To Loan or Not To Loan

[Meadowlark22]

Hey everyone!

I recently got served a "rabbit eviction" from my landlord, so my whole rabbitry has to go. As I go about craigslist with the dread of selling very valuable ($100-$400), high end rabbits to who-knows-who, I had this idea: Can I loan my expensive breeders to youth who might benefit using/breeding them for shows/meat pens? Is it feasible or just plain loony?

The basic idea would be lend these amazing purebred/pedigreed New Zealand rabbits (one buck is a granded National placer I don't want to get rid of) to youth interested in shows/meat pens. They take on the costs/responsibilities of keeping rabbits, and in exchange they get to keep all the kits produced for whatever purposes they want.

My husband is a business major and would create a business contract that makes all the tiny details legal. He actually made our current lease agreement since our landlord couldn't figure out how to get the whole thing done.

Your thoughts:
1. Do you think it is feasible or loony?
a) If in support of the idea, how would you go about it?
b) If not, what would you do in my shoes?


Thanks for your thoughts in advance!
- Lark

 

[hotzcatz]

Once a rabbit is out of your control, the likelyhood of something happening to it is also outside of your control. If it were me, I'd find somewhere else to relocate the rabbitry.

Can you renegotiate with your landlord to let you keep maybe three pairs or some smaller number that would still be breedable?

Any rabbit friends that would let you relocate the rabbits to their house? Any show rabbit friends who would keep your rabbits for you for awhile? Seems like show folks would be the ones most interested in getting them and keeping them in good health.

Kids just starting out raising rabbits sound pretty chancy as far as rabbit survival is concerned. They may mean well, but there's likely to be a lot of 'oops' the rabbit ______ (fill in the blank). "got eaten by the neighbors dog", "just had babies, I don't know who got out", "just jumped off the table and broke it's leg" etc., etc.

 

[rockyhillrabbits]

Yeah...I would not be comfortable with anyone leasing any animal. There's just too much that can happen and go wrong. I would try to find somewhere else to put the rabbits or sell them. Sometimes selling out really stinks but you can always get back into it farther down the road.

 

[Meadowlark22]

Thank you folks for the insight! We recently moved to our current area along with all the rabbits. Just the landlord changed their mind about allowing rabbits in particular since they don’t want the neighbors complaining about us eating them (we’ve kept it under wraps, but still). Definitely a “pet first” community here. PETA-sympathizing neighbors are a force to be reckoned with.

I’ll list the breeders for sale then for experienced folks only. I would hate to see them go to homes where they are either injured/killed due to inexperience or put in a shelter where no one would understand their worth. Sadly, a lot of rabbits have been ending up in the shelters around here.