flipping a rabbit to check for readiness

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lissapell

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Is there a good vid on how to flip a rabbit to check for readiness? I use the thread on here to check color but am having a hard time with the actual flip. I dont want to hurt them so I am being extra careful but it is extremely awkward to have my husband help me to turn a rabbit on its back. The breeder flipped them w/ ease but I must have missed something cause tyhere is nothing easy about how I am doing it.
 
I do like I would a baby, head between my side and elbow and rump in my hand. To get there, hold rabbit in your lap facing the knees. Put left hand on rump and put right hand under the rabbit's chest. Push forward on the rump and back on the chest and settle the rabbit in your arm with head slightly lower than rump. Hold the tail with the hand nearest the rump, and use the other hand to pull back and expose the vent area...
 
They are not kicking and fighting at this point? I know being inverted is suppose to make them coma-like buuuttttttt that is not the reaction I have gotten so far. Obviously I am doing it wrong.
 
lissapell":viwk1i7v said:
They are not kicking and fighting at this point? I know being inverted is suppose to make them coma-like buuuttttttt that is not the reaction I have gotten so far. Obviously I am doing it wrong.
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Well, some do, but you just have to be very quick getting them flipped over. If you hesitate at all, they will start to struggle. Wear a long sleeve shirt and some gloves and when you flip, hold them there with both hands till they quit wiggling...I will try to get a video for you tonight.
 
It can help with some to roll them from front to back. Grab by the scruff with one hand, support the hindquarters with the other and roll the rabbit in to a ball. Then roll it over it's butt on a table for bigger rabbits until they are upside down enough. Little rabbits you can just support with your hand or cradle on your arm. Don't try to go sideways.
 
If a rabbit is particularly against being flipped I hold them against my chest, grab the scruff of their neck, lean them back while leaning with them, and lean them against either my lap or a table. Then you have a free hand to check things out.
 
SarahMelisse":16ev6x1z said:
If a rabbit is particularly against being flipped I hold them against my chest, grab the scruff of their neck, lean them back while leaning with them, and lean them against either my lap or a table. Then you have a free hand to check things out.
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Which is how I do it, because I tend to hold all of my rabbits like babies, close to the chest. Sometimes I tuck the fiesty ones' heads under my arm.
 
skysthelimit":2nqstrxy said:
Which is how I do it, because I tend to hold all of my rabbits like babies, close to the chest. Sometimes I tuck the fiesty ones' heads under my arm.
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Yep, just like a baby! That is how I do it...
 
Try this video, Lissapell:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhiwhg75ftE[/youtube]
 
What i do to check a doe for readiness is pick her up by the scruff and scoop my other hand under her belly to take her out of the cage .. THEN i just lift her up in the same motion with my hand by the scruff and take a peak .. she dosnt move at all. Then as i bring her back down i put in a football hold . This is done in all a same motion. ... Now if it is a baby i want to check to see if it is a boy or girl... Then i hold like a baby ,then check. Very easy. I dont do that with mature rabbits. Those feet can really hurt
 
Pin her ears to her neck, slowly tilt her backwards until she rests on your lap and then check. Most rabbits will trance out.
 
Woohoo it worked!! I think it was q combination of my own unease mixed with theirs. I went out when I got home today and messed with all of them practicing flipping them and giving them time to relax when they hit "prey mode"

The doe that was ready to breed a few days ago is no longer ready. How long would you wait to try again or should I just keep checking everyday that I can?
 
Just check her every couple of days ... IIRC, they cycle on a 4-day cycle :D

Did you see him at the very end of the video? LOL His yawn shows just how stressful the whole ordeal was ... NOT :D

They "know" you aren't going to hurt them, they just have these "programmed" responses and you just have to wait it out and give them a chance to relax :)
 

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