My adventures in rabbit breeding

[FoodFreedomNow]

Thank you both for everything. I was much better prepared for this one, and the outcome might have been different had I not been following along and asking my random questions for the last few months. I'm so glad I had been saving the extra fur!

Interesting about the thumping. I hadn't seen that behavior before. My buck is cute in the morning when I go out for feeding--he hops in circles around his cage making as much noise as possible to get my attention.

Boys...our NZ breeding buck does that, too. lol He's a real ham, and he likes attention.

 

[balloonflower]

What are some other options for fur in the nestbox? Most of what I added additional to what Paws pulled is getting tamped down and there's not quite enough on top of the kits now. I've already groomed my others today for a bit more.

 

[balloonflower]

New updates: I did choose to sell Paws the crankypants. She was not a bad bunny, just not a great fit for our family. And i have a new litter of seven from Apple that are doing well. Looking for a blue doe now.

 

[balloonflower]

Question on SF coloring and genetics. One of the kits from Paws' litter (now 9 weeks) silvered very heavily all the sudden last week. It seemed like poof-all the sudden she was nearly white. She is more heavily silvered than any adults I've seen, while the other three from that litter are coloring normally. Is there something that causes this? I believe this would be a disqualification for showing, so would you choose not to breed this line if you were showing? Not that I am--I'm just trying to learn which to keep, and what's correct for SF.

 

[Bunnylady]

That is a lot of silvering - almost like a Champagne D'Argent:


Frankly, I don't know. It's not a breed I have worked with. Silvering like that would be considered a fault, though, so anyone interested in showing would most likely steer clear of a rabbit like that.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Question on SF coloring and genetics. One of the kits from Paws' litter (now 9 weeks) silvered very heavily all the sudden last week. It seemed like poof-all the sudden she was nearly white. She is more heavily silvered than any adults I've seen, while the other three from that litter are coloring normally. Is there something that causes this? I believe this would be a disqualification for showing, so would you choose not to breed this line if you were showing? Not that I am--I'm just trying to learn which to keep, and what's correct for SF.

I raise Silver Fox rabbits, but I don't currently show them. I recall seeing that they should, ideally, be 15-20% silvered - see last paragraph here (also the section on which kits to keep will be of interest): http://www.freewebs.com/riverwindrabbitry/aboutsilverfoxrabbits.htm. This rabbitry's site shows that silvering is 20 of the overall (100) total points: http://www.threelittleladiesrabbitry.com/silverfox.php.

Mine tend to generally fall within the "normal" silvering parameters, but there are always some surprises...I have a 3 month old blue doe that I originally thought (hoped) was lilac because she is very well-ticked. Personally, I like more silvering.

If she were my doe, I'd consider keeping her to balance less-silvered lines. She's a pretty girl.

That is a lot of silvering - almost like a Champagne D'Argent:


Frankly, I don't know. It's not a breed I have worked with. Silvering like that would be considered a fault, though, so anyone interested in showing would most likely steer clear of a rabbit like that.

Makes sense that the silvering is reminiscent of a Champagne D'Argent, since the breed is suspected to have contributed its genetics to the development of the Silver Fox: https://livestockconservancy.org/index.php/heritage/internal/silver-fox.

 

[balloonflower]

Update on my newest litter--2 weeks old. I did lose one today, with a couple others showing similar symptoms but not as bad that we might manage to nurse through it. DH had been doing more of the bunbun care for the last couple days and we discovered a misunderstanding about what "checking the kits" meant to him. On my end, I pull them from the nestbox at least once a day, but usually morn and eve, just to count, check for full tummies and activity level. He thought it meant just eyeballing the nestbox and caring for Mama Apple.

I mention this only because they hadn't been removed from the box since Thursday. This afternoon when I checked, there were two very lethargic kits with messy bottoms. What is the best thing to do in this situation?

Now, I tried a bit of Google but must have not used good search terms. Without wanting to spend more time searching, I mixed a bit of sugar water and we tried to syringe feed them a bit. They also got cleaned up. As I mentioned, one didn't respond, but the other we put in a box under heat lamp for observation and seems to be showing a bit more activity level. So, I'm watching and waiting. I also changed out the hay in the nestbox--we just had snow and freeze, so I'm not quite ready to remove it yet.

 

[balloonflower]

So far I've lost three of the seven kits. Can anyone help me with what I'm dealing with? I don't understand the diarrhea when they're only still nursing.

 

[BantamLover21]

So far I've lost three of the seven kits. Can anyone help me with what I'm dealing with? I don't understand the diarrhea when they're only still nursing.

What is the doe eating? Do the kits seem bloated, well-fed, or skinny? It is a little odd that nursing kits have diarrhea, but it can happen.

It is good that you cleaned out the nestbox; that is what I would have done first. For the other kits, don't give any more sugar water. Mother's milk is best. Sugar only leads to further digestive upset. I would keep adding fresh hay to the nest box every day, not only to keep it clean, but also to encourage the remaining kits to start nibbling on hay, which will help their digestive tracts.

The diarrhea could be due to stress (since they're at an age where their eyes open and they start exploring more) or diet, in which case what I described above may help. Or, it is possible that the kits/their mother have Coccidiosis. I don't have experience with the latter in rabbits, though, so I can't offer treatments for it. Unfortunately, at this age, there isn't much you can do to help kits with diarrhea.

Good luck with them!

 

[balloonflower]

I'll have to look up Cocci for rabbits. Mama doesn't show any symptoms of anything but ear mites.

Thanks for the heads up on the sugar water. I was just trying anything--but I also see that I didn't mention that we tried nursing the kits first--this Mama allows me to hold her in my lap and nurse kits without a problem. They wouldn't even try.

I did take the bottom off the nestbox, so it's just sitting on the wire now. I'll keep up with changing the hay out and hope for the best. The remaining four are still active, so fingers crossed.