What Rabbits Do You Have? Show Off Your Rabbits Here!

[ChocolateMouse]

I raise NZW and standard rex rabbits, mostly for meat/fur purposes and to sell as meat breeders... So it sounds like we have similar goals. I have spent a lot of time dabbling in mixed breeds. Occasionally I breed for things like 4H and the like. Right now I have about 8 adult breeders between two breeds but there was a time that I had 15 spread across 4 breeds. (That's not including kits which add another 5-20 heads at any given time.)
Learning basic genetics for rabbit coats is not difficult if you have sound logic and math skills. (Not everyone does.) The simplest way to get started is to look at punnet squares. Many genes are either simple or partial dominant or recessive and can easily be tracked in a punnet square. I'd be happy to explain the basics to you sometime and provide some links to resources for learning more.

As for little box training, you very well could. I have never managed to litter train a rabbit myself, but I also haven't tried very hard. It's always worth a shot, though!

 

[worms7]

Roughly How much does it cost to keep your
breeding program going each month
cheers Phil

 

[CyndiD]

do rabbits need soil, good healthy soil, like from my garden? i will google this, but thought i would ask here. i was wondering, if i pull up weeds, vegies for them and if i pull up the roots and soil, is this ok for them?
@ChocolateMouse what kind of fur do you breed for? color, thick, long?

 

[worms7]

Roughly How much does it cost to keep your
breeding program going each month
cheers Phil

anybody
cheers Phil

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Do rabbits need soil? Like to live on or in their diet? No....That seems like an odd question. Chickens do but that's because they need rocks and sand for their gizzard. Rabbits don't need soil any more than you or I. In fact rabbits have very similar biological patterns to humans in a lot of ways, which is why they are the second animals used in lab testing for human drugs etc... But like us, a little dirt generally won't hurt them. I feed my rabbits whole plants roots and all. I try to knock off all the dirt that I can and they often don't even eat the roots. Some things I would consider with leaving the roots on are that dirt can easily contain parasites which can infect your rabbits (and rabbits are very sensitive to drugs so treatment can be difficult) and the roots on many plants contain different chemicals than the stems and leaves and you need to be sure the roots are safe for them to eat.

I breed for white furs and rex furs for crafting. The rex pelts I breed for color (I keep castors, broken castor, otter, and now I'm bringing in some opal and blue otter), the white furs I breed for normal type fur. I tan them and sew them into things like hats and dice bags sometimes.

Phil, it varies wildly based on how many rabbits I have at any given time and what ages. I spend 200-300 a year on hay and every 50lb bag of feed is about $18-$20. Some times of the year a lot of their diet comes from the plants in my lawn. The more rabbits I have the cheaper it is per rabbit to get their feed as well. I would have to do the numbers for the whole rabbitry for the last 3 years to get a good estimate for you.

In other news, yesterday I went to my local county fair. The rabbit showing was better this year than previous years with lots of FG, polish, velvet lops and mini rex... (No sick rabbits this year, thank goodness.) But two rex got DQd. One was entered as an opal when it was a castor, and the other one didn't even have rex fur. These people probably believed that they really had an opal and a rex rabbit... It bothers me so much when people get false information about their rabbits. I can't count how many times I see "rex" rabbits being sold on craigslist when they have normal type fur and are just mixed mutt rabbits. Just a reminder to do your due diligence when getting rabbits and do your own research.

 

[CyndiD]

thanks @ChocolateMouse for sharing what you do w/your rabbits. you must be very organized cuz it sounds like you are busy.
i thought that giving rabbits our soil would be questionable, that is why i asked on this thread. i know how soil works and how many oorganims can be in the soil. i have a lot to learn about rabbits and i am the type of person who will read as much as i can and i will always ask Q's, hope no one minds my dumb Q's?
someone said they make blankets for their cats out of rabbit fur. my dogs would love a rabbit rug. so i would have to tan it so it would not shed, right?
i already sold 3 of my rabbits to a neighbor, cool, huh and i have only had them for 2 weeks.
thanks again for answering my Q's, i appreciate you.

 

[worms7]

Ask away everybody started somewhere
cheers Phil

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Thank you. I've worked with rabbits for a long time... I like to think I know my stuff. But you should always try to get multiple opinions.

Cyndi, you're asking pretty reasonable questions. Trust me. I get some DUMB questions sometimes, especially from people looking for pets... Questions like, "Do they eat things other than carrots?" or "Is this cage that is 1.5'x2' big enough for this rabbit when it grows up?", or "do they shed" or "can I have this rabbit live with my extremely animal aggressive dog", etc. Like, really basic simple stuff that anyone who has read a 1000 word care sheet or spent 10 minutes with a properly cared for rabbit should know.

I would be careful with dogs. Dogs will chew apart rabbit hides and try to eat them in a way that cats can't. I might suggest just drying them in the sun as toys for your dogs. (That reminds me that this is a task I need to do with my next set of hides for my sister's dogs...) That way there's no toxic chemicals in the hides. If you want to make a rug for them to sleep on, do tan the hides and make sure they are very well cleaned and scented before you give them to the dogs or they might just try to eat them. Like, maybe spray them with some fabreeze or something. I keep my tanned hides in a cedar closet with a bar of Irish Springs soap and one of those drawer scent pouches for clothing. Fresh tanned hides still smell oily and salty and dogs love that smell. Remember also that rabbit hides (especially from young fryer rabbits) are very thin.

 

[CyndiD]

We have 2 dogs, one is a GSP (pointer) and/t other is an Australian Shep. the GSP is a hunter. i have had to train her not to kill or go after my chickens and ducks and now the rabbits, so i better think twice about giving her a rabbit blanket? maybe it will be a good thing that she cuddles w/a rabbit blankie; it may teach her to be kind to rabbits and not eat them?? i will have to try giving her one and if she chews on it i will teach her not to do that.
I am reading about the Punnett square today and geneotype. lots to read and understand.
I just found out the the black buck is the sire to all the kits i have. this is good, so now i can breed the tan buck i to the does and see what i get?
i want to get another doe and a buck in the future, not sure which, but will be from the top 10 best meat rabbits... rex, cinn, cal or palomino??
my dh made 4 new cages plus we have the old cages the rabbits came in that we will fix up, reinforce the legs, etc.

 

[BeachyFarmChx]

Hello,
I have an unrelated issue (to the current conversation). One of my chinchillas birthed a litter of kits yesterday. She is a first time mom, and did really well! There were 7 born and all survived, and she has been feeding them excellently. Well, this afternoon, two of my children checked on the kits and one has died :-/. Now, we are not complaining, because over the years, we have lost ENTIRE litters many times. Then, other times we will get a very healthy littler - like this one was.

The issue we have is that, whenever we have lost a kit (or more) it LOOKED unhealthy. This one did not. It was good and shiny, like the others, plump belly and squirming away this morning with the other 6. This afternoon - dead.

One of my daughters said (upon inspecting the carcus) that the kit's nose seemed crusted with yellowish liquid (which could indicate infection of some sort). Also, there was a small bite on his back, but the children said that mark had been there since yesterday, and looked to be healing (it was a very small abrasion).

Any thoughts? Anybody have new kits recently?

Thx!
BeachyFarmChx