Chaos

[ladysown]

My tan doe refuses to breed. Do I slip her a roofie or something?

Does are as individual as people are. Some does mature early (as early as two months) others can wait up til a year. Does that mature slower test your patience.

Things to do with scared young does.
1. put them near a buck or between two buck cages.
2. switch cages with a buck for at least overnight
3. wait for them to act like adults rather than babies. (this should actually be first)! Adult rabbits act differently than immature rabbits. So wait until they act like adults.
4. give a LARGE space for them to run around in. A large pet run often works perfectly.
5. expose doe to buck in the evening one day, in the morning the next, and the following time in the afternoon. Rabbits often breed well in the evening/at night (8-9 p.m. or right before evening chores) but in 20 years of breeding rabbits I've had some that would ONLY breed in the morning and others ONLY in the afternoon. those oddballs make a note of so you don't waste your time next go round.
6. She might not like your buck. So let her meet another fellow and see if that helps.
7. check vent before and after you have her with the buck. I've known some buck/doe pairings that seem sneaky. You'll be looking for a purplish vent before breeding and afterwards for a semen deposit.
8. if your buck is young and insecure about public breeding but overall a steady, easy going sort, sometimes you can leave them together in a largish area (that is secure) and just wait until she starts to squeak at him a couple weeks later. (the squeaking is I'm bred, leave me alone). Feed her hay every day (or just access to bedding material) until she shows interest in it and give her a nestbox. Needs to be a large enough area that they can mutually ignore each other though or there might be fighting.
9. car rides down bumpy roads with both in the same carrier.
10. take her to a rabbit show... or some place with LOTS of different bunny smells.... kicks the hormones in to high drive.

Most of all though, be patient.
If all else fails (so by the time they are 1 year old and still refusing) make a weird change to their diet. Doesn't much matter what. Add some BOSS, give some manna, if you feed hay, feed a completely different type, give a cracker or two, sometimes changes in diet help switch a doe's brain to on.

 

[Chaos]

The odorless milky yellow urine is a sign of too much calcium in the diet. It's not a big deal if it only happens occasionally, but if it happens often they can have problems with their teeth and nails. If it is happening often, check your alfalfa content in their hay, you might need to mix in more grasses to counteract it.

Just in case you haven't encountered it yet, red urine that looks almost like blood is also normal if it's occasional. It's something to do with a type of plant that can be found in hay, and is harmless.

Fall off counts guarantee a pregnancy in healthy does but much like humans, any fun-times (that involve the proper end of the doe) can cause pregnancy -even if they pull-out. Any time I have two together, I ensure that a nesting box is provided at appropriate time even if I'm sure it didn't take. Whether or not a first time mother uses the kindle box, is a different issue entirely.

I've only seen the milky urine once. She gets pellets and Timothy hay, won't eat horse cubes alfalfa. They get comfrey occasionally, lately got a lot of fruit tree prunings.
Anyway, thank you very much

 

[Chaos]

Does are as individual as people are. Some does mature early (as early as two months) others can wait up til a year. Does that mature slower test your patience.

Things to do with scared young does.
1. put them near a buck or between two buck cages.
2. switch cages with a buck for at least overnight
3. wait for them to act like adults rather than babies. (this should actually be first)! Adult rabbits act differently than immature rabbits. So wait until they act like adults.
4. give a LARGE space for them to run around in. A large pet run often works perfectly.
5. expose doe to buck in the evening one day, in the morning the next, and the following time in the afternoon. Rabbits often breed well in the evening/at night (8-9 p.m. or right before evening chores) but in 20 years of breeding rabbits I've had some that would ONLY breed in the morning and others ONLY in the afternoon. those oddballs make a note of so you don't waste your time next go round.
6. She might not like your buck. So let her meet another fellow and see if that helps.
7. check vent before and after you have her with the buck. I've known some buck/doe pairings that seem sneaky. You'll be looking for a purplish vent before breeding and afterwards for a semen deposit.
8. if your buck is young and insecure about public breeding but overall a steady, easy going sort, sometimes you can leave them together in a largish area (that is secure) and just wait until she starts to squeak at him a couple weeks later. (the squeaking is I'm bred, leave me alone). Feed her hay every day (or just access to bedding material) until she shows interest in it and give her a nestbox. Needs to be a large enough area that they can mutually ignore each other though or there might be fighting.
9. car rides down bumpy roads with both in the same carrier.
10. take her to a rabbit show... or some place with LOTS of different bunny smells.... kicks the hormones in to high drive.

Most of all though, be patient.
If all else fails (so by the time they are 1 year old and still refusing) make a weird change to their diet. Doesn't much matter what. Add some BOSS, give some manna, if you feed hay, feed a completely different type, give a cracker or two, sometimes changes in diet help switch a doe's brain to on.

I've only got 1 buck and I don't know how adult rabbits act. Time of day I can try, and swapping cages is doable, think I'll put them in tractor together and see what happens. She always has Timothy hay. Who would've thunk so much could be so weird?

 

[dlynn]

My tan doe refuses to breed. Do I slip her a roofie or something?

Maybe try a different buck. Mine live in family groups and control their mating. I had one doe , Cocoa Loco, who wanted nothing to do with the buck I wanted her to live with. Even up on hind legs boxing matches. She used to lay next to a buck in another pen, fence between them . I even watched her scale a 4' fence and leap to a brush pile to get to her chosen buck. When he was gone she spent a week racing along the fence looking for him and seemed to be in mourning. I should have let her have him. She did eventually accept my chosen buck, but it took a few months. She's raised 4 litters with him. I'm uncomfortable forcing a mating.

 

[Chaos]

Maybe try a different buck. Mine live in family groups and control their mating. I had one doe , Cocoa Loco, who wanted nothing to do with the buck I wanted her to live with. Even up on hind legs boxing matches. She used to lay next to a buck in another pen, fence between them . I even watched her scale a 4' fence and leap to a brush pile to get to her chosen buck. When he was gone she spent a week racing along the fence looking for him and seemed to be in mourning. I should have let her have him. She did eventually accept my chosen buck, but it took a few months. She's raised 4 litters with him. I'm uncomfortable forcing a mating.

I know some dog breeders that use AI because bitch refuses their male. I just never thought of that happening with rabbits. Wonder if she knows something about him that I don't????

 

[dlynn]

I know some dog breeders that use AI because bitch refuses their male. I just never thought of that happening with rabbits. Wonder if she knows something about him that I don't????

Rabbits are very social when allowed to be. My bucks live with their does and kits. I've noticed even the bucks have favorites, will spend more cuddle time with one. I love seeing a buck and doe sprawled out relaxing, kits crawling over them. Sometimes making little bubbly sounds. I swear they're telling stories. I've read on a subconscious level even people pick a partner with their nose. Guess natures way of telling every animal who's most compatible...

 

[RABBITGIRLFORTHEWIN]

My black doe is same age and she had a litter, but she may be purebred instead of Silver Fox x New Zealand. I guess it may still be too early.

I had a doe get bred at 6 months and did amazing. It's more about being ready to be a mom.

 

[RABBITGIRLFORTHEWIN]

The rule book says buck must hump and fall off 3 times. He never has done that but one doe got premiers anyway!

Rabbits can get bred with just one falloff.

 

[CedarRidge]

My tan doe refuses to breed. Do I slip her a roofie or something?

Take her for a nice, relaxing drive in the car.