What would you do??

[rawfeeder]

So I bought a new indoor cage yesterday for my buck. $60 for the cage with some accesories, a small bag of food and flake of hay... Buuuuuut it also came with a rabbit!! A cute little 5 month doe, I am told she is a Holland Lop X Dwarf and I believe she is a Blue Tort Broken (Charlie marked OR false Charlie?).

Here is the cage. The rabbit inside is my 9 month Flemish Giant mix buck T-Dog ...so its quite a good sized cage:

Here is the little doe:

I raise rabbits mainly to feed my dogs, but its also a hobby I enjoy. I'm fairly small scale with 2 does and 1 buck ...since it is hard to find stock in my area.

So here is my question.... What would you do???

1) Pair her with my only buck who is about twice her size at current and see what they produce?
2) Try and sell her to the pet market OR give her away?
3) Dispatch now, save on food $$ and time spent every day cleaning her cage. Would be 1 days worth of food for my dog

 

[Bad Habit]

option 4, mail her to Bad Habit

That girl is cute as a button! I'm no help, because i think you should keep her as a pet.

 

[bunei0426]

The breeding age for dwarfs is about 6 months. Wait for this doe to grow.When you breed her only let the buck breed her once. When it gets close to their due date make sure you have vaseline or something for stuck kits just in case.<br /><br />__________ Sun Dec 09, 2012 1:37 am __________<br /><br />She also does not look like a Holland Lop x Dwarf but if you are breeding for food then it doesnt matter just be careful with her!

 

[rawfeeder]

Thanks for the replies

Since she WAS somebodies pet I feel bad making her into my dogs lunch. However setting up and maintaining another cage for her is quite an extra bit of work in my current set up - especially since it will be another month or so til I can actually breed her. I guess it depends what she COULD possibily produce for me. I agree that she doesn't look like a Holland X Dwarf mix.... she is quite dainty BUT my buck is actually more like 3 or 4 times bigger than her. She looks bigger in her pics than she actually is, she is significantly smaller than all my other buns.

 

[Bad Habit]

Assuming your hand is about the same size as mine, she looks to be a bit larger than my Lionheads. Not hugely larger(unless your hands are way bigger than mine!) but at least a pound or two more - mine are about 4lbs.

Even if she was someone's pet, you've bought her, and she's your pet now - you have no responsibility to the former owner, and they have no responsibility to the rabbit. One would assume that it would be better to have a quick, (relatively) painless death than be neglected and starved. No shame in using her for for what rabbits were intended for.

I'd be hesitant to breed her to a buck so much larger than her. If you'd really like to see what she can produce, I'd suggest buying/borrowing a dwarf buck, at least for the first litter or two before breeding her to a big boy. I'd also suggest the exact opposite as bunei- breed her as many times as she'll lift. Larger litters = smaller kits. It's why people here recommend rebreeding directly after kindling for a doe who's lost her litter due to stuck kits, because a doe is most fertile after kindling, and will have a larger litter with smaller babies, which will be easier for her to deliver.

Weigh your pro's and cons. Decide what is best for you, her, and your herd. There is nothing wrong about using her for meat, again provided the death is quick.

I do have to mention - I hope you thoroughly disinfected the cage before you put your buck in there.

 

[3mina]

BH is right on the money, on all counts. If she fits your plans best as dog food, so be it.

 

[rawfeeder]

You are right, thank you! I don't have an interest in providing for the pet market... so she or any kits she produced wouldn't be suitable for my program anyway. I will advertise her for sale for a couple of days, to try get some $$ back what I paid for the cage. If not, I'll give her to my dogs and won't feel too bad about it now :bunnyhop:

Oh and my hands are quite small actually, but I think she is smaller than she looks in those pictures. I REALLY need to invest in a scale asap. Either way, my buck is much bigger than her frame wise, so I won't risk that pairing. Thank you for everyones opinons!!!

I did disinfect the cage, but I didn't quarentine the new rabbit as I don't really have the ability to do that in my setup. I have converted our spare bedroom into the temp rabbit room, can't use any other parts of the house as I have a dog with a strong prey drive and a taste for rabbit.

 

[ladysown]

at five months of age, she's ready to breed NOW. I breed both hollands and polish and they can easily be bred starting at four -five months of age depending upon the rabbit.

I would not breed her to the much larger buck.

I'd either feed her to the dogs OR find a medium-sized rabbit (up to about half the size more than she is now). Keep the biggest female from that litter and then feed her to the dogs. I don't know that you'll find a pet home for her for $50. More mature rabbits, particularly mixed breeds, don't tend to sell for as much as babies and purebreds.

 

[ZRabbits]

Agree with Ladysown regarding not getting your money back from selling her as a pet. And it sounds like you really don't have the space for another buck to breed to her (definitely wouldn't risk breeding to your bigger buck) I'd go ahead and dispatch her for the dog. That would be the best financial way to deal with your new rabbit.

Karen

 

[Bad Habit]

I don't think rawfeeder intends to try and sell her for the $50 they paid, but they hope to get SOME money back, to offset the cost of the cage.

You also really need to rethink your setup at this point. I do understand that it can be very hard when you are working with limited space(my rabbitry operates out of my bedroom), but for your rabbits' sake, you need to find somewhere you can store new rabbits for at least the first 30 days. I actually keep my new rabbits in the bathroom. Anywhere that you could close your dog out of, or is high enough that your dog can't bother the rabbit... I'd spent the next little while trying to figure out where that spot is, because there's going to be one somewhere in your house! Even with the doe in the same room, I'd keep a bottle of Hand San and a spare shirt by her cage to use before you handle anyone else, and keep her across the room and as far away from everyone else as possible. As I've learned from people here, it only takes one sick rabbit to wipe out your entire rabbitry!

 

[Nyctra]

If she'd end up dog food anyway, why not breed her to the big buck and see what comes of it? Even if she were to die having babies, she could still be dog food, right? :?

 

[Bad Habit]

If she'd end up dog food anyway, why not breed her to the big buck and see what comes of it? Even if she were to die having babies, she could still be dog food, right? :?

I personally do not like this suggestion, as I imagine dying because of a stuck kit would be horribly painful for the doe. Just because she's going to end up as the dog's dinner doesn't mean you don't have to treat her with respect and caring. Why take a huge risk and potentially put her into a LOT of pain just because she's intended for food?

 

[Nyctra]

Breeding rabbits in general is already a risky and painful thing, isn't it? At least it doesn't seem like kindling is a very pleasant task for a doe. Sometimes an experienced doe dies and sometimes a tiny girl does just fine with the babies of a huge papa.

 

[Bad Habit]

Yes, but a small doe being bred to a large buck is more likely to have issues than a doe bred to a similar sized buck. Kindling may not be the most pleasant thing for a doe, so why would you want to make it any harder on her by breeding her to a buck that's 4 times her size? Not only would the breeding itself be more painful, but you're basically saying it is okay to pretty much sign her death certificate just because she's intended to be food. Personally, I don't think that's okay at all. If you've already decided to turn her into food, then why prolong her discomfort and potentially make her death way more painful than it has to be?

 

[rawfeeder]

Thank you for all the imput!!

My logic behind selling her as a pet was to get maybe $10-$20 back. With $20 I can buy a nice beef roast for the dogs, which would be a higher value food item for him AND feed him for longer than the small rabbit would.

I now realise she really has nothing to offer my program. The generations, time/effort and food it would take to get size back up would be better spent raising bigger kits from larger litters. So I will either sell her in the next couple of days as a pet OR dispatch her for the dogs.

Thanks again everyone for your advice!

Oh and I DO have a bathroom I could use.. however I was under the impression (I used to breed and exhibit rats) that a proper quarenine was a totally different air space? Like outside the house (which I was planning to do, except she was an inside bun) or maybe a friends house. I can do the bathroom for sure, I just wasn't sure that was effective. I will figure something out for the next time I bring in an outside bun and try to be more prepared.

 

[Bad Habit]

That's how I have to quarantine mine... I figure it's better than nothing. I wash thoroughly before leaving the bathroom, and actually change clothes in the hall if I've handled the quarantine rabbit. I mean, it's best if you can completely quarantine, with no air exchange between them, but beggars cannot be choosers!

 

[BroodCoop]

See if you can trade with a pet rabbit breeder. Ask at the pet store. Maybe trade her for a meat rabbit.

 

[rawfeeder]

Thanks BroodCoop, I will ask around some of the pet rabbit breeders in the area Good idea