Kaiusagi Rabbitry

Finally got pics of the new rabbits I got Friday.  I went for a champagne d’argent buck and doe but he only had siblings he wanted to part with so he sold me a doe, bred her to another buck, then gave me her younger sister for free that he just thought was a bit small compared to her siblings, and after discussing what rabbits we had gave me a blue mini rex buck also free.     I didn’t get the buck posed the greatest but he’s a really nice little rabbit.  A bit narrow in the shoulders and would have preferred he had his dad’s ears but then I would have just preferred to just have his dad.  That was a very nice mini rex.  Like a little round melon with a square head and tiny ears.  I’ll be happy if we start producing rabbits half as good as that.

Miyuki-6month old bred doe

Neyuki-4month old doe

Ashige-6 month buck

Off to look at more Champagne and Creme d’argent Sunday.

Amako’s kits are 5 days old.  Twix is due the 13th and now we have Miyuki, a champagne d’argent, due on the 31st.  Lots of little ones coming in the next month hopefully.

Yukiko has been renamed Demon rabbit.  Doesn’t it look so sweet…

So I thought when I got her at 6 weeks old.  Then she hit puberty and turned in to demon rabbit.  It started with pawing and grunting when you tried to fill her feeder and despite attempts at both positive and aversive training rapidly progressed to drawing blood.

Today as I was getting ready for class I looked out the window to the porch to check the rabbits real quick like usual.  The cage sitting apart from the others (for good reason) was empty.  Now you’d think the biggest issue with the escape of an insane rabbit is the potential to never get near it again as it makes it’s way off to the nearby wildlife preserve.  If you do think that then you don’t know demon rabbit….

I rushed out the door, barefoot and wearing shorts since it decided to get warm again probably for the last time before winter, hoping that she had just gotten loose and could still be spotted.  I was immediately attacked from the side.  This is where the comment about barefoot and in shorts comes in.  I grabbed the nearby broom and whacked the squealing ball of fur with as much self control as possible in such a situation.  As she gathered to lunge again I shove the broom down between us and she proceeded to “kill” the broom while I carefully circled around toward an old towel I’d left out there.  I waited for a pause in the attack (it was a long wait) and quickly replaced the broom with the towel.  I shook it to get her to attack the end and when she gave a good lunge dropped it over her.  With some concern for personal safety I scooped up the screeching towel, dumped it in the cage, and grabbed a clip off the closest homemade cage to secure the door better before demon rabbit could recover her bearings and get out from under the towel.

Now I have to go put on heavy gloves (she manages to cause injuries through the thinner leather gloves) and recover the towel I let her keep today.  I’m sure glad she’s only a mini rex or I’d probably have more than just a few light scratches.  There’s one plan left to attempt to get through to Demon rabbit and if that doesn’t work her potential lifespan is going to get much shorter.

We have our first kits.  Amako gave us 2 little ones today.  1 agouti, probably castor, and 1 broken, probably also castor but it has too much white to tell.

I just added Amako’s nestbox.  She’s due Tuesday but I don’t feel any kits.  Cross my fingers and hope, otherwise I’m going to start questioning my buck.

Some major cage rebuilding has also been going on.  We set up a 3×6′x5′h indoor cage to keep does in over the winter so we don’t have to deal with kits being born in our wonderful subzero temps and I’ll probably stick the bucks in there over the summer to avoid sterility issues.  The 8×8′ former bantam coop has been stripped down, painted, and is in process of being modified for a mini rex colony.  Having 2 doors in to the building took up way too much space so we flipped one door so it swings out and fastened a semi permanent screen over the inside.  Now we can still open it for air flow but also put cages or supplies in front of it.  To protect the support beams we decided to just cover the inside up to 2′ high in cheap plywood and put some all natural cellulose insulation in between.  It will be harder for rabbits to get their teeth in to any edges and if the rabbits do chew it will not be harmful to them or the building.  We just have to replace that panel of plywood.

The large 170sq ft oatbin that I used as a standard chicken coop is also being modified for a colony of meat rabbits.  However we have to finish waging war on the rats first.  I also need to get my hands on some meat rabbits.  I want something more interesting than the standard californias and new zealands but I don’t have the time or money to travel across the country getting a breeding group of chinchilla rabbits together.  I emailed several people listing argentes for sale but no one has responded.

I didn’t know it was so hard to start raising rabbits.

Amako turned 6months and I was going to wait another week and a half until Twix gave birth before breeding her but since Twix may be having a false pregnancy I got impatient to see my first kits this fall.  I took pics of them all today and decided since we’re home all day to play musical cages so Amako and Mocha could be put together in the 4×2′ cage instead of in the 2×2′ cage Mocha is usually in.  It also helped distract Mocha since he knows his job and mounted Twix about 2 dozen times in a couple hours before I separated them.  I knew Amako would not stand for that.

It worked out pretty well.  Mocha sniffed where Yuki and Aki who normally share that cage had peed, checked out the hayloft, spent lots of time on his hind legs stretching as high as possible since he’s only used to being in short cages, and occasionally turned his attention to Amako.  She ran around avoiding him and not knowing what was going on but did lift for him eventually.  I left them until Amako was thumping and trying her best to hide from him and then put her in Mocha’s usual cage.  I’m going to put them back together later tonight and maybe tomorrow morning to be sure.  Then we play musical cages again to get everyone back where they usually are.

Mocha’s behavior makes me want to get moving on the new cages even more so he can always have plenty of height and enough length he doesn’t cover the entire thing when he lays down.  I also wouldn’t have to shift everyone around then.

Now my rabbitry has a name even if no one will be able to pronounce it.  I always find that amusing considering the Japanese language has very easy pronunciation but no one can even say either of my dogs’ names.  Haruko and Azami should not be that difficult.  They are only 3 syllables but english speakers can’t seem to say ah instead of uh for A sounds.

Anyway back to rabbits…..

I have my little herd started up with 3 mini rex does and 2 mini rex bucks.  The very first rabbit was a broken castor doe, Amako, that my husband bought me and while she may not be show quality I think she’s the cutest thing I’ve ever had (maybe next to baby guinea pigs).  After some debate about breeding mixes I decided to just get more mini rex.

I got a really nice breeding pair of chocolates from Liz Mortland at Wonderland Rabbitry.  Twix is due for our first litter Sept 9th.  It should be mostly chocolates but there is a chance for Himi or REW.  I’m hoping they are carrying himi.  Even if they don’t make good himalayans I find the color interesting.  I really dislike rew for a variety of reasons I won’t go in to.

I also got a pair of pedigreed siblings from a woman in central Iowa.  A broken castor buck, Aki, and a broken blue doe, Yukiko.  They aren’t nearly as nice as the chocolates.  I haven’t looked the doe over in complete detail but I practiced setting up rabbits for show on the buck.  He’s a little long in the shoulder and they both have rather long ears at exactly 3 1/2″.  Once he gets a little older I’m crossing him with Amako.  For now I think I’m going to breed her to the chocolate buck, Mocha.  It just seems an experienced buck would have better luck at getting a doe pregnant for the first time and I’d like to see what the result is.

That’s the start of my rabbitry.  Future plans involve conversion of a chicken coop or 2 and some chinchilla rabbits whenever I manage to find a breeder I can reach.