We do what we do here, and others have their own way of doing things.

You'll find that we have a very diverse group of extremely knowledgeable rabbit fanciers.



-Carolyn

 

[jujubear03]

ALSO. I already found the nice answersI was looking for, so don't go egging on another fight. All Ineeded to know was if the rabbits will act differently afterbreeding. Thanks!!!



PS Thank you also for the kind answer that included the infoabout Holland Lops have malclusion. I didn't know that aboutthem, and I'll use it to my advantage. I may just buy anotherHolland Lop and spay my mini rex.

 

[jujubear03]

Carolyn wrote:

Welcome jujubear03,

As you see, I changed the name of your post. I don't allow bashing of other forums and their members. It's not condusive.

We do what we do here, and others have their own way of doing things.

You'll find that we have a very diverse group of extremely knowledgeable rabbit fanciers.



-Carolyn

?

I would think it'd be allowed to warn people not to go there becausethey don't give advice, they threaten and tell you that you are dumbwithout giving actual good advice, but whatever.

 

[Carolyn]

jujubear03,

I'm glad our members were able to help you. (I'm not surprised, I might add. :wink

I appreciate your concern to save others, but people will find out on their own. We all do anyway, don't we?

Saw your other post about the other place and deleted it. I will notallow namecalling or bashing here, so please do keep that in mind. OurMission Statement is in the Top Picks post at the top of the forum. Youmight want to have a look.

-Carolyn

 

[rabbitgirl]

jujubear03 wrote:

PS Thank you also for the kind answer thatincluded the info about Holland Lops have malclusion. Ididn't know that about them, and I'll use it to my advantage.I may just buy another Holland Lop and spay my mini rex.

I don't know firsthand about the mini-rex, but you might try the otherway around--neuter the Holland and get a mini-rex buck. Just because ofthe issues with Hollands.

Any mini-rex breeders want to weigh in on issues specific to the breed?Personally, I love Hollands (dumb and sweet!), but the pregnancycomplications are a valid issue.

Of course, with both those mini breeds peanuts are a possibility still, even with rex to rex or Holland to Holland.

Rose

 

[pamnock]

I highly recommend against breeding a pet rabbitbecause of the possible risk to the rabbit's health. You maypotentially end up spending hundreds of dollars inveterinarybills just to satisfy someonesneed for a mixed breed petrabbit. Personally, I'd let them incur the expense forfinding their own rabbits, rather than risking the health of yourprecious pets.

Pam

http://www.geocities.com/pamnock/

 

[jujubear03]

I just thanked someone about telling me aboutmalclusion. So I took her advice and am breeding two Hollandlops.

 

[pamnock]

We've been breeding Hollands for over 15 yearsand at one time had approx. 160 of them. They are a breedvery prone to such hereditary problems as malocclusion and entropian (adefect in the eyelid that causes scarring of the cornea).Hollands are also very prone to dystocia (birthing problems).I recommend setting aside at least enough money to cover a c-section(an average of $200) in case of emergency surgery for stuck kits.

Sometimes the resulting stress of breeding rabbits just isn't worth it

Pam