# Mating rabbits



## fatdad (Mar 20, 2013)

I have 2 rabbits, and I have put them in together, (hoping for cute babies), but after chasing her around the cage, the male (Liqourice) pinned the female (Minnie) down on her side, and started ripping the fur out from her belly and side, is this normal behaviour, it scared me, and I took her straight out, as Im scared that he will hurt her.:embarrassed:


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## agnesthelion (Mar 20, 2013)

The buck will often pull at the does fur during mating. Did he move her to her side and was she fighting back? She might not be ready to mate. How old are your rabbits and where did you get them?...... also may sound silly but it has happened before but are you sure of their sex? Also, did you take the doe to the bucks cage? Not opposite as does are more territorial.

Also, I am curious to ask.....why do you want cute babies?


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## Imbrium (Mar 20, 2013)

before breeding, please consider that rabbits can have up to 12 babies and it can be very difficult to rehome them. any you decide to keep will need to be spayed or neutered (which is quite costly) when they reach sexual maturity for health and behavioral reasons... and you'll need to bond them into pairs, so you'll need multiple cages... and you'll need to be able to give them ALL 4-5h outside their cage each day...

there are SO many rabbits in shelters and on craigslist because people "wanted cute babies"... they don't stay cute little babies for all that long and then they live another 10 years.


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## majorv (Mar 20, 2013)

Hmmm, are you sure of their sex? Your buck sounds pretty aggressive towards a doe. We've never had a buck pin a doe and start pulling their fur out. They may take a little fur off their back when mating but that's it. Not saying it never happens, but I'm questioning their sex.


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## ladysown (Mar 20, 2013)

some bucks are fairly nasty with does..... I'd advise NOT breeding a nasty buck.

You always want to breed nice rabbits...with sound temperaments. A buck with that high of a drive to mate that it will potentially damage it's mate is not a buck you need to have. (granted...you also don't want to breed that so laid back that he won't do the job either).  A good mix.

Now.. if what he is doing is nipping her, what he's doing is encouraging her to get with the program....if his behaviour escalates to doing actual damage then you say no way buddy...

LARGE breed rabbits can have up to 18 in a litter (but there's a reason for that, they tend to be meat type rabbits with a meat type purpose).
Medium breed rabbits...you are talking 1-8 generally (6 being average). 
For the dwarf breeds the general rule is 1-5 kits, with 3 being average. 

Granted...if you don't know what to do with the offspring if you can't sell them you might want to reconsider breeding.
you also need to consider that sometimes does die during delivery, kits die, illnesses can be contracted and such like. All sorts of reasons NOT to breed.
But there are all sorts of reasons to breed. - show, companion, fur etc.
you need to weigh out your reasons and if the ends justifies the risk.


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## lynnnora2 (Mar 22, 2013)

Hi all,
Just wanted to say my brother started this thread. I have seen his rabbit and it definitely is a doe. He has had it for three weeks now and apparently it came from a household with no other rabbit in it. This doe has put on a lot of weight since he bought it and I think it might already be pregnant. It has pulled fur in the last week and although not in the same cage as the buck it is close enough to know its scent now. My brother isnt going into breeding as a whim as between us we have had alot of enquiries on baby kits. There is alot of interest in having pet rabbits in our area. My brother has ample space to start a rabbitry if he wanted to and we are seriously thinking of doing this. Also I have bred rabbits myself and we both find it very interesting and its becoming a serious hobby. Everybody has got to start somewhere.


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## whitelop (Mar 22, 2013)

Are they even the same breed rabbit? 
Are they healthy rabbits, if you said he got it from some people, then what does that even mean? 
Do you know how old the doe is? 

There is a difference in GOOD breeding and being a BACKYARD breeder. GOOD breeds breed rabbits to improve the quality of the breed, to try to get the best looking and most healthy rabbits they can get. They choose carefully when breeding their rabbits and there is a huge cull* process to keep their breeding programs on track for high quality animals. 
But a BACKYARD breeder, is just someone who has some rabbits who happen to be a boy and a girl and they just want to breed them TO GET CUTE BABIES. With no end game other than earning a few dollars and having baby bunnies. They aren't trying to improve the breed or make sure that they're healthy rabbits or make sure they're going to good homes or anything. 

Like ladysown said, there can be a lot of loss in rabbit breeding. What happens if the doe doesn't feed the kits because she hasn't ever had any before and you have to try to hand raise them? They rarely make it through being hand raised. 
What happens if no one wants the babies? Are you just going to have a ton of rabbits? You said that there are people in your area that are interested in rabbits as pets, why can't they get them from the shelter, from the other people who were once "interested in a pet rabbit". What happens if one of your babies ends up in the shelter or being set free? What happens if that person who gets your baby bunny doesn't feed them, like what happened to ladysown, ask her about disappointing pet homes. The stuff doesn't always turn out the way you want it to turn out. 

I think breeding for the sake of breeding isn't the right thing to do. It doesn't sound like you're breeding to show, it sounds like you're breeding to breed. Not cool.


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## majorv (Mar 22, 2013)

If you're going to start breeding you should use two healthy rabbits that are the same breed and have good termperaments. From what little your brother said about the buck it doesn't sound like he's a good choice as the father. The last thing you want is to sell pets who become aggressive as they get older, and temperament can be passed on to offspring.


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## woahlookitsme (Mar 22, 2013)

I really like my rabbit hobby and it is so much fun that my mom started with me. It's so fun to watch her groom and pose her polish an they really make us happy. If you want to start a rabbitry I would highly recommend getting the same breed of rabbits at least that came from a breeder (knowing the animal is healthy and purebred) then breeding pets can be okay if you don't want to go the show route. 

I seriously believe in bettering the breed and if there is room to do that then I am totally for it. When supply and demand is discussed it starts being more about making money. I don't want to discourage anyone from having a rabbit hobby but there should be good intentions in the reason why you have it

As far as in reply to the original question that is definitely not normal behavior and I would question breeding the buck if he acts like that


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## FireValleyRabbitry (Mar 22, 2013)

I breed rabbits for a living and the pulling fur if perfectly normal. It depends on the buck's personality, so some will pull and some will not, it is because he is trying to make her breed. If the doe if not in heat or will not lift, he will continue to pull more fur and eventually leave bald spots. 

I would like to correct the post that talks about how you have to spay/neuter your rabbit. You deffinetly do not need to have them fixed, and rabbits prefer to be alone, not housed with others. Even if it is the same sex pair, most likely they will end up fighting and hurting eachother. Rabbits are not bonded to one another like Gerbils, and will not be depressed if they do not have a friend/mate. Also, having an aggressive dam or sire does not mean the kits will turn out that way. If you handle them, they will be fine.

Showing rabbits is a great hobby to get into, it is a lot of fun and you meet new friends. Once you breed, you dont want to stop


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## lynnnora2 (Mar 22, 2013)

My brothers buck is the brother of my buck with whom I have bred before. The buck and doe he has are similar in size and bred together would make beautiful babies. Anyone breeding a doe for the first time has worries about whether the doe will take care of her offspring correctly, by all accounts some does need to be bred a few times to get it right. My doe didnt feed her babies straight away but with abit of perseverance in placing the kits on her a few times she managed and did a good job with her babies. And as for where the kits will end up, isnt that a risk everyone who breeds has to take? I also dont agree with breeding for show where in alot of cases the poor rabbits are stuck in a small cage for all types of strangers to ogle. I think rabbits only feel comfortable around people they know and trust, I know my doe would be mortified if I showed her. But that is just my opinion. I got my brother to join this site as I have found it to be the best site on the internet for friendly support and advice. If my brother wrote on that his buck got at the doe then Im sure the response would have been different as I have read threads on here for a while now with similar topics. I dont mean to offend anyone but my brother now knows his buck is not breeding material and wont be trying it again with him.


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## fatdad (Mar 22, 2013)

Thanks for your opinions, I am new to the site, and tbh didnt even know if i was posting in the right place, I think my original post was slightly misleading. I keep the rabbits seperately in different hutches, although they are kept in the same room, I had just bought a new run for them (quite a big one), and I didnt put them in with the intention of getting babies, I put them in so they could run and jump around playing together in the large new play area, however, within a minute or two, Liquorice had started trying to mate with Minnie (I didnt know that they would start trying to mate straight away), they are both beautiful rabbits, and although not both the same breed, they both have features which are pleasing to the eye. * I have no intention of making any money from the sale of rabbits, that had not even crossed my mind.* I was looking on the bright side when I made the cute bunnies comment, I am intending on keeping quite a few rabbits in time, as I find them to be very relaxing, and enjoyable. I understand that many people take rabbit breeding seriously, and try to improve the breeds, however, I am not interested in improving the breeds, I may be naive, but I just want the enjoyment of ownership, and caring for them. I am relatively new to rabbit keeping, but my sister does have rabbits, and has for years, and I have her support, she said it would be a good idea to join this site, as it was really informative, and when she had queries, there were always friendly people offering helpful advice. Also if I were to breed my rabbits, I would only give them to close friends, who I trusted to take appropriate care of the animals. Thanks again for your input.


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## woahlookitsme (Mar 22, 2013)

I think it was a little confusing or I least I thought so from reading it. In almost all instances putting two unaltered rabbits of each sex together will result in either breeding or fighting. 

Fur pulling is very common when bucks are mating but it sounded from your comment he was way too aggressive with it. If this was true either the buck is just an aggressive mate or he has agression towards other rabbits or wanted to show dominance over the doe. I still would be weary of him. Welcome to the forum sorry if anything came off too harsh


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## Imbrium (Mar 22, 2013)

FireValleyRabbitry said:


> I would like to correct the post that talks about how you have to spay/neuter your rabbit. You deffinetly do not need to have them fixed, and rabbits prefer to be alone, not housed with others. Even if it is the same sex pair, most likely they will end up fighting and hurting eachother. Rabbits are not bonded to one another like Gerbils, and will not be depressed if they do not have a friend/mate.



you say this like it's 100% fact... and yet it's NOT. it's your opinion, and while you're entitled to have an opinion, the *majority* of rabbit owners on this forum have a different one and don't appreciate being told that their opinion is flat-out wrong when there's tons of evidence to the contrary.

altered rabbits almost always prefer to live in pairs (M/F bonding the most easily). they definitely DO bond, as so many of us have seen. rabbits don't need to have a friend as much as animals like sugar gliders do, but they can definitely live happily in pairs.

also, how can you tell someone that you DEFINITELY don't need to get rabbits fixed when an unspayed female has, on average, HALF the lifespan of a spayed female? that alone is powerful incentive to spay any doe that isn't being used in a breeding program.


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## OakRidgeRabbits (Mar 23, 2013)

fatdad said:


> I understand that many people take rabbit breeding seriously, and try to improve the breeds, however, I am not interested in improving the breeds, I may be naive, but I just want the enjoyment of ownership, and caring for them.



Sometimes I think we use the phrase "improve the breed" too loosely and don't really explain what that means. The benefit of selectively breeding rabbits, or any animal, is that we're able to produce healthier rabbits in each generation.

When you choose to breed two rabbits with unknown backgrounds, it's difficult to know what you're breeding. Even if the kits appear healthy when they're young, they may experience health complications later in life. As one example, I had a pet rabbit who suffered severe arthritis from about age 5 to 10. Her parents may have seemed healthy at the time someone chose to breed them, but they didn't select for traits that would support a long, healthy life.

By working with purebred rabbits, you're better able to predict the outcome of the litter. Purebred rabbits "breed true," meaning that the parents usually pass their characteristics onto their offspring. When you breed rabbits of different breeds, there is no way of knowing what might result and whether those babies will be structurally sound throughout their lifetime.

Learning to select for good conformation is important too. Do the rabbits have a full hindquarter? If they are larger, do they have heavy bone to support their body weight? Things like this are important because poor conformation means more stress on their body and possible complications later in life.

Breeding to a standard isn't simply to produce "pretty" rabbits that win ribbons. The goal is to produce structurally sound rabbits with hardy immune systems that will be healthy and happy throughout their lifetimes. Showing rabbits is just a way to evaluate a breeder's progress in reaching that goal.


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## woahlookitsme (Mar 23, 2013)

Awesome way to put it julie


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