Just starting out (silver foxes)

[balloonflower]

Good luck w the breeder--I hope it works out. If you get your two sf does, but can't find a good sf buck I would consider getting a different breed like nz if you find one of breeding age at a good price. Round me they're much cheaper, but I don't regret my sf investment one bit. You could get started for meat purposes, but still keep looking for a good sf, then retire the first to freezer camp when you do.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Good luck w the breeder--I hope it works out. If you get your two sf does, but can't find a good sf buck I would consider getting a different breed like nz if you find one of breeding age at a good price. Round me they're much cheaper, but I don't regret my sf investment one bit. You could get started for meat purposes, but still keep looking for a good sf, then retire the first to freezer camp when you do.

X2 - I also raise purebred SFs as well as SF/NZ crosses. The SF/NZ crosses are great meat rabbits with fast growth.

I've been looking for a breeding buck (including one I could raise to breeding age) and it's been like trying to find a needle in a haystack around here.

 

[BekaMarie]

I will definitely keep that in mind. The guy we are seeing tomorrow has a couple younger bucks but they have the same mom and dad. After lots of research I've realized I can find someone who will disagree with someone. But I would rather not chance in breeding siblings.

 

[balloonflower]

Someone with more knowledge please correct me if I am wrong. My rather basic understanding is that sibling crosses or breeding female kits back to the sire is not necessarily overall bad or not recommended. They can be common and successful pairings and a way of predicting info about the litter--size, traits, etc. But it can start to have effects if you continually breed down the line--therefore what I read recommended having access to an unrelated line for some diversity.

As I said, I am not an expert about this--I know my buck happens to be a sib-cross. But I did choose to go unrelated from my sibling does. Please correct if I am wrong as I do not wish to mislead anyone.

 

[BantamLover21]

Someone with more knowledge please correct me if I am wrong. My rather basic understanding is that sibling crosses or breeding female kits back to the sire is not necessarily overall bad or not recommended. They can be common and successful pairings and a way of predicting info about the litter--size, traits, etc. But it can start to have effects if you continually breed down the line--therefore what I read recommended having access to an unrelated line for some diversity.

As I said, I am not an expert about this--I know my buck happens to be a sib-cross. But I did choose to go unrelated from my sibling does. Please correct if I am wrong as I do not wish to mislead anyone.

You're right. Breeding father to daughter and mother to son is very common with rabbits, since it intensifies the traits of a certain bloodline and can produce consistently good animals. However, such breeding practices ("line breeding") can also strengthen undesirable traits, so you have to be careful which rabbits are bred together. Sibling crosses are less common, but still can be done with favorable results. I often breed parent to offspring (at least for a few generations), but haven't yet bred siblings together--I simply haven't had two that would cross well with eachother.

Some people may call the close-breeding practices described above inbreeding and consider them to be bad. The truth is, though, that line breeding and inbreeding are basically the same thing. Inbreeding is just said to be "line breeding gone wrong."

 

[BekaMarie]

We are now the proud owners of 2 silver fox does! They are in a temporary home together and it looks like we be able to keep them together. The guy we bought them from was giving them water in a bowl, we have a water bottle set up. Should I put of bowl of water in there or will they figure out the bottle?

Onyx is very feisty and when I was inspecting her at the farm she gave a nibble and was very persistent about getting out of my arms (finally got her to calm down after awhile of petting), on the way home she was very active standing on her back legs sniffing everything, now she has already started eating hay. She gets spooked hides and then sticks her head out to see whats going on.

Ruby on the other hand has been very different. She was what I though was a normal amount of wiggly when I was inspecting her. But she stayed in the same spot during the whole car ride (even when onyx was stepping on her) and has been hiding in the box we put in the temp home. She came out for a couple seconds and then ran back in as soon as she saw me. When I picked her up she was again what I would consider a normal amount of active (sniffing me and being slightly wiggly)

Is this all normal behavior? Anything I should change?

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

We are now the proud owners of 2 silver fox does! They are in a temporary home together and it looks like we be able to keep them together. The guy we bought them from was giving them water in a bowl, we have a water bottle set up. Should I put of bowl of water in there or will they figure out the bottle?

Onyx is very feisty and when I was inspecting her at the farm she gave a nibble and was very persistent about getting out of my arms (finally got her to calm down after awhile of petting), on the way home she was very active standing on her back legs sniffing everything, now she has already started eating hay. She gets spooked hides and then sticks her head out to see whats going on.

Ruby on the other hand has been very different. She was what I though was a normal amount of wiggly when I was inspecting her. But she stayed in the same spot during the whole car ride (even when onyx was stepping on her) and has been hiding in the box we put in the temp home. She came out for a couple seconds and then ran back in as soon as she saw me. When I picked her up she was again what I would consider a normal amount of active (sniffing me and being slightly wiggly)

Is this all normal behavior? Anything I should change?

Congrats! I think you'll find the water bottle preferable to the bowl from a management standpoint - just monitor to ensure that they're drinking (I think they'll figure it out).

Every rabbit is different, so what you described doesn't sound abnormal to me. My does weren't socialized when I acquired them and it took them a while to get comfortable with being approached, let alone handled - they would run and hide. With patience, gentleness, and (healthy) bribes, they became much calmer and friendlier and now run to me to see what I might be bringing them.

 

[BekaMarie]

Well they figured out the bottle. I put a small bowl of water right under it hoping that would encourage them to explore that part of the cage once they drank the water gone. When I first put the bowl down Onyx inspected it but didnt drink any. All last night we could hear them drinking and the water bottle was empty this morning!

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Well they figured out the bottle. I put a small bowl of water right under it hoping that would encourage them to explore that part of the cage once they drank the water gone. When I first put the bowl down Onyx inspected it but didnt drink any. All last night we could hear them drinking and the water bottle was empty this morning!

 

[balloonflower]

How are things going? Hopefully your girls are getting comfortable.

Yay on the water bottle--but also watch that it's not just dripping itself dry. Mine do occasionally if the vacuum doesn't establish properly.