Personality shift after what appears to be a failed breeding

I've got two meat mutt does from the same litter that were bred back on the 8th of November. They were both very friendly prior to breeding. Meet you at the cage , begging for pets .... damn near crawl into your arms friendly.
One has delivered kits and so far has been a very good mother and is still just as friendly as ever.

The other hasn't delivered and is now 6 days beyond the due date , her personality has dramatically changed as well. I cant put a hand in the cage to feed her without her boxing my hand or biting. She's also bitten my 9 year old son .... nasty bite on the finger. If I even open the cage she goes nuts.

These two does were housed together up until a few days before their delivery dates. The personality shift started roughly a week before the delivery date as they were housed at that time next to my buck , I brought a doe to his cage which he promptly bred. During this time , the crazy doe began mounting her sister , even "fell off" like a buck would upon a successful breeding. I separated them a day or so after this event. Her behavior has gotten progressively worse since that time to the point that even walking by the cage will provoke her.

I'm wondering if she's in pain as a complication of kits not being delivered or of if its just hormones going haywire or .... something else ?!

I'm not going to tolerate aggressive behavior in my herd ... dispatching her is an option , she is a meat doe after all.
I just want to give her the benefit of the doubt and explore alternatives before doing so as she was so nice prior. The fact that her sister has been such a great mother also factors in , hate to put a potential good mother down.

She needs to be bred....breed her again. She probably did not take the last time.

I'd get rid of her. She's probably acting out from a combination of hormones and having spent so long with another rabbit then being alone. Some are only good in a large multiple rabbit setting and get cage aggressive otherwise. She's likely to always act like this when not bred, and/or raising kits. Unless you want to breed her back to back or have an aggressive rabbit between litters it's time to make rabbit stew. Keep a doe kit from the nice one to replace her. Breeding daughter to father isn't a big deal with rabbits. It's often done to reproduce nice traits including personality.

i don't tolerate biting rabbits at all. You just don't want to breed that into your lines.

OneAcreFarm":2w7rmdon said:

She needs to be bred....breed her again. She probably did not take the last time.

Click to expand...

Akane states she will likely be aggressive between litters .... whats your opinion ? Do you think its worth the trouble / wait trying to breed her.

Im really afraid she will attack my buck .... which would get her put down immediately.


@ Akane: She started this behavior while still housed with her sibling , it just got progressively worse after separation.

I'm really leaning towards putting her down , I could use the cage space and don't care to have her take a bite out of my buck , he's probably the coolest customer in my herd. I have potential replacements for the doe from my last two litters that are purebred Rex rather than meat mutts(a real nice chocolate doe born 11-10). My buck on the other hand .... wouldn't be easily replaced.

Well if you need the space, have a replacement lined up, and are afraid she'd bite you or the buck I'd say your decision is made.

I have never had a rabbit that has actually bitten anyone, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

I agree with OAF that she is probably acting out because she has raging hormones and wants to be bred.

Since you are worried about her attacking your buck, you might try a cat muzzle like this:

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1& ... t%20muzzle

When animals' eyes are covered they are much calmer- but I have never tried to breed a rabbit while she was wearing one, so I don't know if she will lift with one. But they are only a few dollars, so it might be worth a try. Or you could "go redneck" and put a sock on her head... it wont actually prevent a bite, but at least she wont be able to aim.

Honestly though, I doubt she will attack the buck if she is ready to be bred. But maybe my herd is different, as I have never had a doe go after a buck.

Obviously you have reasons for wanting to have her bred, so I would go ahead and try it. Worst case scenario is you cull her and all of her kits... maybe after raising a doe out from her to see if the bad behavior persists.

Just make sure that your family knows they have to be very careful around her and preferably don't try to handle her until you resolve the issue one way or another.

In another thread you posted I explained taming does while they are suffused with the hormone prolactin, and I would definitely try that tactic once she kindles.

Additionally, if you have time, I would take her out of her cage for a couple of minutes per day and groom her, even if that means you only stroke her firmly head to tail and tail to head for a few minutes. Give her a treat when you put her back into her pen (butt first!) and make sure to keep a hand on her shoulders until she is calm before releasing her.

Personally, if I had only a few does in production, I would get a litter out of her just so I had meat in the freezer while waiting for another doe to mature and take her place. However, since I have more than enough does to choose from, and none that are aggressive like that, I would cull her from my current herd. But I have about 60 rabbits right now, and I know that you are just starting out, so I would breed her and see how she does.

She will probably hump and harass your buck in her eagerness to breed but it's unlikely she'll bite him. If he's very laid back or easily intimidated he may not accomplish breeding her and he could become less eager to breed other does in the future. I've got a couple does who go nonaggressive hormonal when not bred and just drive everyone nuts trying to get to a buck and then harassing the buck if he doesn't take charge and get down to business. I had to make sure they were bred back to back while still calm from having a litter or use a very bold experienced buck. I've also had one go aggressive when the hormones hit. In my experience aggressive hormonal does just create more aggressive hormonal does. Their buck offspring remain sane but does dislike breeding with them. It took me 5 generations of breeding to laid back rabbits and culling all but one buck offspring before I got a sane doe from a line that started with a doe who went aggressive starting at 4 months and getting steadily worse. It's just not worth it. She may or may not even stop when bred.

I'm going to send her to the freezer camp tomorrow when my kids aren't home .... open up cage space for a more desirable critter.

Thanks for all the responses.

Does can have major personality shifts with breeding. While most of my does do not get aggressive when breed, I have 2 that do. One in particular (Keebler) is super aggressive. I have to hold the feed cup by the bottom and let her attack it and start eating. If I try to dump it in her crock without doing that first she will scratch and bite very hard. She actually comes from my nicest buck and doe. She is great mother and her babies are the sweetest we have ever had. That is saying a lot because we breed largely for temperament. When she isn't pregnant she it a sweetheart. The contrast in behavior is extreme. When she is pregnant everyone in the house knows not to put their hand in the cage. She will bite you 100% of the time. I'd never tolerate her aggressive behavior if she was a poor mom or her babies where not so nice.

Well , the deed is done .... wasn't hard to skin but I don't think I did a very good job breaking down the carcass. Probably need another video lesson or two before the next one.

Now .... a recipe ?!! and to process the hide.

Congratulations on your first (?) butcher! You'll get really good at taking a rabbit apart before too long.

The first time we ate one of our rabbits I simmered the meat in water and shredded it off the bone so it no longer looked like a rabbit. We made tacos. Other favorites are enchiladas and burritos.

When I cook the meat that way I reserve the broth and reduce it to make Spanish rice.

Another way to cook older rabbit but maintain more flavor in the meat is to place in an oven safe dish with a bit of liquid and tightly cover with foil. I cooked our last batch that way at 250 for a few hours and it was delicious.

I have also made this recipe a couple of times:

rabbit-in-white-wine-cream-sauce-t11814.html

I have found older rabbits to be just as tasty as younger ones but with more meat to eat! yay!

I think you did the right thing, now you can get a bun for her cage that won't attack you! I think any yummy slow cooked rabbit dish will taste fantastic!

MamaSheepdog":2wv7wch9 said:

Congratulations on your first (?) butcher! You'll get really good at taking a rabbit apart before too long.

The first time we ate one of our rabbits I simmered the meat in water and shredded it off the bone so it no longer looked like a rabbit. We made tacos. Other favorites are enchiladas and burritos.

When I cook the meat that way I reserve the broth and reduce it to make Spanish rice.

Another way to cook older rabbit but maintain more flavor in the meat is to place in an oven safe dish with a bit of liquid and tightly cover with foil. I cooked our last batch that way at 250 for a few hours and it was delicious.

I have also made this recipe a couple of times:

rabbit-in-white-wine-cream-sauce-t11814.html

Click to expand...

Yes , that was the first one I've dispatched and butchered .... done many deer , hogs & chickens but never a rabbit.
Didn't have any problems getting the thighs and shoulders off but I did struggle a bit removing the meat along the backbone ....


I'm not concerned with it looking like rabbit and since my kids are at school , they'll never know! Those thighs look an awful lot like chicken :twisted:

dayna":2wv7wch9 said:

I have found older rabbits to be just as tasty as younger ones but with more meat to eat! yay!

I think you did the right thing, now you can get a bun for her cage that won't attack you! I think any yummy slow cooked rabbit dish will taste fantastic!

Click to expand...

She wasn't very old , just 8 months.

I think I did the right thing too. Already filled the cage with an opal and broken opal rex from my first litter. I wont be keeping either of them but .... they needed to be moved.