Doe not receptive

[R Buns]

Well I guess she just wanted to be wined and dinned a few times before giving it up. She was raring to go tonight. Not this morning so I'm going to try and stay up and get her one more time in 6 hours. Tomorrow I will put Cruella in with him. Interesting though that the buck stayed on after he should have fallen off like he was stuck and screamed bloody murder then fell off. He bred her again once or twice and fell off just fine then once again acted like he was being hurt. Anyone have this happen and know why?

 

[CedarRidge]

Have you tried changing her name to something more seductive?

 

[Naelin]

We're sailing a similar boat it seems. My Cali Saturno has been a lot lately. I tried to breed her to a (too young) buck... she let him try then suddenly decided she hated every buck.
I thought maybe he got one fall-off while I was not looking... But clearly she didn't.
Then I tried to breed her to a new and older buck and she would run for her life and cry. I had to "table breed" her... aka force breed her. I felt awful and decided she would be sold soon. She has hated me since.
But now very close to her "kindling" date she suddenly became very interested in the buck while he was out to get some sunshine! I let her out and she was super receptive but also... not? She would grunt, swipe and bite at my guy and then lift perfectly.
I lost count of the fall-offs but I was as confused about her attitude as my poor (and very patient) buck.

Now she was supposed to kindle in two days but I guess I'm back to waiting for another month! If she wasn't so useful for testing the genes of my bucks she would have been sold already...

 

[R Buns]

Have you tried changing her name to something more seductive?

Cruella doesn't have any issues. She's a very willing participant. It's the kinder doe that's the problem. Maybe I need to name her something and that's the problem? I've tried not to name them but it happens. Got any suggestions??

 

[R Buns]

We're sailing a similar boat it seems. My Cali Saturno has been a lot lately. I tried to breed her to a (too young) buck... she let him try then suddenly decided she hated every buck.
I thought maybe he got one fall-off while I was not looking... But clearly she didn't.
Then I tried to breed her to a new and older buck and she would run for her life and cry. I had to "table breed" her... aka force breed her. I felt awful and decided she would be sold soon. She has hated me since.
But now very close to her "kindling" date she suddenly became very interested in the buck while he was out to get some sunshine! I let her out and she was super receptive but also... not? She would grunt, swipe and bite at my guy and then lift perfectly.
I lost count of the fall-offs but I was as confused about her attitude as my poor (and very patient) buck.

Now she was supposed to kindle in two days but I guess I'm back to waiting for another month! If she wasn't so useful for testing the genes of my bucks she would have been sold already...

Yikes. Sounds like a pain in the bum to breed. Maybe she needs "dates" with her suitor too. Do you check vulva colors before breeding? It was suggested here and it's proven to help with this doe. When she's really more red it seems that's the time to give her a try. But it still takes her days apparently to participate. She will lay there and try hard to ignore him and will not raise for him. I only have one buck to that could be an issue with her too. That's a good point. I'm wondering if that's what they screaming buck was all about because he "tried" with her for several days with no release. He didn't do any screaming with Cruella the next day.

 

[Naelin]

Yikes. Sounds like a pain in the bum to breed. Maybe she needs "dates" with her suitor too. Do you check vulva colors before breeding? It was suggested here and it's proven to help with this doe. When she's really more red it seems that's the time to give her a try. But it still takes her days apparently to participate. She will lay there and try hard to ignore him and will not raise for him. I only have one buck to that could be an issue with her too. That's a good point. I'm wondering if that's what they screaming buck was all about because he "tried" with her for several days with no release. He didn't do any screaming with Cruella the next day.

Aaaalll of that... Switching hutches between her and the buck, having dates, checking her vulva, giving her a bit more ACV, putting them on a smaller area, a bigger area... all of it.

If she is actually pregnant from the table breeding she's supposed to kindle tomorrow, so I put a nest box just in case and she has been going nuts digging on it... I'm so confused with this girl!

 

[R Buns]

Aaaalll of that... Switching hutches between her and the buck, having dates, checking her vulva, giving her a bit more ACV, putting them on a smaller area, a bigger area... all of it.

If she is actually pregnant from the table breeding she's supposed to kindle tomorrow, so I put a nest box just in case and she has been going nuts digging on it... I'm so confused with this girl!

It's definitely never a set thing with rabbits. I initially did the cage swaps with our problem doe but she has a full litter now so that makes it a bit complicated. I could wait until her litter is weaned but I'm trying to get them both in production together and in a timely manner. I haven't had any luck with table breeding her. The buck gets confused and she balls up so tight it's near impossible to handle it all. Definitely need a better set up for that. Please let us know how many she has

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

This has been good to review for me. I have just a meat mutt pair right now and the doe was born Nov 2023. The buck is a bit younger, born mid march or earlier 2024. So over a year old and nearly a year old.

The summer was a mess so I only tried breeding them twice in the summer, and then multiple times in the fall, and now twice this winter. Not ideal. This includes several times of switching their cages and trying putting them in a different empty cage to breed.
Last time I put the doe in with the buck twice, leaving her in for like 2 hours while I was able to keep an eye on them, and saw one for sure fall off and heard another probable fall off.

Knowing that they got along alright together in the big cage, this time I put them together and kept an eye out. Still no problems so they've been left together. It's cold and they cuddle beside each other sometimes.
Put them together Feb 10, for earliest due date of March 12. I'll try to palpate her, used to be pretty good at that. I'll try to do it Monday (day 14) and then the following Monday, etc.

At the moment I'm thinking I'll leave them together. When I had a colony going I think it ended up being 4 or 5 weeks before the does took with the buck left in.
If there is any sign of stress or them not getting along I'll separate. If she is nesting I'll separate. I'll be keeping a close eye on them.

 

[R Buns]

Normally I wouldn't have patience for this. In our other livestock I don't keep them if they are hard breeding or poor temperaments. I'm just trying to get some costs back out of them while I look for replacements.
I hope you get some kits out of them soon. Keep us posted please!

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

Normally I wouldn't have patience for this. In our other livestock I don't keep them if they are hard breeding or poor temperaments. I'm just trying to get some costs back out of them while I look for replacements.
I hope you get some kits out of them soon. Keep us posted please!

Normally I don't put up with this either. Right now these two are my only critters after a really ridiculous 2024. So I'm happy to have them to take care of to keep my spirits up. But I'm going to be deciding on selling the doe as a pet or just putting them both in the stew pot. Even as a "just cuz" project they're pushing the envelope haha.