Mother son accidental breeding questions

Ok so my doe had a litter of 7 kits about 15 weeks ago. I still have 2 of her babies from that litter, a male and female (they look identical). When they turned 10 weeks old, I put the male in another cage and kept the female with the mom still. And 2 weeks ago I noticed my doe acting crabby. I palpated her and I felt grape sized lumps in her tummy. I immediately picked up the baby and checked to make sure it was the girl, and it wasn't. Some how I mixed the male and female up. So the male has been with his mom the entire time. So he must have gotten her pregnant when he was around 12 weeks old. I don't think she has many kits inside her, I only could feel a couple (she is definitely pregnant tho)
So My question is, will the kits be deformed or unhealthy since it is a mother son breeding? And since he was only 12 weeks old, will his age have anything to do with the health of the kits? And What do I do if she only has one kit? Will it able to keep warm by it self?
I am estimating she will kindle during the last few days of May or the first few days of June (I'm not sure what day she got pregnant).
Thank you in advanced

Oando":cro4ujgy said:

will the kits be deformed or unhealthy since it is a mother son breeding?

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The babies will be fine. Close inbreeding and linebreeding is how you set type in any animal, and with rabbits it is done all the time.

Oando":cro4ujgy said:

And since he was only 12 weeks old, will his age have anything to do with the health of the kits?

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Nope, he has viable sperm so no issues there. When evaluating sperm health, you look for motility (do they swim straight and fast? In circles? Zig-zag?), morbidity (ratio of live to dead), and the concentration of sperm in the semen.

He may have been too young to have a really high sperm count, but I bet his sperm are healthy and there were very few dead.

Oando":cro4ujgy said:

I am estimating she will kindle during the last few days of May or the first few days of June (I'm not sure what day she got pregnant).

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Make sure to keep some hay in her cage so you can watch for hay-staching. Good luck with the litter! :clover:

Whoops, looks like you've experienced the classic gender mix-up. Mistakes do happen and you live and learn.

As to your questions: A mother to son breeding is not something you should worry about in great detail. Many people breeding rabbits will practice line-breeding. The kits will most likely be healthy. No need to worry about three-eared kits or five-legged bunnies. Your kits will be very similar to the mother.

There is a chance that recessive genes could come into play (You didn't mention a specific breed but for example if the mother has a recessive dwarf gene and passed that along to the son; there is a chance you could get a peanut in the litter)(A peanut being a rabbit with two recessive dwarf genes, in case you didn't know, they are extremely tiny and will not last long). However I am guessing you are more concerned about three legged rabbits versus recessive color traits. In that case don't worry.

The age of the rabbit shouldn't be an issue regarding the health of the kits. If this was a 12 week old doe you would have mothering issues to worry about, and health issues with such a young doe etc. If you were trying to breed with the buck you would have to worry about his ability to successfully mount a doe. However, this buck has done what he needs to do. I would give him a quick check. A young buck and an aggressive doe could result in injury to the buck, even as far as castration.

She probably has more than one kit in her. But if only one survives you are in trouble. It might not keep warm by itself and the mother might not continue to produce milk. You might want to search older posts about the best way to proceed should this happen.

Thank you guys so much!
That is a relief to know that they won't be deformed or anything. I have been nervous wreak thinking about what they would look like,lol.

The mother is a Lionhead, holland lop mix, she is a broken white and orange color (she is a fluff ball ). And her son (the soon to be father of the litter) is mixed with a minie Rex.he is a beautiful bluish tan coloring What do you think the kits will look like?

Oando":2moe3293 said:

Thank you guys so much!
The mother is a Lionhead, holland lop mix, she is a broken white and orange color (she is a fluff ball ). And her son (the soon to be father of the litter) is mixed with a minie Rex.he is a beautiful bluish tan coloring What do you think the kits will look like?

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Cute.... that's the best I can help you with. Coloring and fur genetics are a bit too complicated for me.
Best of luck!

Even if only one kit is kindled (or survives) there are still plenty of things you can do to maximize its chance of survival. The summer temperatures will help. You can also give it a supplementary heat supply, especially at night.

My favourite is to take a screw-cap bottle (wine is good, you get to drink it! :twisted: ), preheat it with hot water and then fill with fresh hot water. Pull a sock over it for insulation and to protect the kit from getting burned. Lay the bottle along one side of the nest box, so that the kit can gravitate toward the heat or away as needed.

Supplementary nest materials can include feathers from an old pillow, dryer lint, shredded paper towels etc. The doe may have too much milk and there are measures you can take to ensure the health of the kit, but let's worry about that later, if the need arises.

:good-luck:

Stellar advice there, MaggieJ, especially this bit:

MaggieJ":3nyt92ix said:

(wine is good, you get to drink it! :twisted: )

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That is really great advice MaggieJ, thank you



Haha, I will take cute healthy kits any day!

Mom sounds like a broken fawn

Buck/son sounds like an Opal

mom is non extension and broken and carries dilute/blue gene

Son is dilute and carries non extension

So there are several possibilities - solid or broken chestnut, fawn, Opal, and frosty being the most likely

Don't feel so bad I just had a doe give birth last week that was accidental bred by her son. She decided to get out of her cage and so did her son. Now I have 7 healthy Belgian Hare kits. Accidents happen sometimes even to the best of us. :lol: