Breeding Questions

[medlefang]

Hello, I am medlefang and I am a 4-H'er and have a few questions on breeding rabbits and raising their babies!


ancake: 1. Breeding With a Certain Buck: ancake:

Ok so I raise netherland dwarfs. And I love them and their babies. But I own 3 does and one buck. Whom is larger then the others. He is a pretty big netherland dwarf. He is 3 pounds and about %20 larger then the does, except one who is a "fat" doe.
I hear it is unsafe to breed them with eachother but I talked to a rabbit official at my State Fair and they said "Oh you can do that and the babies will even out, The doe is not very likely to have birthing troubles!" So i need to know if this is life or death for my does and if it is safe!

ancake: 2. Raising the kits: ancake:

Ok so I most certainly DO NOT want my does to kill their kits. Is there any way to prevent this from EVER happening!

 

[OwnedByTheBuns]

1: I would say that since they are the same breed, it does not matter at all.

2: Well, if you are worried about her eatig them if she smells you, you can put vanilla on her nose. I did this when I was a scared newbie, but I don't see any need for it now. There is no stopping a doe from eating her kits if they are dying or dead. She may not, or instincts will tell her to go for it. She could trample them if she is inexperienced and scared, but I would think a nestbox will pretty well prevent that. A rabbit is not likely to kill her babies unless she has a reason that nature intended.

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

Also some first-time does make lots of mistakes that sadly results in losing some kits...but often they come 'round on the next litter and work out well. I have a three-strikes policy for my does...and one doe IS on her third strike...sometimes things just happen.

 

[Dood]

Do you know if your rabbits are true dwarfs or false dwarfs?

It sounds like your buck may be a false dwarf as he is larger but 3 pounds is not too big for a true dwarf.

This breed often has difficulties in giving birth due to their small size and the dwarf gene changing their bone structure. It is quite common for a does first litters to be stillborn and sometimes even the second or third litters, until her birth canal has been stretched enough to pass live kits.

Generally the false dwarf females have fewer issues as they dont have the dwarf gene but this is not always the case.

If your does and bucks are true dwarfs then about 25% of the babies will get two copies of the dwarf gene and are called 'peanuts'. It can quite a shock to see one for the first time and you should decide how you are going to deal with them if they're born to your does.

 

[PSFAngoras]

By peanut dood means a Kit that exhibits signs of dwarfism. They typically are much smaller, and have an enlarged skull and look slightly deformed. These kits typically do not survive as they are unable to grow naturally. Most die days within birth, if they even make it that long. By saying that you will have to figure out how you want to deal with them, I ASSUME (again, how i personally interpreted the statement) that dood means weather you want to let the kit die naturally or cull it to save it some suffering.