# Can you breed siblings?



## Ivagrove (Jun 12, 2005)

I am going to get rabbits today and I waswondering if you could breed siblings? I mean, would it be alright ifyou did? I would like to know because today I am getting twoPolish rabbits and was wondering you could breed siblings.



Thank you,



Emily


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## roberts_rabbits_2008 (Jun 12, 2005)

Hey Emily,

It is alright to breed siblings together sometimes, people have told menot to do it all the time, but once and a while is fine. Ihave two of my siblings bred together right now as that was the onlybuck I had at the time.

Robert


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## ayglnu13 (Jun 12, 2005)

Why do you even need to breed??

How old are they? Do you know when they would be of age to breed? 

Have you ever even bred before?

How much have you read about breeding?

Are you willing to spend a lot of timeeach day if the mother doesn't feed her babies?

What if she gets a stuck kit? Will youspend a good amount of money on her at the vets?

Think before you breed, and know what youare getting into. You WONT make money off of it, you will actually losemoney! 

~Amy :X


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## pamnock (Jun 12, 2005)

Yes, you can breed siblings. HOWEVER,if they are carrying undesirable recessive genes (a hereditarydisease, for example), the babies are much more likely toinherit the defect due to the limited gene pool. It's verylikely that siblings will carry many of the same genes.

Such inbreeding is generallynot recommended exceptfor expert breeders whose goal is to isolate particular genes becausethis type of inbreeding may result in offspring having to be euthanized.

Inbreeding can also cause "inbreeding depression" which canresult in shortened lifespan,limited diseaseresistance and breeding depression.

Pam


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## roberts_rabbits_2008 (Jun 12, 2005)

As Amy said, you will not GAIN money you willLOOSE money, trust me, I haven't came CLOSE to evening out my dues thatI have put into this hobby.

Robert


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## dajeti2 (Jun 12, 2005)

I'm sorry but I just don't see thepoint. Why addd more mixed bunnies when there are already so many thatneed good homes. I just don't get it.

Tina


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## samandshawn (Jun 12, 2005)

I totally agree with Tina, lots of people justbreed because they want to see baby bunnies, or they think they canmake some money out of it, as Pam said in-breeding is for expertbreeders which you are obviously not, so please think long and hard,but I don't see the point! Just think about all the homelessbunnies that are in rescue centers around the world and how many areput to sleep because of lack of homes available.


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## Jenniblu (Jun 12, 2005)

*Ivagrove wrote: *


> Iam going to get rabbits today and I was wondering if you could breedsiblings? I mean, would it be alright if you did? I wouldlike to know because today I am getting *two Polish rabbits* andwas wondering you could breed siblings.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Are they pedigreed and form a reputable breeder? Just wondering.


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## Sabrina (Jun 12, 2005)

*dajeti2 wrote:*


> I'm sorry but I just don't see the point. Why adddmore mixed bunnies when there are already so many that need good homes.I just don't get it.
> 
> Tina


_Ditto. But I dohave a friend that breeds rabbits, but at least she takes care of allof them and sells them to good homes. She brings them to rabbit showsso then people that want to adopt one can get them there. She makessure that all of them are alright at their new homes and asks theowners how they are doing._


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## dixonsrabbitry (Jun 12, 2005)

You can do it. But you really have to know whatare doing you breed like that. Personally I wouldn't breed anythingcloser then a half brother/half sister. You'll still get nice babiesout of that without the complications you would get from a fullbreeding. bUt if you do do a full breeding, then I suggest you findsomething else not related to your lines to outbreed to. BUt I wouldn'tdo it till you get a little more breeding experience under your belt.


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## dixonsrabbitry (Jun 12, 2005)

He/she said they were purebreds. So there won'tbe mixed breeding. They are asking questions about breeding which is agood thing. So hopefully they won't want to breed the siblings togethertill they are more experienced.


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## rabbitgirl (Jun 12, 2005)

Right! It is a valid question for a new breeder,since breeders are often conflicting on that. For me, I'd rather do anoutcross firstor a mother/son or father/daughter, etc.

Plus they are indeed purebred Polish. Pam's department.

Welcome Emily! If you haven't kept rabbits before it might be a goodidea to wait at least a couple months before breeding so you know thedifference between "normal" behavior and "I should panic now" behavior.Otherwise it's a lot of info to take in at once.

Good luck!

Rose


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## ayglnu13 (Jun 12, 2005)

*rabbitgirl wrote:*


> ! If you haven't kept rabbits before it might be a good ideato wait at least a couple months before breeding so you know thedifference between "normal" behavior and "I should panic now" behavior.Otherwise it's a lot of info to take in at once.




Very good advice  

Rabbits should be over 8 months (it reallydepends on the breed) before they are bred.

~Amy


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## cirrustwi (Jun 12, 2005)

I'm not a breeder, but from experience withother kinds of animals, I wouldn't breed siblings. I'm reallynot overly happy with inbreeding of any kind. I've seen theill effects of breeding animals and bringing out recessive traits, itisn't good and REALLY NOT FAIR to the animal. For example: wehave a great dane who has 2 instances of inbreeding in herline. She has all kinds of recessive traits, some no problemlike her coloring, but she also has the bad hips and never formed ACLsin her knees and skin disorders, ear and eye problems....she has seenseveral vet specialists and they all link it back to inbreeding.

All of that said, if there is no other inbreeding in their line, itmight be ok, but as Pam said, I would leave it to the experts.

Jen


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## dixonsrabbitry (Jun 12, 2005)

Line breeding is a form of inbreeding. Fatherdaughter/mother son/cousin/cousin. But you don't deal with too many badtraits when you use it. And then they do show up in rabbits, you canalways cull and bred it out. Basically its used to bring out the bestexamples in the breed. Outcrossing can actually do more harm then goodin your breeding program.


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## rabbitgirl (Jun 13, 2005)

*dixonsrabbitry wrote:*


> Outcrossing can actually do more harm then good in yourbreeding program.




Actually, I'd agree with that! I did an outcross because our locallines in general are WAY too inbred and I wanted hardier stock vs.going for perfection. So I did end up withtwo non-showables.But that's ok, they are happy pets.Theother7turned out gorgeous though.

And also, I did another outcross earlier that went badly wrong. Didn'trealize the mother carried genes for deafness and blindness--she wasonly a year old and never bred before, and the breeder didn't mentionany problems. But her daughter was born deaf and developed cataractsaround age 2.It wasn't really the outcross that wasto blame for that part, but the kits all had faults or DQ's anyway,even though I tried to match parents that had balancing traits. Theyinherited both parents' conformation faults and not the good stuff. 

Basically, it's more of a gamble to outcross, but I was happy with theresults of the last litter and am more confident of geneticallyvigorous stock. Or at least hope so.

Rose

P.S. sorry, just realized in my last post I didn't clarify about therelation of linebreeding to inbreeding. You're right, line-breeding(father/daughter, etc.) is a form of inbreeding.


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## samandshawn (Jun 13, 2005)

The main problem is a home for thebaby's,lots of people say its ok ifyou sell to"good homes" how do you know if you are selling to a goodhome? Unless you know the person or they are part of yourfamily its impossible to judge if it will be a good home for yourbunny! Someone may want a bunny and seem really nice people,but after a while their circumstances may change and for whateverreason they might have to get rid of the bunny, if so they mayadvertise it in the paper, or give it to a rescue home, then how do youknow if the bun is in a good home???


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## ayglnu13 (Jun 13, 2005)

*samandshawn wrote:*


> Someone may want a bunny and seem really nicepeople, but after a while their circumstances may change and forwhatever reason they might have to get rid of the bunny, if so they mayadvertise it in the paper, or give it to a rescue home, then how do youknow if the bun is in a good home???


EXACTLY it happens all the time! Yourrabbits should go out with a contract stating that if they can nolonger keep the rabbit that they are to return him/her to you and thatthey will not get a refund.

~Amy


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## cirrustwi (Jun 13, 2005)

*ayglnu13 wrote:*


> *samandshawn wrote:*
> 
> 
> > Someone may want a bunny and seem really nicepeople, but after a while their circumstances may change and forwhatever reason they might have to get rid of the bunny, if so they mayadvertise it in the paper, or give it to a rescue home, then how do youknow if the bun is in a good home???
> ...


We have that policy at our store. No refunds, but noquestions asked either. We get the rabbit vet checked andthen if it is still young (usually under 12 weeks) we try to resellthem, if not he/she goes to a rescue or one of us take him/herhome. I instituted that policy at my old store and that's howI ended up with one of my ferrets, he's a biter and went home 3 timesbefore I took him home with me. This all happened in like 2weeks.

Jen


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## bluebird (Jun 14, 2005)

breeding brother sister is Risky.If they carryrecessive traits you will double these up.Wolf teeth are recessive.Notthe best idea.bluebird


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