Breeding So My Bunny Does Not Get Lonely

[Kittykkat22]

My bunny is called Bonnie, she is mixed breed and she is 1 year and 10 months.

Last weekend my older rabbit died and now Bonnie seems to be lonely, she isn't the friendliest bun but I love her and I'm working on that. Because my other bunny was castrated I never spayed Bonnie and so I decided I wanted to breed her and keep one of her daughters if she has any. If she has multiple daughters I do have a home for them. However, because of Bonnie's age I was worried about her as it will be her first time breeding and I had read about fusing hips, a family friend also mentioned that she had a Dutch rabbit that had died pregnant as it could not get the babies out. Is Bonnie too old? I really don't want to put her through pain or even have her die from it. Bonnie is definitely not a small rabbit but she isn't amazingly large if that makes a difference, She is my avatar, she looks quite small but she is the length of my forearm and hand which is about 40cm. Oh and I work at a yard that owns show rabbits and they agreed to let me use one of their bucks if I wanted.

 

[AmberRae]

I bred a rabbit at 1 and 1/2 years old for the first time before. I did not have any problems. Some other may have though. If she is a very beloved pet you might just consider getting her a friend and not risk pregnacy complications. It's a very personal al decision though.

 

[2CrazyFools]

I had a virgin doe who was about that age when I (finally) bred her. I had tried for MONTHS before that, and she simply didn't want to breed. Never lifted for the buck, etc.. well I finally got her bred a little over two months ago and she died of birthing complications. She was my husbands favorite and definitely one of mine as well, such a sweetheart. I did get 4 kits out of her that lived and they are just the light of my days right now, lol. I'm falling so hard for these little wigglers. :roll: It's going to be hard in a couple of weeks when I need to find good homes for them.

Anyway, I'm going to try my hardest in the future to never allow a doe to get that old before breeding her, if that is the plan. I'm not saying this is common or anything, but personally after this experience I'd rather not risk it again.

Oh, and welcome to RabbitTalk!!

 

[Kittykkat22]

Thanks to you both!

The lady that owns the rabbits told me that she would be fine but i'm really unsure now and don't want to risk her life over it, I know for sure that she would lift, she is eager for it aha. She used to try to mate with the male she was with even though she did not have the right equipment.

I really do want to breed her but even though she can be nasty I really love her and I couldn't live with myself if she died, I would just like to know the risks and if there is anything I could do to prevent them. Is it really worth the risk?

 

[SarniaTricia]

kitty
Here are a list of what I consider the risks and rewards of doing what you propose.
You are the only one who can make this decision.

Risks:
Loosing Bonnie due to loosing her mate (I have heard many stories of rabbits dying due to loosing the other half of a bonded pair)
Loosing Bonnie due to pregnancy complications
Bonnie is a crappy mother and you loose a litter (some really horrible ways)
Bonnie raises a litter and you keep a doe and at 12 weeks when daughter gets hormonal, they fight and you have to re-home her (a possibility)
You can't re-home all the kits and end up with Bonnie bred again by one of her sons (&/or daughters bred by brothers)

Rewards:
Bonnie mellows with pregnancy (not a guarantee)
Watching the wonder of a nest of baby rabbits grow
Bonnie gets a daughter friend to hang with

 

[Kittykkat22]

kitty
Here are a list of what I consider the risks and rewards of doing what you propose.
You are the only one who can make this decision.

Risks:
Loosing Bonnie due to loosing her mate (I have heard many stories of rabbits dying due to loosing the other half of a bonded pair)
Loosing Bonnie due to pregnancy complications
Bonnie is a crappy mother and you loose a litter (some really horrible ways)
Bonnie raises a litter and you keep a doe and at 12 weeks when daughter gets hormonal, they fight and you have to re-home her (a possibility)
You can't re-home all the kits and end up with Bonnie bred again by one of her sons (&/or daughters bred by brothers)

Rewards:
Bonnie mellows with pregnancy (not a guarantee)
Watching the wonder of a nest of baby rabbits grow
Bonnie gets a daughter friend to hang with

So does her age make her more at risk of pregnancy complications? Is it at least rare to have pregnancy complications? This is the one I am most worried about as the purpose of me breeding her is to stop her getting lonely and not die from being exactly that.

I love her very much and she is in my room now actually haha, this is a really tough decision however I am not worried about a hormonal baby or mating with her son as I have a two tier cage, this means that I can close off the ramp between the two tiers and keep babies separated from her.

I really do want to breed her but I don't want her to die as I have said, I just don't want that on my conscience, I really love all my pets and would never want to harm any of them.

Just an extra question if anyone can tell, I can feel all the lumps of her spine which makes me think she's underweight but then she has a fold of fat under her chin which makes me think she is overweight, which one is she? :lol:

 

[2CrazyFools]

Well I can at least answer part of one of your questions, lol. That's not a double chin or anything like that, it's called a dewlap and female rabbits always have that regardless of being overweight or not.

My sweet girl Clover, always had an impressive dewlap though she wasn't overweight. She had a bigger dewlap than one of my other girls who certainly was a bit of a fatty... Clover even used her dewlap as a pillow regularly! :lol:

 

[Kittykkat22]

Awwww that is just so sweet, Clover looks like my male that died however he had a little white mark on his nose, I do miss that boy he had such a sweet personality.

I'm so sorry that you lost your bunny Clover however I did see your post on the kits and they are amazingly adorable

I can't seem to create a personal gallery which means I cannot upload any pictures of my buns XD

 

[alforddm]

A rabbits pelvis doesn't fuse, that is a myth. However, they can accumulate internal fat, even if they aren't overweight. The internal fat can lead to large babies which can lead to birthing complications. So yes, an older doe who has never been bred is higher risk. Unfortunately, there is no way to know if your doe will have complications or if she will do great. It's just one of those situations where only you can make the right decision for you.

Good luck!

 

[hotzcatz]

If you can feel all the lumps of her spine, she's probably under weight. Bunnies should have enough flesh that you can't feel their bones. At least, if they're an angora, those are the only ones I usually meet, so those are the ones I usually know. But, feed her more until you can't feel her spine anymore, is what I'd do if she were my bunny.

We have had older females have litters with no complications, but of course, that's no guarantee that yours won't have complications. I think the oldest new mom was about three and we usually retire them at four or five years old.

If you're only doing this so your bunny can have a companion, it might be easier to just get her another bunny as a companion.

 

[Kittykkat22]

I think that what I am going to do is actually neuter Bonnie and hope that her temperament gets a little better, but because I do want to have the experience of breeding because I am wanting to be a vet, I think I will get another bun and when she's 6 months I will breed her to get one litter and then neuter that rabbit, if that sounds alright?

I will not risk Bonnie's life :bunnyhop:

 

[AmberRae]

That is the choice I would make also with Bonnie since she is a pet. You might find you really enjoy breeding and decide to keep your own breeding pair.

 

[alforddm]

If you can feel all the lumps of her spine, she's probably under weight.

You should be able to feel the lumps of their spine. If you can't they are overweight. They shouldn't be spiky/bony feeling, but you should be able to feel them as gentle bumps.

• Hip bones, ribs and spine easily felt but are rounded,
not sharp – Ribs feel like a pocket full of pens!
• No abdominal bulge
• Rump area is flat

from https://research.unc.edu/files/2012/11/ ... Rabbit.pdf

This goes for angora as well. Just be sure you allow for the extra hair which may affect what you can feel.

 

[2CrazyFools]

Adding on the the underweight/overweight discussion, alforddm mentioned earlier that rabbits can develop internal fat even if they aren't overweight and I recently ran into this. The older buck I had that wouldn't really ever get into producing and preferred to just "cuddle" if the doe was resistant? Well maybe a few months back I noticed he was really getting boney so I thought I needed to up his food and I started giving him some tasty fatty sunflower seeds but he never really seemed to put on weight and gosh his backbone felt spikey. Anyway, we ate him a few weeks ago and when I was processing him I flat out could not BELIEVE the level of internal fat this guy had! No wonder he was a so-so buck, they don't feel like breeding when they are fat and even though it was not apparent externally, internally was a whole different story.

Kind of weird. :?

But yeah, in just about all animals you should feel their backbone easily. Rabbits, dogs, and of course, us!

 

[Preitler]

I know for sure that she would lift, she is eager for it aha. She used to try to mate with the male she was with even though she did not have the right equipment.

Hi, well, that just says that she's a rather bossy girl, humping is the normal way to show and establish dominance.
If she has done this regulary you might consider that when choosing another rabbit, I think a more submissive character would be easier to get along with.

Hm, getting another bunny, a litter, keeping one, or two if the trio doesn't work out... - you are aware that rabbits have that magical tendency to accumulate? :lilbunny: :lilbunny: inkbunny: :lilbunny: :lol:


Can't tell about the risk, some of mine were well over a year, or were not bred for almost 2 years at age 4 (have too many does, see above), but doing fine til now, when not bred they do get rather fat, at least they look fat - but it depends on the rabbits, mine descend from farm meat mutt lines bred for breeding.

 

[Kittykkat22]

Thanks everyone,

I am aware that rabbits can accumulate but I am prepared for this, I have a total of 13 pets and so that's a lot of old cages that I can use plus we are adding on to the back of our chicken coop especially for rabbits as easy access to the outdoors haha.

As for the weight, I'm guessing she is a little underweight but I think she might actually have quite a bit of internal fat because when I had Twitch I would get worried about him sometimes as he was old and seemed thin so I would try to feed him up, he never put on weight and I used to separate them for small periods of time quite often because I thought it was Bonnie eating his food when he had eaten all the greens. Could that maybe cause internal fat?

 

[Kittykkat22]

Updating this post a few years later lol, Bonnie died last year I lost her to flystrike as she was recovering but lost the use of her back legs and unfortunately drowned in a bowl of water I had given her... I miss her a lot. I now have 5 rabbits and a litter of 5 babies. I started breeding Netherland dwarfs after I lost Bonnie. This is my first litter, they’re all doing amazing and I hope I can get into showing when the pandemic eases.