I'd really appreciate a looksee and advice.

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Stephanie

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I'm still getting set up and haven't yet gotten any buns. But, I should be all ready in just 2 or 3 more weeks. I have been keeping an eye out for potential sources of breeding material. I just ran across an ad in craigslist. The pics of the buns look healthy to me, although there's only so much you can glean from a pic. Since I am new to raising and breeding rabbits, which will be for a meat source, I was hoping some of you kindhearted, experienced rabbiteers might take a quick look and give me your opinion. I value any and all input from y'all.
http://norfolk.craigslist.org/grd/5107863993.html
 
Most suggest on here go through a reputable breeder then you know what your getting. Sorry I can't be more help along the meat side of it as we just bred pet mini lops.
All the best and welcome to RT others will come along shortly and help advise you :)
 
Do you already have cages and equipment?

The price with the cages and equipment seem very reasonable, but it is hard to judge condition from pictures. The rabbits look okay, but not outstanding. Are you just looking to put meat on the family table or do you have more ambitious plans such as showing and selling future breeding stock?

I started with some so-so meat mutts and I haven't regretted it. We were just about at the stage you are at now, not quite ready, when my guy brought home five meat mutts. Two clearly had dwarf stock so we soon sent them to the freezer, but the others produced well for us. Their conformation was far from outstanding, but we worked with them and selected the best from the offspring for future breeders.

As long as they are healthy and you like them when you see them, the cages and equipment seem to justify the expenditure. If the rabbits don't do well for you, you can send them to freezer camp and buy new stock down the road a bit. There's a learning curve to raising rabbits and in many cases it is not a bad idea to gain your experience on inexpensive rabbits.
 
No, I do not have any cages yet. I ordered them several days ago and they should be here in about 3 weeks. I ordered from Klubertanz, and they have a slight back-order atm.

I e-mailed the seller with a list of questions. An excerpt from that e-mail...

"I have a few questions concerning your ad. Are all of the rabbits listed of the same bloodline? How long have you been keeping rabbits and where did you get them? If you didn't breed them yourself, is the original breeder available to contact? Do you have any records showing what size litters you have gotten from them? What kind of survival rate have you gotten from the litters? How quickly do your litters reach a slaughter size of at least 4.5 lbs? Have any of them been bred before? How good natured are they? What are the cage sizes? Are the cages self-made or bought? If bought, what brand are they? Please describe the diet you have been providing for them, including type and brand of pellets, if used."

From all that I have learned here, I think that list covers most of the essentials.

I do understand your advice about the learning curve. The school of hard knocks often gives the best learning. And, I wouldn't be too terribly disappointed if these didn't turn out so well. But, I was hoping to not start at ground zero and make all the possible mistakes. I know I will make some. I just hope to miss the most obvious ones.
 
They appear to be outwardly healthy although peed on, so kind of dirty.

From what I can see of their conformation, they are just run of the mill meat rabbits. Kind of long in the shoulder and don't have much width.

Something that a lot of people don't understand when it comes to show quality "meat" breeds is that the standards are written so you will get a nice carcass, not so you have a pretty live rabbit.

When you talk about depth of loin, that refers to how thick that cut of meat is going to be. Full hindquarters = nice heavy back legs.

I personally feel it is best to get nice quality show stock. The quality of meat on your table will be superior and you also have the option of selling nice breeding stock or show prospects. Another very lucrative market is breeding for 4-H meat pens.
 
I've been on here for a year now and have seen advice going both ways--warnings about buying CL rabbits and warnings about breeders. We started with CL rabbits and didn't know a lot that we do now, but it has worked out ok. We're really not interested in selling, showing etc.--just eating :) Some things we'd all agree on--just common sense--look healthy, not filthy etc.
Best of luck whatever you choose to do.
 
The ad says five NZW, but one of these things is not like the others....

There's a Cali in there. Not that that's bad, but it does speak to the knowledge of the person selling.
 
I think the recent posters have all raised valid points... it's all a matter of your priorities.

The questions you asked are all valid, Stephanie, but the seller may be a little overwhelmed by them.

I think this is only a good deal if you intend to use the cages. If you've already ordered cages you might want to look elsewhere for rabbits. (Unless you think you will be expanding after a while.)
 
Stephanie":lhc3ipp8 said:
Miss M":lhc3ipp8 said:
The ad says five NZW, but one of these things is not like the others....

There's a Cali in there. Not that that's bad, but it does speak to the knowledge of the person selling.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I noticed the one with dark ears. A cross maybe?
Click to expand...
Could be a cross, but I think the markings are a little dark. I think the crosses usually end up with grey markings, not black. My guess would be full Cali, but I could be wrong.

MaggieJ":lhc3ipp8 said:
I think the recent posters have all raised valid points... it's all a matter of your priorities.

The questions you asked are all valid, Stephanie, but the seller may be a little overwhelmed by them.

I think this is only a good deal if you intend to use the cages. If you've already ordered cages you might want to look elsewhere for rabbits. (Unless you think you will be expanding after a while.)
Click to expand...
I completely agree. The seller may try to answer, but I'm guessing a lot of her answers would be "I don't know."

And about the cages. You've got really great cages on the way already. If you don't have plans for these cages, I'd look for different rabbits.
 
Good questions but would set back your average backyard raiser :)
I'm new, too, and I have quickly realized that many people who raise rabbits have no idea about any of those things.
I started with a classified ad rabbit-- she wasn't she was advertised as but a great mom and mutt :)
I have a few other mutts (out of purebred parents) that I am breeding back to my purebred bucks to bring up type and reliability.
In the end would say look for a breeder and what you can afford purebred :)
 
I started with CL rabbits - didn't know any different. They weren't great, at all. 2 had horrendous ear mites that I am finally getting under control (if they did poorly with their litters, I wouldn't have dealt with them, but our first one had 11!). I really had no idea what to look for or anything. Knowing what I know now I would have seen all the red flags :x . I did get 3 rabbits and 2 hutches (5 holes) for $90, and have already made $80 of that back just by selling the first litter. Can't complain I guess. I found one listed breeder in our area, but I doubt I will go back to him. His set up isn't great, and he has a lot going in and out. My first experience was fine, the second time I was sent home with a sick rabbit that got my one other pedigreed rabbit sick. It just wasn't good, and really made me more cautious.
 
Looks like a good deal to me provided all the equipment is in good sturdy shape. Primarily because the cost covers the equipment, not even factoring in the worth of the meat if none of the rabbits are usable. But that is purely based on cage cost in your area. In mine, KW cages are very cheap (even with shipping cost factored in). So to me this is a steal for just the equipment. BUT. Be aware, they apparently have buns sharing cages in those pictures and description which states this is only 3 cages but is 2 bucks and 3 does (5 rabbits). That is a very bad idea to leave them like that if you decide to keep all of them, so you might wind up having to buy two other cages from a different source just to house all of them appropriately. (But seriously guys, how did those pee stains happen all over like that?? I'm sort of suspicious the buns were only placed in the cages for pictures and that might not be how they are housed full time at all.)
 
Cages look to be on the flimsy side, very little value there. Some of the wabbits look real old to me, so you'll have to try and decide if there descriptions are honest. I don't see $150 worth of value there but I'm loaded with wabbits right now, so my opinion may be a little biased. :roll:
 
I've decided to stick with my original plan and get everything set up, then look for a good breeder and buy from them. When I saw the ad, I guess I was lured by what appeared on the face to be a good deal. But, I realized early on that if I'm gonna do this, I may as well do it right. That means starting with a good set of genes, even if it costs a bit more.
 
The rabbits are a bit dirty, you can see the yellowing pee stains on the fur, but as a start they should be okay.

I agree. Yes, CL you do need to be careful, but I will say this though. We found our rabbits on CL from an ad DBA had posted, and I regret nothing!! From the very start DBA was always there to answer questions, provided the best information to us about his Cals, and even goes beyond that!

When it comes to finding animals online I have a way tips me off to how much they care about the animal, how they care about making sure YOU know what you're doing. When we had replied to DBA's ad, we had also emailed 2 others. The first 2 would reply like this. "Yes I stil hav those rabbits do u want 2 by them???" For me, if you are conducting business online. "You dont type lke dis." It shows that you are lazy, and it's very like you're tying to make some quick cash, and don't care about your animals, or making sure the people they are going to, have the knowledge they need. Just remember if they take the time to really.

Just remember to be careful, and have more options on the table, and ASK QUESTIONS! Judge how confident they are in their responses.

:good-luck:
 
Becca":35sbenvy said:
When it comes to finding animals online I have a way tips me off to how much they care about the animal, how they care about making sure YOU know what you're doing. When we had replied to DBA's ad, we had also emailed 2 others. The first 2 would reply like this. "Yes I stil hav those rabbits do u want 2 by them???" For me, if you are conducting business online. "You dont type lke dis." It shows that you are lazy, and it's very like you're tying to make some quick cash, and don't care about your animals, or making sure the people they are going to, have the knowledge they need. Just remember if they take the time to really.
Click to expand...

Oh, I hate that! And some post ads with such wonderful quality! I had a guy from State Farm email me a couple weeks ago and I really though it was a joke as horrible as the email was written. There is no way I was responding! Come to find out, it was totally legit b/c there was a message on the answering machine as well. VERY unprofessional.

I was a copy editor in HS and ever since then (even 15 years later) my brain is always on the look out for typos (DH gives me submitted resumes from people applying to his company sometimes, just to see me twitch :lol: - there are times he gives me a red pen to go with it as well :roll: )... I live in the south so it is very very common to see "For Sell" instead of "For Sale" since they are both pronounced essentially the same way.

For the record, I know my typing/spelling isn't perfect (not trying to say it is... we all make mistakes!) but I wish people would actually care how they represent themselves...

OK, rant over :oops:
 
:yeahthat: I know this is :eek:fftopic: But.... I have been cruising Craigslist looking for chicks or possibly a roo..I know I have ranted about this before but ....Really people... does anyone out there know the difference between our and are ???? If I see "This is are new______" again I will :explode: Oh well, as I have said before, we can comfort our grammar Nazi selves with a pat on the head and a soothing,..there,they're, their........ :mrgreen:
 

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