Rabbit myths!

Kyle@theWintertime · Feb 11, 2013

Yah my first horse has a bad arthritic knee because as a two-year-old he tried to mount a mare and she did not appreciate the advances, so she hauled off and kicked him in the knee so hard she broke it. He'd been gelded as soon as the vet said he was old enough, yet he always acted "studdy" around mares. :lol: Needless to say his first owner had him in a sling for six months to let the leg heal, and while it was fine for many years, in his old age he developed arthritis in that knee alone.

Silly gelding!!!

The Paint I used to own, though...he could NOT be pastured with mares, he'd been left a stud til he was 9 and he never got it through his thick skull that he wasn't the baddest stud on earth. :roll: He'd harass mares to the point of being dangerous.

Frosted Rabbits · Feb 11, 2013

I Know a few dog breeders who kept active neutered dogs to breed their willing bitches to-- I had a neutered dog breed one of my bitches-- and for the first heat cycle in her life where she did not get pregnant-- she did not have a false pregnancy!!! ( I would rather raise pups than deal with her false pregnancies!!!) Nope, cannot take it out of the brain-- many alpaca breeders keep vasectomized males to tease the open females with. And gelded horses are used to tease mares with--

avdpas77 · Feb 11, 2013

jollysrabbits":21qtol2c said:
when my uncle found out I was raising rabbits to eat, he told me I could only eat them during the winter, because during the summer they get worms , WTH and don't worry he would come visit me in the hospital. :lol: still waiting opcorn:

This is based on fact. Bot flies (also know as warbles) lay eggs on rabbits that hatch into larva and burrow under the skin. Before cold weather, these larva burrow back out, fall to the ground, pupate, and then hatch into an adult bot fly. The larva are often referred to as "worms". It is not uncommon to find these on wild (eastern cottontail) rabbits harvested early in the Fall season, which is why many hunters wait until the first frost.

Domestic rabbits can also get them (they are not hard to treat).

owlsfriend · Feb 11, 2013

OT sort of....I once heard an adult woman tell her companion that Hummingbirds must fly all their lives because they don't have feet.....my jaw dropped....how the heck do you lay and incubate an egg in flight? That's one heck of a hover.

MaggieJ · Feb 11, 2013

Uh, folks, this thread is about rabbit myths. If you want to discuss horse or dog myths, you should start a thread in Our Other Animals. These digressions are getting out of hand.

Avdpas77, thanks for getting us back on topic.

On another forum, I once came across someone who believed rabbits would not breed unless given a nest box. :doh: Boy, was she wrong!

OneAcreFarm · Feb 11, 2013

Bacon or hot dogs fed to a pregnant doe will keep her from eating her litter.... :roll:

dragonladyleanne · Feb 11, 2013

Rabbits are born pregnant!

Kyle@theWintertime · Feb 11, 2013

dragonladyleanne":2jmr5ca7 said:
Rabbits are born pregnant!

................seriously? Someone believed that??? :shock:

Diamond · Feb 11, 2013

avdpas77":19x5ogbt said:
jollysrabbits":19x5ogbt said:

when my uncle found out I was raising rabbits to eat, he told me I could only eat them during the winter, because during the summer they get worms , WTH and don't worry he would come visit me in the hospital. :lol: still waiting opcorn:

Click to expand...

This is based on fact. Bot flies (also know as warbles) lay eggs on rabbits that hatch into larva and burrow under the skin. Before cold weather, these larva burrow back out, fall to the ground, pupate, and then hatch into an adult bot fly. The larva are often referred to as "worms". It is not uncommon to find these on wild (eastern cottontail) rabbits harvested early in the Fall season, which is why many hunters wait until the first frost.

Domestic rabbits can also get them (they are not hard to treat).

My beautiful new NZ red doe has a warvil/ warble scar - I got her for a smoking deal because she can't be shown due to the scar. They are nasty wormy things!

Frosted Rabbits · Feb 11, 2013

OneAcreFarm":2mds4fvb said:
Bacon or hot dogs fed to a pregnant doe will keep her from eating her litter.... :roll:

yep-- heard that one a few months ago> Person said it keeps the doe from craving proteins.. I was also told to feed sharp cheddar to prevent eclampsia.

Happy · Feb 11, 2013

OneAcreFarm":2zqzw0kj said:
Bacon or hot dogs fed to a pregnant doe will keep her from eating her litter.... :roll:

Nope, but fleas ARE!

dragonladyleanne · Feb 11, 2013

Kyle@theHeathertoft":2yye5w5x said:
dragonladyleanne":2yye5w5x said:

Rabbits are born pregnant!

Click to expand...

................seriously? Someone believed that??? :shock:

As with a lot of myths, it really WAS believed in the early days of attempts to understand nature, just as it was believed that certain animals were "spontaneously generated" by environment (because they never saw or didn't recognize the juvenile form). I have heard it repeated recently, though, as a reason a person did not want to buy a female rabbit as a pet! Whether they literally believed it or were just saying it to be funny, I don't know.

skysthelimit · Feb 11, 2013

Actually Rex are a breed very prone to sore hock issues. If you have one that doesn't I'd sure like it. It's a hard thing to breed out, because good show fur is often so soft it's no good for the hocks, and good hock fur is generally too coarse for show.

MamaSheepdog · Feb 12, 2013

Rabbits can carry two pregnancies with different gestational age... often referred to as "dual horn pregnancies".

In most mammals the progesterone secreted during gestation inhibits oestrus and the pregnant female refuses to mate, but a pregnant doe may accept mating throughout the gestation period. Indeed, in the second half of pregnancy this is the most common behaviour (Figure 10).

A breeder cannot therefore use the sexual behaviour of does as an indication of pregnancy. Mating occurring during gestation has no dire consequences for the embryos. Unlike the phenomenon observed in the female hare, superfoetation (two simultaneous pregnancies at two different stages of development) never occurs in rabbits.

http://www.fao.org/docrep/t1690E/t1690e05.htm

Devon's Mom Lauren · Feb 12, 2013

I no longer believe that rabbits are unable to throw up as we had one very definitely "throw-up"; all over her shoes in fact..

MamaSheepdog · Feb 12, 2013

Your rabbit wears shoes? :shock:

Maybe only rabbits with a penchant for fancy footwear vomit?

KKRabbitry · Feb 12, 2013

Ok, here is a few:
You shouldn't handle new born rabbits because the Mom will freakout and kill them all.
Rabbits with red eyes are mean.
If your clipping toenails and you cut the quick they can bleed to death.
That's all I can think of at the moment

Frosted Rabbits · Feb 12, 2013

KKRabbitry":mvq1w5g3 said:
Ok, here is a few:

If your clipping toenails and you cut the quick they can bleed to death.

they won't-- but the next time you try nail clipping, YOU may!!!!

OneAcreFarm · Feb 12, 2013

MamaSheepdog":15aqpjya said:
Rabbits can carry two pregnancies with different gestational age... often referred to as "dual horn pregnancies".

In most mammals the progesterone secreted during gestation inhibits oestrus and the pregnant female refuses to mate, but a pregnant doe may accept mating throughout the gestation period. Indeed, in the second half of pregnancy this is the most common behaviour (Figure 10).

A breeder cannot therefore use the sexual behaviour of does as an indication of pregnancy. Mating occurring during gestation has no dire consequences for the embryos. Unlike the phenomenon observed in the female hare, superfoetation (two simultaneous pregnancies at two different stages of development) never occurs in rabbits.

http://www.fao.org/docrep/t1690E/t1690e05.htm

Interesting, so this must have been info about hares that got just assumed to be also true for rabbits.... :thinking: Well, knowing the source of this info (FA

rg) is credible goes a long way to changing my mind. I know they do lots of research related to rabbits and am inclined to agree with them, even if I *did* think it was true previously. I will have to do more research... :reading1: :reading2: :nerd:

GBov · Feb 13, 2013

Frosted Rabbits":16wwazwq said:
KKRabbitry":16wwazwq said:

Ok, here is a few:

If your clipping toenails and you cut the quick they can bleed to death.

Click to expand...

they won't-- but the next time you try nail clipping, YOU may!!!!

:lol:

The big myth running my life now is rabbitosis is a made up thing and not real.

Yeah, tell that to that angora sitting in my spare cage

Rabbit myths!

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