Making a breeding decision

[Kat872]

How important is it to breed a doe before one year of age? My doe will be one at the end of May and we just went through a false pregnancy.

In looking at the calendar, I would pretty much have to try again with them tonight for the timing to work. If she were to get pregnant and have the babies on day 31, they would be 6 weeks old on the day I leave for vacation and I could separate them before I go (which I would prefer to do as my rabbit sitters aren't extremely experienced).

If I don't do it now, I would have to wait until Fall and my doe would be a year and a half. Would that be a problem?

 

[Dood]

If she is already hard to get pregnant then I'd say yes, waiting will likely make it even harder to get her pregnant

There are no health complication - unless she is one of the dwarf breeds and sooner she has kits and gets her reproductive organs working and "in the groove" the better

 

[Kat872]

She's an English Angora.

Another question - is it bad for her to go through a molt while she is pregnant? To me it seems like a win/win kind of thing (wool and babies), but would it be too stressful for her? I can't seem to find any info on that. (She doesn't molt to naked, so would still have fur to pull for a nest.)

 

[Dood]

My girls don't have issues when molting I don't see why Angoras would be any different

 

[bantambunnies]

There are no health complication - unless she is one of the dwarf breeds and sooner she has kits and gets her reproductive organs working and "in the groove" the better

Not trying to start an argument - just confused. I was under the impression that the doe's pelvic bones would fuse after a certain period time, which would greatly complicate birth. A friend of mine bred a doe for the first time around two years, and the doe died because she could not give birth to the kits. Am I wrong?

 

[Kat872]

I'm pretty sure that I read somewhere in one of the threads that that was a myth, but hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me will reply.

 

[akane]

Bones do not fuse. The ligaments can get stiffer with age on any animal but this is not a big concern in the first few years. I've lost more does to first time litters under 8months than 3-4 year olds I've bred. It is easier to get them pregnant and keep them pregnant starting young. The older they get the more resistant they can become to breeding overall and the more things like excess fat in the abdomen can contribute to breedings not being successful.

 

[Kat872]

Well, after weighing the pros and cons I decided to give it another try. They were both more than willing and had two good covers (very dramatic that boy is). He would have gone for a third, but she was having none of it. She's back in her cage now, having her typical post-mating snit fit and I'm marking the calendar.

Another question... since she didn't take the first time (with 2 covers, but one might not have been very successful), should I try for another cover from them this time? Just to try and be "safe"?? Or does it really make a difference? I've read opinions going both ways.

 

[Susie570]

Well, after weighing the pros and cons I decided to give it another try. They were both more than willing and had two good covers (very dramatic that boy is). He would have gone for a third, but she was having none of it. She's back in her cage now, having her typical post-mating snit fit and I'm marking the calendar.

Another question... since she didn't take the first time (with 2 covers, but one might not have been very successful), should I try for another cover from them this time? Just to try and be "safe"?? Or does it really make a difference? I've read opinions going both ways.

If she's willing it couldn't hurt...

 

[Kat872]

She was... so here we go again!

 

[Rainey]

I have less experience than many on here--just 8 litters and all with the same buck. But every time there has been anything that looked like a possible cover there have been kits. The number of kits hasn't been related to the number of covers nor to putting the doe back in later the same day.

 

[Kat872]

Yes, I've been reading that too, so I'm concerned that she didn't have a litter the first time. If it's a no go again this time I'll be looking for another doe, which would be sad because she is really beautiful.