Rabbits!

[tracyjg]

We want them to be a close family together and that bond.we want all 8 to be close together. We want to integrate them together. It has to be that way.we want them all free range. We believe these is the lords intent for us.

 

[Bunnylady]

From the source you posted:

Spay and neuter your rabbits. When you are introducing rabbits to one another who are going to be living together, they must be spayed or neutered. This is so the rabbits won't fight as much or breed. Each female should be spayed and males should be neutered anywhere from 2-6 weeks before you begin the introduction process. This allows time for the rabbits to heal and the hormones to dissipate.

• You need to make sure you keep male rabbits away from unspayed female rabbits right after they are neutered. They can remain fertile for up to 2 weeks after they are neutered.[3][4]
• If you buy your rabbits as babies from the same litter, you still need to spay or neuter them as soon as possible. They will bond closely when they are young, but if they reach sexual maturity before you have them fixed, then they will fight and break their bonds, most likely for good.[5]

If you think that your previous vet visit was expensive, just wait until you see the bill for spaying and neutering 8 rabbits.

 

[tracyjg]

We don't want to do spay and neuter. We want to breed. It's a business.eventully and if I get worse on food. My health there's no cure. I have to reserve my resources.

 

[tracyjg]

Business eventually. To take care of my family eventually. My partner getting older. He can't work the rest of his life.we put away right now. For or son and us.its food eventually.

 

[tracyjg]

I going to hook up with a moms group later in the year that breed and raise rabbits and other animals.there away on business at the moment.

 

[misfitmorgan]

From the source you posted:

Spay and neuter your rabbits. When you are introducing rabbits to one another who are going to be living together, they must be spayed or neutered. This is so the rabbits won't fight as much or breed. Each female should be spayed and males should be neutered anywhere from 2-6 weeks before you begin the introduction process. This allows time for the rabbits to heal and the hormones to dissipate.

• You need to make sure you keep male rabbits away from unspayed female rabbits right after they are neutered. They can remain fertile for up to 2 weeks after they are neutered.[3][4]
• If you buy your rabbits as babies from the same litter, you still need to spay or neuter them as soon as possible. They will bond closely when they are young, but if they reach sexual maturity before you have them fixed, then they will fight and break their bonds, most likely for good.[5]

If you think that your previous vet visit was expensive, just wait until you see the bill for spaying and neutering 8 rabbits.

That would make no sense for people who want to use them for meat!! We breed our rabbits and grow out the kits to be eatten, replacing the parents as we breed better stock.

We also had in the past and are rebullding a rabbit warren for our rabbits to continue to free range but in a smaller area since right now they are running on 20 acres. They fight at first but then get along.

 

[Bunnylady]

Quote: You aren't talking about a little backyard run, though. A breeding colony needs room enough for the rabbits to get away from each other, or the most dominant rabbits will continue to beat the cr*p out of the subordinates. If there is more than one buck, you need lots of space. And though the rabbits learn to "get along," this isn't all snoogly and warm fuzzy bunny love cuddles as in one big "bonded" family, it's more like "oh, s/he's the boss, I need to get out of his/her way or s/he'll bite my nose off." Rather than being a "family," most of the rabbits are merely tolerating each other, having established a pecking order that allows some rabbits to choose the best nesting and resting places, and leaves others with more exposed places where they are more likely to lose their offspring or their lives.

 

[misfitmorgan]

You aren't talking about a little backyard run, though. A breeding colony needs room enough for the rabbits to get away from each other, or the most dominant rabbits will continue to beat the cr*p out of the subordinates. If there is more than one buck, you need lots of space. And though the rabbits learn to "get along," this isn't all snoogly and warm fuzzy bunny love cuddles as in one big "bonded" family, it's more like "oh, s/he's the boss, I need to get out of his/her way or s/he'll bite my nose off." Rather than being a "family," most of the rabbits are merely tolerating each other, having established a pecking order that allows some rabbits to choose the best nesting and resting places, and leaves others with more exposed places where they are more likely to lose their offspring or their lives.

Well considering we had 37 adult and juvenile rabbits and their young kits in a 1/4 acre warren with very minimal problems i think it is likely a smaller issue then you think it is. I have also never seen a rabbit bite another rabbits nose off whether in double gang cages or running loose in a warren. They make their pecking order like any other animal that we keep captive, when the order is established everyone gets along fine. We have not had anyone lose their offspring because another rabbit was "mean" to it nor had any of them die from not getting along. i have yet to see any family group of rabbits be "snoogly and warm fuzzy bunny love cuddles" no matter what enviroment they are kept in..at best i have seen a doe and her kits huddle together if they are cold or scared other wise they really dont want to be that close to each other even as mother doe and weaned kits. i have in fact seen many does eatting or killing their kits before we stopped keeping in gang cages, those does got eatten because they were not good breeders but rabbits have no sense of who is family and who is not. You can take sister does who were raised together and put them in different cages with nothing but one wire wall keeping them apart and if you put the sisters back in one cage even after only 24hrs they will fight until they bleed. Rabbits do not have human emotions or really anything similar to them. I have watched 3 or 4 does lay together in the sun less then a foot from each other with not a care in the world and get in a scruffle later the same day.

Saying they are going to get along better because they are a "bonded family" is not a true statement. Thats like saying well all my chickens get along great and cuddle because they are a bonded family....well except when the hens peck each other, or they fight over food, or the rooster is fiesty, etc. No they get along most of the time, that doesnt mean no one gets the shorter end of the stick. Same with goats, pigs, sheep, dogs, etc.

 

[tracyjg]

Well I will say these. In the past we have had 3 rabbits. One came from a friend. She raised for meat. She was fisty and agressive.to people. She was never placed with another rabbit.we had one fixed at pet store. And she was nice to humans. But aggressive to my other female that was smaller and had a injury her paw from jumping off the house. Same as my cinco. We lost her.so my friend gave me the one listed on top. Then I had a family crisis and gave them both to my friend.

 

[Bunnylady]

I have also never seen a rabbit bite another rabbits nose off

You may never have seen it, but I have. I have also seen a 5-week old Mini Rex lose a dime-sized piece of an ear to the doe in the next cage (who didn't like his mother). I have had rabbit lose toes, including a Jersey Wooly that was slated to become a show rabbit. I have had rabbits lose part or all of a tail when it got stuck through the wire into another rabbit's cage. One morning, when I went out to feed, I found a testicle lying on the floor under a large cage that was housing 2 Mini Rex brothers - I hadn't seen them scuffling, but obviously, I should have separated them sooner than I did. One time, I had a litter of 5 10-week-old Jersey Wooly bucks housed in a 24"x48" cage - in spite of all the fluff, the whole litter together probably didn't weigh 10 pounds. I had seen some bits of loose fur, so I knew they probably had been scrapping, but I had no idea how bad it had gotten until I flipped one over to clip his claws. The damage was horrible - evidently, the most dominant male in the group had been sneaking under his brothers to bite at their "private parts." They were so mutilated that I had to sell them as snake food - I couldn't even give them away as pets like that. And while I have managed to successfully set up some breeding colonies, I have also had rabbits that died of the injuries they received when I put them together (including a doe that had previously lived with the same rabbits in a colony setting before).