Light and fertility?

[Shara]

Not sure where to put this, but here goes:

I have a colony set up right now, and was expecting litters each month, but my shed has VERY little light that gets in, and I read somewhere that light affects the buck's fertility, but not necessarily the does...this may explain why I have had so few litters in the last month and a half, and also the incredibly small litter last born, bred after they were put into the colony.

Anyone have experience with this? I am going to put the buck into his own cage, outside so he will get light, but how long do you all think it will take to boost sperm levels if that IS the problem? And do you think it could be?

 

[Anntann]

hmm. I remember a thread about that somewhere. Hopefully someone with experience will give us a clue!

 

[ottersatin]

You want to increase the amount of light to that of the longest day
in the summer when the light is stronger for a longer time.
That would be about 16 hours. This is what many breeders do in the winter months.
I do not add light for that length of time, though I do have lights in the rabbitry
when I am doing anything with/for the members of the Herd.
This could be a number of hours, but I doubt that I am ever in there for 16 hours.
I still get litters from the Does and am not too concerned with the Light effects.
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[Shara]

hmm...Well, I check all three does, and even the young doe (15 or 16 weeks) anyways, all are BRIGHT red, and no pregnancies, at least not any I can feel, and I am pretty good at that now. MAYBE the little one is pregnant, but if she is, it is pretty early and I would say a small litter. I am more apt to think she is not, and i just felt poop. But we will see.

I will let you know how my experiment goes with putting the buck in a age outside. I am going to try a week, and see what happens.

 

[MaggieJ]

I've always heard that light was not a factor... but Alice's two litters in the colony this winter (which is rather dark at this time of year) have been small: 5 and 2. In the past she has usually kindled 8. One doe is not statistically significant, but I'll be watching for trends as the colony continues.

 

[ottersatin]

Part of the problem would be,
that Rabbits are keyed to breed in the spring when the weather is warmer.
With this extremely cold snap we have been in for quite some time
it would appear that this would put a damper on most Rabbits wanting to breed
and may cause them to abort their litters, having no desire to care for those creepy crawlies
but opting to use all they have to maintain their own health and body temperature.
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

I am with Ottersatin. Msinly because when I had the chickens, they lay all winter with seemingly no regard for the level or length of light, but the day the high only hit 11 degrees F, not one egg. Two days later, temp got up to 25 degrees, and I had almost 70% lay. Animals do what they must to conserve energy, and even though we may provide sufficient food and water, Nature will still win in the long run,,,,

 

[Shara]

Well, I hadn't gotten a cage for Cedar set up until today, and when I went to care for the stock, I saw a couple mouthfuls of fur. Hoped it was a litter, as there is a new tunnel in the hay that wasn't there yesterday, but no such luck. I was watched them eat, and Luna (Spooky's daughter) is missing a chunk of fur off of her neck. She seems more dominate than Maple, and Spooky has never had issues being housed with her own daughters, even when she is pregnant/has a new litter, so I know it can't be Spooky causing this (I decided to put Spook back in the colony, since I will be pulling any new litters). A few days ago I noticed Cedar trying to mount Luna, but she would hop away, and her lady bits have been REAL red and swollen for about a week, maybe more. So I am guessing she was bred this morning or last night. *crossing fingers*

I decided to catch Maple and palapate her, since she looks a bit swollen, and I felt kits! Spook is still thin and so I didn't bother catching her, but will later on, maybe tommorrow.

SOOOO.....I will have kits at some point in the next two weeks! Since her last litter lasted a few days, I am confident they will last a few hours, long enough or me to find and remove them. I plan on pulling her litter, and leaving Spooky's and Luna's to see if they live, maybe it ios just Spooky, and maybe she only has a problem with Maple, and I would like to see, just to see. And if I notice anything odd with them like I did before, they will be pulled rather than me waiting (see, with Maple's last litter, I noticed weird things, but attributed it to a colony litter) I won't make that mistake again, and will err on the side of caution until I replace the two (Maple and Spooky) permanatly.

On another note, I gave a VM buck to a freind of mine, along with half my herd. He aquired a NZR doe, and I was talking to him online. We are going to trade NZ does, and I am sending Spooky his way, to breed to Chip (VM buck) in exchange for a BEW doe, out of that cross. He has been having good success with my old does, except for having a touch of a problem getting them to breed at the first shot. But good overall. So I am excited.

I wanted to update this and let you guys know, pending litters, of course, that my rabbits are in a dark shed all the time, with the only time light comes in being the few minutes I feed and water each day, maybe 1/2 hour. If these litters are born adn are of decent size, I will know that light does not affect fertility, in bucks or does.

The cold, maybe. We had a very cold snap, and it has been warmer for the last couple weeks. That would make sence with at east one pregnant doe about two weeks through, and a young doe possibly bred.

 

[Anntann]

I should really palpate Gladiola...bu that would mean catching her. .... hmmmm..... I think I'll just put the nesttunnel in with her in a week and hope for the best Besides...the last time I tried palpating FLB, I felt nothing and two days later she had a litter of 7 :x so I obviously SUCK at finding the kits.

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

the last time I tried palpating FLB, I felt nothing and two days later she had a litter of 7 :x so I obviously SUCK at finding the kits.

The reason palpation is to be done at a certain time is because thet short window allows your fingers to differentiate between mom and babies. I have palpated a positive, only to not be able to feel anything a week later-- they deliver a litter right on schedule. I did notice, the frst timers get real tight and full looking- without really looking pregnant. the older ones are a bit more 'relaxed' and it is on them that I can see the buns moving about in the oven! I get to place nest boxes next week-- YAY!!!!

 

[Shara]

I praciced with does that i knew weren't, and ones i hoped were, and i have gotten pretty good at it.i really think it just takes lots of practice. And i like to be able to tell, because it cuts my wait time in half. (well, i have a colony now, so not anymore, but it did)