Today, I bought parsley and fed it to them in the morning and at night. The female is at the night of her cycle. I see dark purple genitals. I put a little apple cider vinegar in their water this morning. I took them for a car ride just now: three times around the block. He didn't seem interested after the car ride. I couldn't see them as I was driving...just a fact that needs to be mentioned.
I tried keeping her in place to see if he'd be interested and neither of them were happy about that.
On the plus side, she's not honking with annoyance right now.
ottersatin":4n7bs0rq said:
From what iv'e read, the two rabbit had been living together for awhile.
Perhaps in that time frame she has already been bred.
I would palpate her and see if she feels in the family way.
Many times a bred Doe will refuse to mate even to the point of pressing
her body to the floor. You may be surprised in a few weeks.
If she suddenly starts to fill her mouth with Hay, which I would have available
at least daily. You might want to give her, her own cage with a nestbox.
One cannot be too careful, rabbits are known to hide the facts from their
breeders!
Ottersatin.
ldtimer:
I tried palpating her once or twice a week for the past 3 weeks and I haven't felt anything.
-- Mon Mar 10, 2014 10:54 pm --
grumpy":4n7bs0rq said:
Is she "fat"? Simple question but complicated solutions if the answer is yes.
I've often thought about building a large enclosure to allow overweight
rabbits to run to their heart's content. I don't know if they'd use that
advantage or not.
She's had two litters? If she was a good doe...then why was she sold?
Stubborn breeder possibly.. If the buck attempts and is unsuccessful, you
may have to restrain the doe. Your success rate isn't great...but it's better
than not doing anything.
Has your buck been "beat-up?" If so, he may be timid from here on out.
Young bucks can be nearly ruined if they take a butt-whippin' from a
grouchy old doe. It happens more often than people realize.
Are they on 16 hours of light? Low hours of lighting may well affect the
pituitary glands on both of them causing the doe to not come in season.
The buck will be less "enthusiastic" as well.
Tons of different circumstances can cause rabbits to be unproductive.
grumpy.
I don't think she's that, but if you watch the video I posted, you might be able to tell for yourself.
She wasn't sold. She was given to me because the man who owned them didn't want to keep breeding them because he wasn't making money.
Perhaps he has been "beat-up," as you say. He doesn't even look at her the wrong way anymore. Before, when they did share a cage, they would chase each other around and she'd be honking the entire time. During that time, she became surprisingly aggressive, which convinced me she was pregnant (also, her hair came off easier than my buck's). Several palpating sessions led me away from that idea.
They're not on 16 hours of light, but I can try that next.
-- Mon Mar 10, 2014 11:03 pm --
Comet007":4n7bs0rq said:
Hello! From your comment: "at first they shared a cage" does sound like MAYBE they could have already done the deed?
I'm new to rabbits, but from my extensive research, here are a few things that I will be trying with my buns:
1) There's an old thread somewhere on this forum from someone who combines a) manual stimulation of the vulva - I think daily for a few days or a week? I can't remember for sure… and 2) feeding 1/4 cup per day of this product:
http://seminolefeed.com/shop/equine-fee ... enior-mix/ I believe she/he was feeding the extra ration for something like a week prior to trying to breed them. According to that post - the extra feed is to create in the doe a sense that there is an abundance of food, so now might be a great time to have and raise some kits!
2) Try to get the temperature up to 50 degrees, and provide a minimum of 800-900 lumens of light for 12-14 hours per day for 2-3 days prior to breeding.
3) My herbal mix for the buck - fed at 1 T per day for 10 days prior to breeding - all three ingredients are known for increasing sperm count & motility in the buck: equal parts raspberry leaf, ginger root & parsley. I am going to use a mix of dried herbs when the time comes, at it is cheap and efficient, but of course you could try to source them naturally.
4) The parsley, given to the doe daily for 7-10 days - also increases her egg count and can affect willingness to breed. If you do use the Seminole Wellness Senior MixⓇ from that link, it already has parsley in it. I'm going to gather the ingredients from that recipe and make my own organic version to feed to the does prior to breeding - as the OP of that thread had said doing the two things from 1) on my list are great methods to get two doe to sync breeding.
5) Feed the buck 1-2 oz of rolled oats the day prior and day of breeding to give him more energy.
I know there are other things that I have read - these are just the things that I noted in my "rabbit book", methods that I will be trying in hopes that I can maximize breeding potential. Good luck and I hope there are kits in your very near future!
I'm led to believe that they haven't done the deed, but I could be proven wrong. I'm not completely sure.
Thank you for sharing your list of things you'll do with your bunnies. I'll respond to each one with my one circumstance.
I did stimulate her manually earlier, before the car ride, but I'll continue to do that. If worst comes to worst, I will probably end up buying that product. I'm trying not to spend money, so that will be a last resort.
Fortunately, I live in Southern California, so I don't need to worry about temperature issues since it's perpetually over 55 degrees at night.
Your herbal blends sound interesting to me. I've never heard of anything like that before, save for the parsley. I've heard that from a couple different places, now. If these methods aren't working, I may have to try that out. <br /><br /> -- Mon Mar 10, 2014 11:23 pm -- <br /><br /> Here are a couple more things I think I should mention:
1. I think this is more an issue of my buck being shy because if he would just try more often, I'd be able to keep the doe still for long enough for him to finish up.
2. The previous owner told me that the two of them are from the same litter. I didn't think this would really be an issue, but I'm starting to think that it might play a factor in it. What do you think?