First Rabbits

[phickle]

GD91, I don't know what to say. I'm sorry you've been bitten so much but I just haven't seen that in my group. Shadow is our fifth breeding buck, and neither he nor his formers were ever truly aggressive towards me, although sometimes territorial, of course. I don't think he's hormone deficient, he readily breeds with every doe offered, both mine and the neighbors. I think he'd even breed a sock monkey if given the chance. I've only been bitten twice, once handling a rabbit with a broken leg and once breaking up a fight between bucks. Ever since the latter I only keep one buck around.

 

[nayeli]

The pictures aren't really clear, but it looks like your female is a sort of salt-and-pepper kind of gray color. If she is, that's a color called Chinchilla. I don't care how you mix them up, the recognized colors of New Zealands by themselves don't add up to Chinchilla; that color had to come from some other breed. The outcross doesn't have to have been a parent, but somewhere in this doe's background is something other than a NZ.

Yeah, I came to that conclusion comparing her to my stud yesterday. Their features are different. I wonder if he said he has NZ and I assumed they were ALL NZ. I know he said the black ones were. She is, eventually when I can get her out of the cage (haven't cause of dogs) then I will blow on her fur and see if she has the circle. It doesn't matter TOO much what she is since I got them to breed for meat rabbits. I just hope she isn't a large breed. She is bigger than him and I'm not sure their ages. He said 4 months but I'm not sure if he was referring to her or the black one. So far they are housed together and get along great.... however the black one has started humping her. Is this an issue if she is 4 months?

 

[nayeli]

I agree, I've never seen a chinchilla NZ before ....

Is it important to you?

If not, then never mind. Its still a beautiful rabbit

You did better than me, all I could gather was large & small Mutt rabbits

god forbid I could find a reputable nearby NZ or FG breeder close to my area.
Breeding meat rabbits isn't common where I live, so I'm stumped. I'll just have to breed for size.

One of my girls might be having a litter right now, I'm so excited

Spring is coming

lots of babies planned.

I'm not sure what she is, but she is beautiful. I will get a purebred white NZ in a month or so. Right now I'm just getting to know these two and getting the hang of rabbits. I would be excited too! Really since we are breeding for meat it isn't super important on breeds, some breeds are better for meat than others but you can breed traits in over time too =) Also check for facebook groups near you. I was looking all over online and came up with nothing. Someone on here suggested some facebook groups in my area and I can find EVERYTHING =) Oh and I have a local outdoor flea market that has animal sales and auctions =)

 

[nayeli]

Bucks may & they can do a lot of damage. I've been ripped down the inside of my wrist by a buck & still have scars on my hand from another buck.
And they were home bred & knew me. I tried handling, treats etc. Nothing worked. They just wanted does, does & more does & when they didn't have that never ending supply of other halves, they would get very boisterous & aggressive.
Some of the bucks I had would attack my hand when I went near their hutches to feed them. And they meant it to. I always wore thick gloves when dealing with bucks & certain does with litters.

Needless to say, they went all soppy after a trip to the vets. No more testosterone, no more problems.

They would have been dinner for me immediately! That is crazy! What is soppy?

 

[nayeli]

GD91, I don't know what to say. I'm sorry you've been bitten so much but I just haven't seen that in my group. Shadow is our fifth breeding buck, and neither he nor his formers were ever truly aggressive towards me, although sometimes territorial, of course. I don't think he's hormone deficient, he readily breeds with every doe offered, both mine and the neighbors. I think he'd even breed a sock monkey if given the chance. I've only been bitten twice, once handling a rabbit with a broken leg and once breaking up a fight between bucks. Ever since the latter I only keep one buck around.

Haha so far I'm seeing that in my buck. He is friendly towards me and my rabbits share a cage and get along great but he has been humping her a few times a day! Unlike other bucks he even understands mostly where to hump, he starts in back and will occassionally move to her side haha

 

[phickle]

At that rate you'll have kits in no time. You need to be mindful of over-breeding though. Since a doe can get pregnant twice at the same time, and carry two litters at the same time, perhaps finding a way to cut down on the unrestricted mating is in the future? Not only does a doe have a finite number of teats, but a double kindle is very hard on her and the kits. I know some folks who do it this way though, but their mortality rate is far, far higher than mine. That is one of the cool things about raising rabbits, however, they're pretty flexible, so whatever works for you and your situation, ya' know?

 

[nayeli]

@phickle they will be seperated in about a week. We are moving into OUR house soon =) so right now things are a mess and there isn't a good place to have them in seperate cages...

 

[GD91]

GD91, I don't know what to say. I'm sorry you've been bitten so much but I just haven't seen that in my group. Shadow is our fifth breeding buck, and neither he nor his formers were ever truly aggressive towards me, although sometimes territorial, of course. I don't think he's hormone deficient, he readily breeds with every doe offered, both mine and the neighbors. I think he'd even breed a sock monkey if given the chance. I've only been bitten twice, once handling a rabbit with a broken leg and once breaking up a fight between bucks. Ever since the latter I only keep one buck around.

No need to say anything Phickle, I must just have been unlucky. I had to go the hospital for stitches.

Unfortunately my mother wouldn't allow my to, erm, dispatch them & I didn't want to sell them on with behavior like that. They weren't related either & they went aggressive like than at about 20 weeks. I hope I was just really unlucky back then. I also had a friend who's male house rabbit would attack her when she went near him 4 - 5 years ago for no apparent reason.
Every buck I've known has been aggressive & we were warned against handling bucks at college without wearing gloves.

Maybe its because its the UK & most people here don't understand if they breed an aggressive rabbit, they get aggressive kits etc, It just doesn't get taken seriously enough.


It was 8 - 10 years ago I had my rabbits & I've only just started getting back into rabbits, not as pets this time, but for meat.

My Lop buck now aged 16 weeks is very sweet, I hope he doesn't change.

Naylei, I'm glad to hear you got your rabbits, I hope you enjoy them very much.

And by "Soppy" I mean they became much more docile & much less aggressive after I got them castrated.

 

[nayeli]

No need to say anything Phickle, I must just have been unlucky. I had to go the hospital for stitches.

Unfortunately my mother wouldn't allow my to, erm, dispatch them & I didn't want to sell them on with behavior like that. They weren't related either & they went aggressive like than at about 20 weeks. I hope I was just really unlucky back then. I also had a friend who's male house rabbit would attack her when she went near him 4 - 5 years ago for no apparent reason.
Every buck I've known has been aggressive & we were warned against handling bucks at college without wearing gloves.

Maybe its because its the UK & most people here don't understand if they breed an aggressive rabbit, they get aggressive kits etc, It just doesn't get taken seriously enough.


It was 8 - 10 years ago I had my rabbits & I've only just started getting back into rabbits, not as pets this time, but for meat.

My Lop buck now aged 16 weeks is very sweet, I hope he doesn't change.

Naylei, I'm glad to hear you got your rabbits, I hope you enjoy them very much.

And by "Soppy" I mean they became much more docile & much less aggressive after I got them castrated.

Yikes. I was told to cull when they exhibit bad traits like aggressiveness, bad mothers, etc.

 

[nayeli]

Good News! From what I read here http://www.rabbitgeek.com/chinamerican.html it looks like I have a female chinchilla! Now I'm just hoping she is standard or american and not giant =)