My Rabbits Won't Breed!

[OakfieldBuns]

Hello, I have 6 rabbits, 4 girls and two boys. (Quite a handful!) one if the boys and one of the girls are lion heads, the rest of the bunnies are mini lops. We're trying to breed the two lion heads together. The girl is 8-9 months and the boy is 7 months old. When we put the girl in with the boy, he started to mount her, and we thought we would give them some privacy. We returned 15 mins later and I saw the boy having a fallback ! We were very excited, but after the fallback the girl ran away, and avoided him for the rest of the day and night. ( my mother used to breed rabbits when she was younger, and she said that it was fine to keep then living together and it has worked for her). After that, the female would just run away from the male, and he's given up trying to mount her! They haven't ever fought and they live happily together, but he won't mount her... Sometimes, we let the boy out for a walk, and be goes straight to the female mini lops that we own, and tried to mount them! When the happens we plonk him back in the cage with the lion head female, and he just acts normally and doesn't try to mount her. ( btw, we thought she might already be pregnant and that's why she wa acting the way she was, but we waited a full 40 days and and she hadn't given birth, we also felt her stomach and there were no sign of kits)

We really want a pregnancy, and I don't know how to get him interested!

 

[Zass]

Older first time does can be tricky to get started. Fat buildup around organs interferes with conception, so If they were mine I'd be careful about her diet and encourage increased exercise.


I'd also remove the buck to his own area if possible, so that she's new and interesting every time he see's her.

 

[MaggieJ]

Scroll through the old threads in the Breeding and Record Keeping forum . . . there are a ton of tricks to get rabbits to breed.

But first, you want to know when your doe is most likely to be receptive. Start with this thread:
judging-a-doe-s-readiness-and-breeding-tips-t9869.html

 

[OakfieldBuns]

I'm having a problem checking the doe's vulva. she has become very skittish since moving in with the boy... she will NOT let me check her, she twists and flicks her feet and has given me multiple scratches... Do you have any tips?