# Questions about accidental breeding



## SimplyBritt (Jan 19, 2015)

Lately I've been having trouble with my headstrong know it all threenager with opening the rabbit cages when they aren't suppose to be opened and letting BOTH our rabbits out at the same time. My male is due to be fixed a few days ago but was pushed back to the beginning of February  I'm working on finding a latch that's harder for my daughter to open but there's not much I can keep her out of!
My question is that since both my rabbits are mixed with different breeds (one a mini rex mix and the other a vienna mix) would it be okay if the possibly bred? I can't let my male out for 2 seconds with him wanting to mount my female. Would there be any problems with the two mixes breeding? Any helpful tips would be well appreciated.


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## whiskylollipop (Jan 19, 2015)

How old are they?

Vienna is a coat pattern not a breed - anyway, breeding domestic mixes does produce viable babies if that's what you're asking. Generally speaking though, it's dangerous to mate a genetically larger male to a smaller female, as the babies may grow too big and get stuck in her birth canal. I would be taking the girl in for an emergency spay asap if your boy is bigger than she is. Otherwise the pregnancy should go normally.


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## majorv (Jan 19, 2015)

What's the weight difference between the two? 'Vienna mix' doesn't tell me her size. Otherwise, it shouldn't be a problem. What are their ages again?


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## SimplyBritt (Jan 19, 2015)

Oops. The male is either a ditch out polish mix. I looked up the two breeds and he looks more dutch to me. The male was a pretty store bunny so from guessing about 9 months and the female is 6 months. She's definitely bigger than him and outweighs him. I haven't been able to get an accurate weight on her yet because she absolutely Hayes being picked up but I've been guessing around 5-8lbs she's pretty heavy. Her mom was the size of a small dog like a daschund.
That was the main concern was their difference in size and with me not knowing their genetic history what would be possible issues.


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## majorv (Jan 19, 2015)

Unless they're brother/sister or close relatives, I wouldn't worry too much about genetics. Sounds like age and size are not a problem either. At 6 months, first time mom's don't always take care of their first litter very well, but you'll just have to wait and see if she's pregnant.


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## SimplyBritt (Jan 19, 2015)

I don't think she's pregnant but we'll see :/ the people I got female from were backyard breeders and didn't know for sure how old the babies were so she's either 6 months or 7 months. My male was originally a female and his testicles didn't drop until I brought Belle home so this wasn't intentional. I didn't know that about first time moms at 6 months. I really hope she's not already pregnant. I've been reading up on how to take care of kits and it was intimidating


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## SimplyBritt (Jan 19, 2015)

Here's a picture of the size difference between them. It's not really a good picture because Sir William is not cooperative when it comes to staying still on the counter. He has no fear. You can't tell from this picture but he weighs about half or about one third less than her. If she were pregnant what would be some things I would need to watch for while she was pregnant? Are there many complications when it comes to pregnant rabbits?


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## Biscuit123 (Jan 19, 2015)

If these 2 rabbits have spent more than 1 second together the chances are she is pregnant, here is what I would do, separate both of them and write down the date of the last time they were out together even if it wasn't for very long, put a padlock on one or both cages to prevent your daughter opening them and if you don't want kits then get the female spayed asap if you would rather wait to see if she is pregnant them count 33 days from the last time they were out and if no kits show up by then she wasn't pregnant, you will need to give her a nest box which normally gets put in on day 28-29 of pregnancy if put in too early she may use it as a litter box if put in too late she may have the kits on the floor and they may die, since you are not sure if she is pregnant or how far along she may be I would be tempted to put a nest box in now and clean it every day if it is used as a litter box, keep doing that until 33 days pass since their last encounter then you can remove it and know she was never pregnant.

Signs she may be pregnant:
May be more aggressive
Eating more and then less a few days before birth
she may lay different and look uncomfortable
Digging lots
movement in her belly

Remember that rabbits can give birth in as little as 15min, my rabbit showed no interest or signs she was pregnant until 20 min before birth, she built her nest, pulled fur and gave birth in that short time frame, she was a first time mum and was not very prepared, she was 8 months old and made a wonderful mother. if she is having free time around the house please make she she is supervised well you do not want her to giving birth on the kitchen floor or under the couch ect

please keep us updated I would love to know how she gets on


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## SimplyBritt (Jan 19, 2015)

I was a little worried about putting a lock on their cages in case something happened but I have a zip tie blocking the latch from opening since we have thousands of zip ties. I feel bad for having to do that but honestly I'm a little afraid of having kits. I would be devastated if something happened to one. I'm pretty positive that she's not pregnant because when I caught my daughter she was holding the male(his cage is off the floor) but knowing him and his attempts I wouldn't be surprised if my female got pregnant through the bars! They was both suppose to be fixed by now but with us on one income we've had several things come up for instance my transmission on my car needed some serious work. Normally I let my female out towards the afternnon and night because she doesn't like all the activity that happens during the day time and she's always supervised because she likes to chew on our couches and eat carpet. Our apartment is super small and our living room and kitchen is opened together and she can only hide behind our recliner and under our entertainment center. I have her cage against a wall the top has a cardboard box and is pushed against the couch. She seems to like being blocked in. If she is pregnant I was thinking of putting her cage in the small walk in closet in my room since she scares easy anyways I'd hate to stress her out. It would be perfect because her cage fits easily and i hardly use it anyways. Thanks for the advice I didn't know that they gave birth that fast. I already looked up building plans for making my own nest box just in case. I will keep y'all updated if she is pregnant it's been about a week and a half since the incident so we'll know soon. I've already marked the date on my calendar. Either way beginning of February he's getting snipped then Belle in March.


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## Biscuit123 (Feb 1, 2015)

Any updates??


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## SimplyBritt (Feb 2, 2015)

Biscuit123 said:


> Any updates??



Not pregnant from.what I can tell. I've palpated her and couldn't feel anything so I'm taking that as a good sign ^.^ She hasn't gained weight or shown any signs of pregnancy but I've still made it a point to keep that date in mind on my calendar and I'm going to palpate her once every week just to be on the safe side.


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## Biscuit123 (Feb 2, 2015)

Hopefully she isn't but you will know soon enough, keep us posted


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## SimplyBritt (Feb 3, 2015)

I will try to remember lol


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