askarabbitbreeder

[askarabbitbreeder]

I have a broken chinchilla holland lop buck and I’m about to purchase a BEW holland lop doe? Both have full pedigree. Can I breed them. All this genetics stuff is getting to me.

BEW is a challenging variety to understand at first. Once you understand the genetics you will be on the road to producing show rabbits in no time. You could breed your BEW doe to your broken buck but you would not get any Blue Eyed White kits in the litter. In order to produce BEW you would need to breed her to another BEW or a VM (vienna marked) or VC (vienna carrier). When a BEW is bred to a normal rabbit (doesn't carry the vienna gene) the result is usually that the kits will have a white nose marking and/or white paws. Kits that have white markings are called Vienna marked. Kits from BEW x Normal breedings that don't have white markings are called Vienna carriers. It is very important that once you start your BEW breeding program that you label all kits as either VM or VC. The vienna gene is very difficult to breed out, if you sell kits to any breeders make sure that they know about the gene otherwise it could ruin their breeding program. Vienna marked rabbits are not showable, only BEW is. If you are interested in breeding Blue Eyed White you would be best off starting with a high quality BEW or VM buck. You could use your buck for a normal breeding program as long as you don't mix the normal and vienna genes. If you have anymore genetics questions feel free to DM me.

[askarabbitbreeder]

Have you had any problems with mature dose and getting pregnant around this time of year if so how did you fix it if you did I hope I can get an answer from you and thank you

In late fall rabbits typically stop mating because the days are shorter. My does usually stop lifting for bucks in late October. I don't breed in the winter because I like to give my herd a break. It is also usually very cold and I have an outdoor rabbitry. Many breeders use light to prevent does from refusing bucks. If you are able to set up lights on a 12 hour timer in your rabbitry then breeding should go back to normal.

[askarabbitbreeder]

I need help with my sisters rabbit. She got into some candy (smarties not chocolate) and the vet isn’t open yet. She’s drinking water, has grass hay, and going to the bathroom (but it’s not it’s normal shape). But she’s not eating much, is kinda lethargic, and sounds like she’s grinding her teeth. It’s already been a few fours but I’m still worried. Can I go to sleep until the vet is open tomorrow or should I stay up with her just in case?

I am not a vet, however I have had rabbits sneak all sorts of food from me when I'm not looking. The strangest was when Tesla ate some of my spaghetti.

Do you know how many smarties she ate? In Canada smarties have chocolate in the middle but in the US they are a tablet candy. What she ate and how many is important in determining what care she will need. Typically rabbits can digest small amounts of random foods just fine.

It takes rabbits 24 hours to digest so her fecal pellets shouldn't look different because of the smarties yet. Are the pellets smaller, a different colour or sticky? If at any point she starts to have diarrhea you will need to offer her "bunny gatorade", I will add a picture of the recipe for that.

It's good she is drinking and eating hay, you could try offering some chunks of pineapple or papaya to her. If she refuses to eat that and stops eating hay I would recommend she sees the vet right away. I also recommend rabbit owners buy a product called "Critical Care" from their vet, it is very helpful in situations like this.

Bunny gatorade should help with the lethargy, the tooth grinding is likely due to stomach pain. When you listen to her stomach if you hear lots of gurgles it's a good sign that her gut is still moving and she has not gone into GI stasis. Personally I would check on her every two hours looking for any changes in behaviour. If she is still looking ill when the vet is open I recommend taking her incase she gets an intestinal blockage from the smarties.

[askarabbitbreeder]

Additional to the post regarding the angora dad with the potential BEW rex and lionhead females, the bucks background is fuzzy Because he's pure rescue, the rex came from a litter of 4 healthy babies and the lionhead only litter was of 3, I want fur type and litter size that the lionhead would give but I worry if it would be too taxing on her. But if the rex would give a bigger litter and kits that do not hold much if any of daddy's phenotypes it would be harder to find the extras homes.

Generally when breeding rabbits a 3.5 pound doe to a 4.5 pound buck would likely be fine. A 3.5 pound doe to a buck that is anywhere from 7-10 pounds is never recommended. Rex can have lots of kits (8-12) but since she is a cross it is hard to say how many she could have. I don't know how angora fur is passed on genetically but if it is anything like lionhead crosses it will just be random fur patches here a there. I think your best bet is to find an angora doe, she would give you the fur and body type you want and finding good homes for the kits would be easier. If you find you really like the breed too you could always get a purebred breeding pair.

[askarabbitbreeder]

Hello! I know how you feel about mixing, but I have done research into the rabbits I'm looking at. My buck is a very handsome french angora mix, 2 years old now and very healthy. We have a lionhead doe gaining years who could only safely have 1 more litter, but she was a wonderful mommy to her past litter. Last is a BEW rex girl about a year old who has normal fur, never had babies but is healthy and plump. What would be best for fur/body size since I'm wanting ones like dad?

Purebred French Angora rabbits can weigh up to 10.5 pounds. They are a breed that's on the larger side so I don't recommend crossing him with your lionhead. Even though he is a mix, dwarf breeds very often have complications kindling. Dwarf breeders rarely use a buck larger than the doe when they can avoid it. It is just not worth the risk of stuck kits. Rex are a large breed that have the same maximum weight as a French Angora, however since yours has normal fur she is crossed with something. Rex typically have large litters, some regularly have litters of 8-12.

The rabbit that would be best for fur/body size, since you want more French Angoras would be another French Angora. If you crossed him to your lionhead they would be much smaller but may have the fur you want assuming your doe has a live litter. I think you would likely have to help her with stuck kits since the maximum weight for a lionhead is 3.75 pounds. If you bred him to your Rex cross they would be a larger size but they likely wouldn't have the fur you want. Since he is a cross he likely doesn't have a full angora coat, crossing him to a rabbit with no angora fur will likely just result in kits with random fluff patches. Similar to what happens when lionheads are crossed to normal furred rabbits. I don't think either doe will give you what you want.

[askarabbitbreeder]

Oh no

One iced latte with low-fat #rabbit breeding milk, please.

[askarabbitbreeder]

#my rabbit > #netherland dwarf? Not on my watch!

[askarabbitbreeder]

I'm happy to see ARBA updated their article on Easter bunnies. They have this on the front page of their new website.

[askarabbitbreeder]

Hoppy Holidays!

[askarabbitbreeder]

Do you have a list of rabbit breeds that in general are more affectionate(even agressively affectionate)

Out of 49 accepted ARBA breeds I have owned only 6. Over all it seems as if the Dwarf breeds are often considered sassy and somewhat stubborn. I have a rescue lionhead that is very passive but he is also very old. My Mini Rex and Netherland Dwarfs seem a bit more alert, they don't seem to often relax when I am around. They get very active and energetic when they see me. My Rhinelanders need lots of exercise and are generally more likely to explore than cuddle. My Dutch and Himalayans are probably the most likely so seek out cuddles out of all rabbits. My Himalayans specifically run up to me for affection and seem to enjoy human interaction more than other rabbit breeds. However all rabbits have their own unique personalities and how they were raised does have an affect on what they will be like as adults. Some breeds seem to exhibit specific characteristics more often but that is not a guarantee.

[askarabbitbreeder]

If you ever meet people that think it's okay to breed mixed animals because, "they are just going to be pets" it's time to run

[askarabbitbreeder]

My blog is a year old today, special thanks to my 44 followers. Rabbit in the picture is Trout, he is a blue Himalayan.

[askarabbitbreeder]

My hot take of the day: If you are a meat breeder it is okay to breed mutts only if they are 100% for meat. If you breed mutts for pets and pull the "if you don't buy my mixed breed kits I will kill them" you are garbage. 90% of my rescues this year are huge meat breeds. Stop guilt tripping people.

[askarabbitbreeder]

Clean 👏 Your 👏Rabbit's 👏 Scent 👏 Glands 👏 Often 👏

[askarabbitbreeder]

This is why so many dogs are in shelters...

[askarabbitbreeder]

People seriously underestimate the impact the media has on notions of pet ownership and what people can handle in animals.

Books, movies, TV, and internet videos from Youtube, Instagram, and The Dodo often show animals in their best moments, or even acting because they’ve been trained to do certain tasks (or are animated as humanlike characters). The fact is that the vast majority of people, even those who already have pets, have a very low or nonexistent level of animal literacy; what they take away from that kind of media oftens turns into “I want that animal as a pet.” 

People who watched Finding Nemo created an explosion of demand for clownfish and blue tangs; Harry Potter, owls; 101 Dalmatians for dalmatians, etc etc etc. When the decision to get a pet modeled after the cute, photo-ready animals seen on a screen is made, there is zero consideration as to whether or not their needs can be met and if people can actually handle them. 

Media featuring animals inevitably creates a boom of abandonment and huge environmental impact precisely because people who were in over their heads and acted purely on a whim got their dose of reality, and it’s incredibly heartbreaking to have to see the news detailing such cases. These are just some examples: 

Yearly reminders have to be passed around telling people not to buy rabbits on Easter unless they’re committed to actually taking care of them  

Thousands of dalmatians were abandoned when families discovered that they are very energy intensive, broody work dogs that are not suited to families with small children, unlike the cuddly Perdita and Pongo

Similarly, huskies and malamutes were surrendered to shelters when people realised they are not loyal Westeros direwolves

Entire ecosystems in Europe and southern Asia lost valuable apex predators when people began poaching them to sell to fans who wanted their own Hedwigs and Errols, and again abandoning them en masse when they discovered owls are highly aggressive, loud, messy, and nocturnal

Japan imported thousands of North American raccoons after the release of the Disney movie Rascal, people let them loose in the wild, and Japan now has a problem trying to figure out what to do with their enormous pest population that has no natural predator in place to control their numbers

Pacific Reefs suffered greatly when people demanded to have clownfish and blue tangs as pets, especially considering they were caught by being stunned with sodium cyanide, which, additionally, severely damages coral as well. NatGeo estimates that up to 90% of tropical fish imported by the US are caught by way of cyanide fishing; this often ends up for naught as these fish are often flushed down the toilet or released to the wild in other ways, which is also why the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico are under threat by voracious invasive species like lionfish   

The gist is that the media perpetuates this cycle of people reading about or seeing animal characters, demand is created, people impulse buy those animals, and then leave them for shelters to care for or release them to the wild when they get a rude awakening and find they’re actually unable to deal with those animals. 

This isn’t even counting other animals like “mini” pigs, chihuahuas, snakes, foxes, etc etc etc. And we can’t exactly blame this on over enthusiastic children when it’s adults who have the purchasing power to buy a pet, and who choose to do zero research, and who choose to indulge said children or even themselves when that I Want the TV Animal as a Pet urge comes on. 

Ignoring what is essentially weaponised cuteness used for online likes is hard, especially when faced with such palatable stuff like that gif of the owl riding the tablet stylus, or the plethora of cat videos. But it costs very little effort to not only educate yourself on the needs of animals and to also not encourage a rapacious pet trade industry, but to communicate that to others so that, hopefully, we won’t have to see things like Peter Dinklage and Jo Rowling having to make statements to the news because of this problem. 

–Mod Nick

[askarabbitbreeder]

I am very excited about some of the Dutch kits I have at the moment. Some of them could be quite competitive on the show table next year. So far the markings look fantastic so hopefully they have great type. Although you can breed a mismarked Dutch and get good markings in the litter, it is best to breed nearly perfectly marked Dutch. All of my Dutch rabbits are show quality and it really pays off when the mismarks are so minimal in their litters.