Rabbit questions

[KaylNeko]

Hey guys. Never thought of asking a rabbit question on an aquarium forum, but what the heck? *lol* Enough knowledgeable folks on here, someone may have a suggestion.

I have a Californian buck and a New Zealand doe I'm trying to breed. We've finally gotten past the not even wanting to be bred attitude of the doe--she took him happily. Multiple times. But she does not appear to have caught. I'm going to breed them again this weekend, but if she doesn't catch again, would I be better off getting another doe to see if the doe is the problem, or getting another buck to see if the buck is the problem? Which would y'all think is more likely?

[escamosa]

How old are your rabbits, Kay?

[Cecile1]

I used to show and breed rabbits till about two years ago, and generally the issues are, as escamosa stated, possibly the age of the female as well as the weight of the female. An overweight animal will most often over not be able to produce a viable litter.

N ot to imply she is, but most cases ive had have been animals overweight. She is a meat type rabbit, but who knows as more info is needed, age weight and the like.

Glad others on here are into the rabbit habbit!

[ScottishFish]

Jeez I never thought I'd hear someone say they couldn't get their bunnie pregnant . . . . usually they breed like, er, well, rabbits

[KaylNeko]

Lol ScottishFish. That's what my friends said. I spent four months trying to get the rabbits I had to breed--the females refused. The males were more than happy to do their job, but the females said uh uh. Isn't that always the way?

They're both a year old, April and May birthdays. Neither are overweight--female has a nice dewlap, but not overweight. I have issues with having overweight animals considering all the health problems it causes, so that stays well monitored.

They were refusing to breed last fall, which, despite being annoying, is explainable as they were young and where they are isn't lit artificially so I can see them not wanting to breed as we move into winter, so I let it rest for a few months, and they bred immediately when I tried a bit over a month ago. Then again a few minutes later. Then again that afternoon.

I had two other does; one died of prolapse, one I have no idea why--just came home to a dead rabbit. Lost a male that way, too. No indications of illness in any of them, plenty of food and water...that was three+ months ago and haven't lost any others. Just in case that might make a difference.

[escamosa]

Glad others on here are into the rabbit habbit!

I used to be into the rabbit habbit! Haven't had any in ages now.

Lol ScottishFish. That's what my friends said. I spent four months trying to get the rabbits I had to breed--the females refused. The males were more than happy to do their job, but the females said uh uh. Isn't that always the way?

The girls always play hard to get!

Kay, have you heard of rabbits having epilepsy? Some rabbits can have seizures - some epileptic, some caused by a genetic problem, a brain injury, or some kind of lesion on the brain. This could explain why you lost your other rabbits. Just thought I'd mention that, just in case you hadn't heard of it. It's something to look out for or ask about, when you buy your rabbits.

Your larger breeds of rabbits, like the Californians, can take a little while to mature. About 8 - 10 months. Usually the doe will mature around a month before the buck. So they might be just a bit slow to mature. It's not usually something that happens, but I guess it's a possiblity. The other thing that i see that you mentioned, is that you are going into winter. Was your summer a really hot one? If you have really hot summers, sometimes the bucks don't produce enough sperm, so it makes it tough to for the doe to conceive.

[KaylNeko]

I hadn't considered epilepsy, but it's definitely a possibility. We were going into winter when the does weren't wanting to breed. Now we're in spring. I'll give it another shot next week once I'm sure she's just not going to have a (really) late litter and see what happens. Thanks ^_^ I'll keep y'all updated *lol*

[escamosa]

Good luck!

[wijnands]

I could be wrong of course but isn't a year rather old for a first litter?

[KaylNeko]

She refused to breed in the fall. It's a bit old commercially speaking, but I've never seen anything that indicated it should cause problems.