# why can't I get my doe to breed? :-(



## fignewton2009 (Oct 27, 2013)

She keeps refusing to lift and just goes in circles and even when I hold her down it doesn't work because then it spooks my buck and he won't try. Geez.... Didn't know it would be this hard.


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## woahlookitsme (Oct 27, 2013)

haha yea whoever said breed like rabbits didnt know the truth! Its much harder than people think. 

I just had to breed a doe today and had this problem. My tans are notorious for being lazy and not lifting. Are you trying this in a cage? Some things I will do in a cage is when the doe is doing circles I will catch her when her head is in a corner and will gently cover her eyes with my hand. Then I will take my opposite hand and lift hear rear end. This is hard to explain so you might have to figure a way out to do it but the most important thing is that her tail is up. If her tail isnt up then you wont be doing any good. Sometimes instead of lifting I will just hold her tail up. This doesnt always work because then she will tuck her backend. 

If you dont want to go through these troubles some people will put them on a grooming table or something and try to breed them there. If its not going well enough I will just take the doe away, let the buck rest, and try again later. I had to do that a couple of times today.


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## zombiesue (Oct 27, 2013)

If my neighbor is any indication, the trick is to legitimately NOT want baby rabbits! LOL!


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## woahlookitsme (Oct 27, 2013)

haha or yes you could try that. Plenty of accidental litters happen that way :/


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## fignewton2009 (Oct 30, 2013)

STILL they will not do anything but chase each other. The buck doesn't act that interested anyway and so now they either just chase each other or stay on seperate parts of the cage. WHAT is wrong with them?? They are both old enough to breed but the doe acts scared out of her mind while the buck doesn't put forth a great effort to try. UGH...... 

I am gonna try the apple cider vinegar thing but I get conflicting views of whether it even works. I only have one more buck and one more doe but they are a few months from being old enough to breed. 

Any other thoughts?

THANKS!!


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## Predawnisland (Oct 30, 2013)

chasing each other is kind of their foreplay. the male just might not be ready to mate yet. My lionhead wouldnt go near his mate for the longest time and then one day he just started.


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## Predawnisland (Oct 30, 2013)

youre male might just not be ready yet. my lionhead wouldnt touch his mate for the longest time and then oneday he just started mating.


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## woahlookitsme (Oct 30, 2013)

How old are they?

I agree it sounds like he's not mentally ready for it. If the buck isn't into it there's not much you can do


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## fignewton2009 (Oct 31, 2013)

The buck is almost 7 months old and the doe is 6 months old. Wouldn't that be old enough?


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## woahlookitsme (Nov 1, 2013)

Sometimes but also sometimes not. It all varies on the animals. Breeding two rabbits that are first timers could be working against you too. Is the buck housed close to the doe? Or is he close enough to smell her? (Not in a separate room). Being in close proximity to a doe as she matures can sometimes help. Right now they both sound like they arent sure of themselves. Have they been bred before?


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## fignewton2009 (Nov 1, 2013)

They are housed a couple of feet from each other. Neither one have ever been bred so neither one know what they are doing lol.


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## woahlookitsme (Nov 1, 2013)

Lol yea that probably isn't helping. I found this site when looking for answers and its a lot of very good info. I can't believe they talk about five litters a year that's insanely high (we normally do two) but anyways the ideas she suggests are good. Hopefully something on here might help you:

http://riseandshinerabbitry.com/2012/08/11/rabbits-unwilling-to-breed-causes-and-cures/


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## fignewton2009 (Nov 1, 2013)

OK.... so after a full day of apple cider vinegar drinking I decided what the heck throw them in together and see what happens. Of course she was scared and ran around for what seemed like forever. I gave up and decided to go put on a load of clothes and check back. I noticed when I came back he seemed determined in chasing her as she kept on running. Not enough to hurt herself but hard enough that she was wearing herself out. He mounted her FINALLY about 4 or so times but never finished as she was not lifting from what I could see. So, I put my hand on her head and tried to help things out and tried to lift her a bit. He just smelled her and licked her but would not mount her while I had my hand in the cage. I stopped and just watched.

He mounted her a few more times and it looked like he cramped up but he did not actually fall off but then he stopped and started running in zig zags and threw a couple of small binkies in there while he did the zig zags. I am not sure if that was a happy dance because he actually finished or what LOL. He was excited though. He tried once more but was too tired and she was not lifting for sure then.

All in all, I think the ACV did help out and hopefully after another day of it I can be 100 percent sure the deed was done. I am going to put them back together in few hours and hopefully I can make sure she did get bred.

Keeping fingers crossed that there might some babies in my future. My buns are netherland dwarfs so hopefully I will have a cute little litter on the way. :rabbithop


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## Predawnisland (Nov 1, 2013)

ya mine didnt start actually breeding until he was almost a year


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## Azerane (Nov 2, 2013)

It sounds like he's starting to get the hang of it but im not sure how much luck you'll have without a cooperative doe


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