Breeding questions.

[MareBearBunny18]

I'm gonna be getting a lil Lionhead lop boy wensday and i wanna breed him with my lil lop girl dixie.
There both under 6 months old. SO

1st question How old should they b befor i breed them?
2nd What r the chances of them coming out wit the lion head gene
3rd how many kits would she probally have just a guestamate

And any other advice that someone can give me bout breeding i would love. I wanna do this right and not mess up. I am doing my research but i wanna get someone who dose this that can give me some background on breeding. Please and thank u.

 

[mistyjr]

Hello,

You want to breed rabbits between 6 months old, You do not want to wait until they are a year old. Cant be very hard on them at 1 years. When breeding and lionlop to and lionlop you will get just lionlops, Lionhead look with the long lop ears. When I bred my lionheads I got babies from 2-7 kits..

When you want to bred, Let them do it at least 4 times, And after done breeding mark it on the calendar for 31 days and on day 29 put an nesting box in with her, I fill mine up with an inch of shavings and the rest with straw. And after the babies are born, I bring in the babies inside the house and take them out to their mother once in the morning and once at night. Until they are about 2-3 weeks old. And then they stay out with their mother. And you should wean babies about 6-7+weeks old.

 

[MareBearBunny18]

Alright thank u. Now when should i seperate the boy babies and the girl babies i kno alot of people do that. and wit the nesting box can can i put timothy hay or dose it have to b specific???
And im planning on breeding a lil lop with a lion head

This would b the mommy

and this is the daddy

Would i get a half anf half litter or would that just b a wait and see thing

 

[mistyjr]

I dont know anything about that.. Sorry! I only breed purbred lionheads. And I weaned babies around 7-8 weeks old. And i keep them together until about 13-14 weeks old.

 

[MareBearBunny18]

Alright thank u for the advice. Wen i have the babies i will let u kno wat the lion head to reg lop ratio is lol

 

[CCWelch]

I guess I am wondering what you plan to do with the babies? They wont' be purebreds so you wont' be able to get a decent price to sell them?

 

[MareBearBunny18]

Well i have friends that will want them and i will probally keep 2 of them. But they will b for people as pets.

But i was reading that u shouldnt mix breed them....is it ok since there both lops???

 

[CCWelch]

My point of view on that is they are about the same size, go ahead as long as you have a plan on what to do with the babies. I have several mixed breeds, in fact I am testing the "mom ability" of my French Lop doe by breeding her with a Mini Lop buck. (Her mom was not a good mom, I am hoping she is better). Just remember though be careful about the sizes you breed, small with small etc or you could end up with a dead bunny.

 

[CCWelch]

And please wait til they are at least 5 and a half months to breed, they are capable earlier but it is not a good idea.

 

[MareBearBunny18]

Well both r bout 6month 5 1/2 months the dad was born in april or may and so was Dixie. But im still doing a ton of research befor im 100% on breeding them. breeding them isent gonna b something im just gonna jump and do till im sure bout it and i kno a lil more bout it. but thank u guys for the advice cause after reading that i wasent sure if that was ok.

 

[MareBearBunny18]

I have a lady on fb who just bred her rabbits and she said to breed at 7 months any ideas on that

 

[Brittany85]

The reason you read to not breed mixes is because there are many mixed breed rabbits in the world that already need homes.
My personal opinion if you are seriously interested in breeding would be to get two purebred rabbits and research, research, research before breeding them.

It's up to you though and best of luck.

 

[TinysMom]

MareBearBunny18 wrote:

I'm gonna be getting a lil Lionhead lop boy wensday and i wanna breed him with my lil lop girl dixie.
There both under 6 months old. SO

1st question How old should they b befor i breed them?
2nd What r the chances of them coming out wit the lion head gene
3rd how many kits would she probally have just a guestamate

And any other advice that someone can give me bout breeding i would love. I wanna do this right and not mess up. I am doing my research but i wanna get someone who dose this that can give me some background on breeding. Please and thank u.

I'm going to try to answer your questions for you - but textspeak (is that what its called) is hard for me - so I hope I'm answering what you're asking.

I would not breed a doe before 6 months and I prefer 7-10 months for when I bred my lionheads. As long as the doe is bred before she's a year old - you should be fine.

The chances of them having the mane is very slight - I'm thinking 25% for each baby (I'd have to sit and do the figuring because if I'm understanding right you'll be working with one single mane and one that is not a lionhead). But remember - that is for each baby - you could wind up with all of them having a wispy mane or none of them having a mane.

As far as how many kits she would have - that just depends. I've had lionheads have 2 kits and others have 10 kits. I'm guessing that the average is 4-6 kits.

Now what I'm about to add is personal opinion. I am not judging you for your decision - but I hope that what I saw will make you reconsider your decision.

I just looked on Petfinder.com and in Austin, TX (the closest rescue to you) there are currently over 140 bunnies - many of which ARE purebreds and are looking for homes.

You say you have friends that will take the rabbits - but I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard someone say that - only to have the friends back out later on. Maybe it would pay my feed bill....for at least half a month!

So let's say that you breed your rabbits and your friends do back out - do you have the money to be able to go out and buy more cages when the babies are weaned at 6-8 weeks?

What if your doe does have problems with delivery? It doesn't happen all the time - but lops are one of the breeds that can have problems due to the larger heads of the babies, etc. Do you have the money for a vet visit? A c-section if the babies need to be delivered that way?

Also - can you handle it emotionally if the doe does have babies but doesn't feed them - so they all die one by one?

I know I'm discouraging you - but the more I've been involved with rabbits and the more I learn - the more I try to convince people who want to breed their pet rabbits for mixed breed rabbits to not do so.

Rabbits are the third most commonly "disposed" of pet in this nation. Our rescues are full of both purebred and mixed breeds.

Whatever you decide - best of luck to you.

 

[mistyjr]

I had an good momma gave birth to 7 little babies! She fed them until they were 2 weeks old, And the babies started to die, I felt the momma and she dried up her milk, So I had to had feed the babies (goat's milk) for about 1 day and I fostered them off to another doe, But only 1 survived out of 7 babies! When breeding rabbits, You should have an trio (2 does and a buck) And bred both does just in case an momma doesnt take care of her babies and you will have an foster mother...

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

MareBearBunny18 wrote:

Well i have friends that will want them and i will probally keep 2 of them. But they will b for people as pets.

But i was reading that u shouldnt mix breed them....is it ok since there both lops???

They are both lops, but there are different breeds of lops. So you have a Lionlop and what looks like a Mini Lop. Breeding purebred means you breed two of the same breed together, IE two Mini Lops or two Lionlops.

Reputable breeders don't just throw two of the same breeds together, either. They choose the best stock to breed and two rabbits that compliment eachother to better that breed.

I agree with TinysMom on the "My friends will take one"... I've heard that many times before as well from my friends, only to have them back out... My difference is I'm breeding for show rabbits in the first place, so I have pedigreed rabbits to sell to 4-Hers and exhibitors, so losing a pet sale from a friend isn't a biggy. Just be prepared to end up keeping all or most of the babies.

They should be separated from eachother about the time of weaning - boys in one cage, girls in another, but also be prepared for them to start fighting with eachother - and make sure you sex them correctly, because if you put what you think is a doe in with the does and she turns out to be a buck, you could wind up with more babies. Ideally each rabbit should have there own cage. Mini Lops can have a lot of babies - I just saw a doe at a fair who had NINE, so definitely be ready to have that many extra cages on hand.

Hope that helps!

Emily

 

[Brittany85]

I agree with the above poster but something I want to point out is Lionlops are not a breed. They are a mix of Lionhead and lop. And what kind of lop is another question? Overall, original poster, you know nothing about either of these rabbits history. I strongly believe only purebred and pedigreed rabbits should be bred and only if they are a good representation of their breed.