Thanks for all the support.
I am not sure if they are any harder to raise than other breeds. The hare club does say they can be be nervous by nature but a lot of pet owners say their hares are the most laid back rabbit they've ever owned.
They are (unfortunately) pretty active. Mine are in the standard size most US breeders use, 2x4 feet, and it does seem a bit small for them. They go nuts when I let them out, some more than others. If we ever move out of the city to a rural area I would probably try and go for a larger size, maybe 6x3. I know some breeders keep bucks in 30"x30" but I can't imagine. Also had floor issues, when I tried them on wire, even with resting spots, it became a bit messy. It seems a lot of hares have hairless hocks (even spoiled house rabbits that are kept on carpet), I know a very very small amount of breeders do have them on wire but not sure how it works. So for now we went back to wood bottom, I want to try putting rubber flooring on maybe during my Christmas break because that is easier to sanitize.
The guy I bought them from ended up being a bit of a sleeze ball, I found later talking to another person even when he did supply pedigrees with his stock they were not legible. I chose him because he was the closest breeder to me (3 hours drive, had to go to the US), and he had done very well in the club's sweepstakes along with his children, harsh reality hits that good sportsmanship isn't as common as I thought.
When I contacted him he decided to offer me the last of his animals, which ended up being 4 bucks (2 sr 2 jr) and 2 does (1 sr 1 jr). Which is an awful ratio to start with but oh well, right. The jr doe and a jr buck were from a different breeder as well. Stupid me also agreed to a price that I thought reasonable, but when I remembered I had to convert it from CAD to US at the bank I realized it was over budget for what I wanted. It still ended up being a bit under $100CAD per animal, much cheaper than papered stock but still a bit much for unpapered animals to go for.
3 hour drive in and we arrive, of course his papers weren't printed, his printer broke or whatever. Said he would mail them. Now at this point I was about 90% sure I would never see their papers but really did not want to go home empty handed. Decided I would be alright with just starting fresh. I did get a few nice cages and show carriers, supplies, so I justified that into everything.
First night back it was dark and hectic trying to cram everyone into temporary spaces. I ended up having a doe in a cage hanging above a buck in an play run. Of course the top cage I did not close properly (not closing cages properly seems to be a common theme with everyone in my family. Our cages now have latches as well as bungee cables holding them shut, the rabbits like to rattle the doors till they open I have found) so we had a buck and doe together all night. I didn't think anything of it, they were stressed, and I had spent the entire summer trying to breed my meat rabbits with no luck, plus of course Belgian hares are 'hard to breed' so no way would that doe possibly lift for the buck. A month later, end of January, she had a litter, 3 died from cold (were not put into the nest). The other three and the mom we took into our house to raise. The mom was the jr doe (and by jr I mean barely, she was 7-8 months already), Ada, we ended up with 2 does (Pinot, Noir), and a buckling (George). Raising them in the winter went pretty well, starting the springtime problems began to arise.
(Will continue the sad story when I upload my sad photos onto the computer in a bit).
__________ Sat Nov 07, 2015 9:57 pm __________
There will be bloody photos below!
Alright, so I came home from university around the end of April, parents had been caring for the crew. Note I had an absolutely hectic summer, much financial strain. I adopted 2 new ferrets, starting raising quail chicks, built them a new shed which ran several hundred dollars (we live in the city so I felt pressure to make it look nice for our neighbours!), finally had my first meat litter, father bought a new puppy, had some severe losses of my older goldfish (another thing I put a lot of time and money into, was just as distressing as losing my other pets).
So yes, end of April, about a week in I notice the little male kit, Georgie, is incredibly thin (losing weight at a very fast pace). So I start researching things that could cause this. Isolated him from his sisters, eventually notice he is no longer eating/drinking, so I dispatched him, and get a confirmation that he had liver cocci. This was him beside a sister:
Off I run to the farm store, buy a $90 gallon jug of sulfaquinoxaline. Can't get the stuff in a smaller size. Start the sisters (Pinot, Noir) and mom Ada on a regime I found online. At this point one sister, Noir, also starts losing weight rapidly. So she got moved into the house for watching. She was the only one of them to have runny stools which smelled awful. So she got a few baths and special treatment. It was about 3 months before I felt she was in the clear (poops back to normal, weight good again).
At her worst, her hind end seemed paralyzed. She couldn't walk. I was advised to dispatch her as well but I had trouble with the idea as she had a good appetite and seemed to be gaining weight. She pulled through it and is healthy, but she is extremely ugly. Her feet also became horribly bloody from when I tried having her on wire, and it took a few months of cleaning and careful care for the scabs to finally go away. I'm guessing her posture is horrible due to these things. But she is healthy considering the ordeal.
Since she isn't a breeding animal from all her issues, I had considered adopting her out. But she has recently developed the most horrible attitude. I've not ever dealt with such an aggressive rabbit. I have a lot of trouble dealing with her, but still I guess the above has made me too attached to her to do anything about it. I am sure if she was spayed and brought in as a house rabbit she would go back to her old personality but I don't think I could feel good about trying to put her in a home.
Sisters enjoying some peace during treatment days.
Noir at her worst:
This is when she was not able to walk, but still had a great appetite:
Miss Noir around the end of August:
After this ordeal, I was not discouraged. I bred Ada to my favourite buck, Oz. At the same time I bred my sr doe, Madura, to one of the bucks. Madura was quite a big girl, I could not tell if she was pregnant or not. About a month in, I was excited, I sent in my ARBA membership app and registered my rabbitry. I chose the name The Mad Hare's Stronghold. The name was meant to signify that I would not give up, to be unfaltering in this quest. Little did I know I would need it more than ever in the next few months.
Madura never gave birth. But I do remember, the very day after I sent in my app, I came home from work and was doing my rounds. I got to Ada's cage and found bloody. I found her dead, cold, stiff... Pulled her out. I found this tiny nugget, and a dead kit. I started throwing all the nest and bedding into the manure pile. I decided to cut Ada open. What I found, I did not get an explanation for, from the vet, or from rabbit groups. The kits, 2 were normal. The little nugget obviously was not full term. Another one looked rather deformed, which I found inside her. I also found an oversized, white, fetus, which I suppose killed her from shock as she could not pass it. I still don't know what caused this.
This one was normal sized but had no hair unlike the two developed kits:
You can see the large white fetus, and the small nugget fetus below. Developed kit with a gash on his head to the left:
Uterus. Don't think it means anything as I basically ripped it open:
Very sad. Back in the shed, Oz was having a freak attack, he was stomping like mad. He is not a normal rabbit, very special to me, I think he is much smarter than any rabbit I had ever met, fearless and bold... So I am very confused with his behaviour. I realize in the manure pile near him I see something moving. A kit that I did not see before still alive, but with a huge gash on his head. Of course I take him in and try to save him but to no avail.
Took the next day off work to bury the family. I was so depressed. At this point I realize I'm probably going to have to breed Pinot (was not originally, wanted to adopt her and Noir out together as a bonded pair- this was before Noir went nuts).
About 2 weeks of business as usual, I've calmed down a bit but still constantly thinking about quitting. One morning my own incompetence comes for me. Two of the bucks are out of their cages. Ozzie, and the other jr buck, Elliot. Now my own secret theory (because I don't want to believe that I didn't close two cages properly), was that Ozzie managed to open his cage and jump down (he had gotten really good at opening his cage), and he managed to unlock Elliot's bottom row cage.
So battle had ensued in the Stronghold overnight... and the victim... was Ozzie's testicles.. Poor guy. I don't know what came over me, maybe it was the loss of the family, maybe it was that I couldn't bear to kill my favourite rabbit over something that was my own error. But I was working at the clinic that morning, which does rabbits. Saturdays are generally not busy, and I knew the exotic vet was on duty. So I brought him in to work as a little surprise. The neuter ran a bit under $400 (vet care in Ontario is extra expensive). We did it between appointments. And so freeloader #2 was born.
Everyone at the clinic was amazed at him. He was acting completely un-phased, eating, they noted how low his heart rate was for a rabbit (he's a very chill dude).
This is his post-surgery drugged face.
I love him so much, he is very smart, if I didn't have ferrets he would be in my room with me. Lately I think he harbours a grudge against me, as he attacks me like a moody doe when I visit home on weekends. After about 10 minutes he calms down to his loving self again, but I definitely feel like he hates me for locking him up and not visiting him (my mom plays with them and he doesn't do this to her).
Again a few weeks after this incident (and another several $100 in the middle of my coop build), I notice Madura seems off. Balance issues. I did take her to the vet and we did decide it was an inner ear infection, on the Friday. But at this point I hesitated on spending the ~$150 for the Baytril to treat her. By Monday she had taken a sudden turn for the worst, stopped eating, died very quickly.
During this weekend, one of the senior bucks, Vincent, also stopped eating. Though I kept syringe feeding him, he died in my arms Monday morning (Madura I found dead Monday night when I came home from work- two gone in one day). It was very horrifying. I am not sure if it was just an age thing or a GI stasis. But it was a very fast progression.
At this point I was more hysterical than I had ever been. I was sobbing and bursting into laughter at the same time. Sobbing from sadness. Laughing because I honestly thought the higher forces had purposefully sent this succession of unfortunate events to break me. I felt so defeated. I had fewer animals than I had started with at this point.
A few days later I bred Pinot, out of mostly fear that I would lose all my hares shortly, she was my only good doe, the only other breeder I know in ON decided not to respond to my questions about stock available. This litter is fine so far, but this is the end of the road until I get new animals. I am thinking to plan a trip to the mini convention in Ohio at the end of April, which is 10 hours one way. I would like to purchase several animals from a few breeders. But I have had a lot of troubling finding and dealing with breeders. Available animals seem to come in spouts, and are snatched up so rapidly. I actually cried (getting too emotional) when I lost out on an amazing buck that I could have had transported because I replied a few minutes too late.
Now, present day, I had noticed that poor Elliot's coat was looking horrible. I was told he likely had a UTI or some such thing. He also had what I thought was an abscess on his toe, which had grown quite a bit since I saw him between two weekends, and was very gross. He went to the vet, and we did get the Baytril to treat him this time (vet was fine giving it as a just in case since they could not get a urine sample even). Sadly the bump is most likely a tumour. Removing and testing it would cost $450, which I cannot afford. So right now he is continuing with this giant bump on his toe. His UTI cleared up. But he seems very depressed in his cage I have noticed. When I take him out he binkies and runs around like nuts. And he loves to be held as well. I think being inside the house for his 10 day treatment may have spoiled him, but now that is another animal I feel bad about caging.
He is a young rabbit, and as far as I'm aware, tumours like this are so rare, I feel as it is a continuation of the rabbit curse I have been placed under. Poor Elliot.
Long story short: Are they hard to raise? They shouldn't be, but darn have I had trouble. As far as I'm aware everything but the cocci should not have been related to my husbandry, and I would not even blame the breeder for selling sick animals. It just strikes me as a lot of bad things happened by chance.
As awful as it's been, I think I would do it all again. The only knowledgeable decision I would have made differently would have been to treat Madura immediately instead of trying to wait.
:bunnyhop:
