Rabbits!

[AxolotlLove]

We plan on getting Ditto spayed and finding her a friend.This time something a bit more rare.Lionheads or a lop.

Lops are the cutest sweetest things, but Rex are very friendly.

 

[Pyxis]

We plan on getting Ditto spayed and finding her a friend.This time something a bit more rare.Lionheads or a lop.

When Oreo is old enough I'll be getting her spayed, if only to avoid ovarian cancer down the road. I'm debating getting her a friend. I'd love another Dutch in a different color but I don't know that I'll have a lot of luck finding one.

Her outdoor rabbit hutch came in today! Now to get it all set up so that she can have lots of outside time while the weather is nice. The plan is to put it in the duck run.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

here is the thing with Ditto who is a dutch.She is bipolar (We refer to her to that

).I wannna avood cancer,and aggression,and a longer life.But I just hope wasting almost 300 dolllars is worth it.She seems not to like other rabbits already,hoping spay will stop her abusing her buddies (She use to hump,shred etc)She thinks she is tough,but she is tiny amd im scared that a giant lop will beat her nearly to death (Neighbors lop bit/riped our others dutchs side ,most horrifyinf thing I ever experienced fur everywjete,blood,water all over her.)Maybe I should get another dutch (Where I am dutchs thrive.)

 

[TheTwoRoos]

If I do get anything it will be a buck.Probably not fixed but who cares Ditto will be so No babies.

 

[Pyxis]

Well Oreo just gave me a haircut :/ I'm sitting with her after taking a shower and suddenly she's trying to eat my hair - and she succeeded in chomping off a piece, sigh. I did of course take it from her immediately. I do not appreciate that, Oreo! Lol. Never thought I'd have to protect my hair.

 

[alaska6kelly]

They will often eat the dead ones.

That's the thing o took out the dead one she eat a perfectly healthy moving one

... She is a really jumpy mom... I'm going to add some black oil sunflower seeds to her food today I'm hopping she will chill out some... She did good last night it seems the babies look fat to she did feed thank goodness... If I see it again I will pull her babies and give to one of my other mommas I guess. I just wanted her to raise them.

 

[BirdsNRabbits]

Man I had a few pages to read through so I just skimmed over stuff. I have a friend who has Tans and her rabbit (who is dead now) bit. Tans in general are very hyper rabbits. The bucks are some of the sweetest rabbits ever, but the does can be a bit aggressive. The Brittania Petite (which is a breed of rabbit sort of similar to Tans) are sometimes referred to as "Vampires" because they bite so much. You could spay her, rehome her, or try and get to know her a little better. If she's fairly new to your home she may still be a little uncomfortable. Also try contacting the breeder and see if she was aggressive before.

 

[AxolotlLove]

Man I had a few pages to read through so I just skimmed over stuff. I have a friend who has Tans and her rabbit (who is dead now) bit. Tans in general are very hyper rabbits. The bucks are some of the sweetest rabbits ever, but the does can be a bit aggressive. The Brittania Petite (which is a breed of rabbit sort of similar to Tans) are sometimes referred to as "Vampires" because they bite so much. You could spay her, rehome her, or try and get to know her a little better. If she's fairly new to your home she may still be a little uncomfortable. Also try contacting the breeder and see if she was aggressive before.

I actually did, contact the breeder, she said she bit everything. When I got her she was biting the cage. I may regime her (to a very nice home) in a few weeks.

 

[cassie]

You are a lot nicer person than I am. I would be getting out the cookbook. A rabbit can fill at least three roles. It can be a pet, a breeder, or dinner. Your rabbit is obviously not a good pet, I wouldn't breed her because of the temperament, so that leaves one alternative.

 

[Bunnylady]

That's the thing o took out the dead one she eat a perfectly healthy moving one

... She is a really jumpy mom... I'm going to add some black oil sunflower seeds to her food today I'm hopping she will chill out some... She did good last night it seems the babies look fat to she did feed thank goodness... If I see it again I will pull her babies and give to one of my other mommas I guess. I just wanted her to raise them.

It's possible that she's a nervous mother, but some rabbits are just dingbats. I have had lots of does that did nasty things to babies while they were giving birth, but in over 30 years of breeding rabbits, I have had only one doe that deliberately savaged her litter after that time. This doe did it more than once, and though she might have been upset the first time (I had to move her to a different cage), the other times she did it, no changes had occurred in her environment that could have triggered such behavior. I know, some people will tell you that the does "need meat" at that time, and will recommend giving them a piece of hot dog or salt pork, but rabbits are not carnivores. One thing I notice about the meat suggestion is that both hot dogs and salted pork are high in salt, which a rabbit might crave, but it seems to me that eating such unusual fare seems more likely to cause a digestive upset - with all the other stresses associated with kindling, do you want to risk that?

Lots of people will tell you that you can't touch the babies, or the mother will kill them. When rabbits were still semi-wild, that was probably true, and it may still be true in a few, relatively rare, cases. But I not only handle the babies within hours of birth, I will even remove the nest boxes and keep them in the house, only bringing them to the mothers a couple of time a day during cold weather. I regularly move babies from one box to another, change soiled nesting material, etc, and almost all of my does have been perfectly fine with all of it. A certain amount of temperament is inheritable, and I believe that if we breed for calmer, friendlier rabbits, their laid-back personalities make them more accepting of all that we do.

I hope you manage to find a way to work with this rabbit. If she were mine, and continued to have this problem, I'd have serious second thoughts about whether or not she ought to be contributing to the gene pool. I don't enjoy stressing out over whether my normal routine is causing one animal to stress out, and I don't really want to make nervous, irritable pets for other people to deal with, if I can help it.