Brus
Member
Hi all
long time lurker here, just recently made an account as i have embarked on a meat rabbit adventure.
I am living in Calgary, Alberta and we get a wide range of temperatures up here depending on the season, and i have a few questions.
First off a shout out to Grumpy, Mama Sheep Dog, MaggieJ, Ladysown, Miss M, and several others whose screen names i have forgotten, your experience shared on this forum has been invaluable, i have spent roughly 100-120 hours already leafing through the topics, and many of my newb questions have been answered.
However as a new rabbit keeper, i find that i am battling lots of hearsay and opinion, mostly from those that are critical of "internet researchers" as they often confuse us with "instant internet experts" though my reading i have discovered plenty, but above all i have learned how little i know.
One of the biggest things that still remain unanswered for me are regarding low temperature and how they affect rabbits breeding/fertility.
I have heard that cold temperatures affect bucks in particular, specifically any temperature below -20*c makes them temporally sterile, i have not read any evidence that this is the case in any papers or forums, is there any truth to this?
I am aware that the amount of light the rabbits receive can affect fertility, due to this fact i am planning on keeping my buck inside during the shorter winter hours, the thing i am concerned with is if it is a bad idea to bring does in from below 0*c temperatures briefly for mating, then return them to their hutches, will the sudden temperature shift from cold to warm and back to cold overly stress the does?
Thanks
long time lurker here, just recently made an account as i have embarked on a meat rabbit adventure.
I am living in Calgary, Alberta and we get a wide range of temperatures up here depending on the season, and i have a few questions.
First off a shout out to Grumpy, Mama Sheep Dog, MaggieJ, Ladysown, Miss M, and several others whose screen names i have forgotten, your experience shared on this forum has been invaluable, i have spent roughly 100-120 hours already leafing through the topics, and many of my newb questions have been answered.
However as a new rabbit keeper, i find that i am battling lots of hearsay and opinion, mostly from those that are critical of "internet researchers" as they often confuse us with "instant internet experts" though my reading i have discovered plenty, but above all i have learned how little i know.
One of the biggest things that still remain unanswered for me are regarding low temperature and how they affect rabbits breeding/fertility.
I have heard that cold temperatures affect bucks in particular, specifically any temperature below -20*c makes them temporally sterile, i have not read any evidence that this is the case in any papers or forums, is there any truth to this?
I am aware that the amount of light the rabbits receive can affect fertility, due to this fact i am planning on keeping my buck inside during the shorter winter hours, the thing i am concerned with is if it is a bad idea to bring does in from below 0*c temperatures briefly for mating, then return them to their hutches, will the sudden temperature shift from cold to warm and back to cold overly stress the does?
Thanks