What Rabbits Do You Have? Show Off Your Rabbits Here!

[Bunnylady]

Quote: During cooler weather, I often put does that are soon to kindle in large carriers and put them in my hall closet - I call it "the maternity ward." Though a lot of first-time does may not use the provided nest box, most of my does do exactly what they are supposed to do; the babies get cleaned up and fed, and a nice nest with lots of pulled fur gets built somewhere in the carrier. If necessary, I put the kits and as much nest material as I can in the box, and most of my does are fine with that. Once the babies are born, the doe goes back out to her cage, and I put the nest box and kits in with her once or twice per day. I put the nest box in her cage, and get on with my other chores, but I keep an eye on the box. If the doe doesn't get into the box within a few minutes of my putting in her cage, I put the nest box in a carrier that is barely larger than the nest box, put the doe in the box, and close the lid of the carrier. I have had only a couple of does try to "hide" from their kits at one end of the box; most are quite content to settle down and nurse the kits. I have only had to repeat this process a few times with any doe; most figure the whole process out very quickly. Once the does get the hang of it, I can carry the babies out to them, they jump right into the boxes, and by the time I get through with feeding, the does are done and the babies come back in the house.

When I first started with rabbits, I never would have believed that this much interference would be tolerated by rabbit mothers. Over the years, I have only had one doe that I know deliberately savaged her litter, and she did it more than once and without any interference or provocation from me. I have only had a couple of does reject their litters; of those, one apparently hadn't any milk anyway. Like everyone else, I had heard people saying that does would reject or eat their litters if you touched them, and that may be true of rabbits that are barely handled by their owners. But a lot of the animals I raise are sold as pets, so I am selecting for people-friendly rabbits. I suspect that the more laid-back, outgoing personalities may make them more positive about human interaction as a whole; at any rate, this has worked for me.

 

[sideWing]

I read that a Siamese Sable newborn would look almost black. All of these kits are pink. I know a little about genetics, but I don't know what I have here. Anyone have any guesses?

The genetic calculator gives me Siamese Sable, Pointed White, Sable Point, and black/chocolate.

 

[schipmom]

Your kits are probably sable point but time will tel

 

[sideWing]

Your kits are probably sable point but time will tel

I would love that. Thanks!

 

[Bunnylady]

The doe's a Siamese Sable; is your Sable Point the sire? If so, you can rule out black; the highest possible allele in the C series is shaded (cchl). Newborn Siamese Sables do not look black, they look a sort of mid-brownish-grayish color (In other words, there's some kind of color there, but it's more a case of saying, 'well, it's not a black, it's not a chocolate, it's not a blue, it's not a tort . . . .'). Crossing a Siamese Sable to a Sable Point could give you a Seal; Seals are such a deep, dark shade of brown as to look nearly black. You definitely don't have any blacks or chocolates in that litter; one appears to be a sable point, the others might be white. Pointed Whites start out completely white, then start getting color on the points as they grow.

 

[kacklinkelly]

I have only raised 2 litters so far. Both are NZ cross does and Californian cross buck. I have heard that meat breed rabbits are not as friendly as others. That appears to be true for one of my does but the other doe loves to be petted and the buck is quite friendly. None of them like to be picked up.

As for their litters, I had my hands in the nest box after about 24 hours of kindling to insure no dead kits and to clean up any necessary afterbirth/dirty hay. (sorry for being so graphic) I give the mom a treat and take the nesting box out of the cage/into the house for as long as I need. I did find one dead kit the first time I checked. I also had to clean one of the cages a bit due to the doe not cleaning everything up. (that sounds so much better) All other kits survived just fine. I take the nest box out and check them about 3x a week after that to insure all kits are being fed. Neither doe appeared to mind my handling the kits at all. When I return the box to the cage, They typically sniff the box, jump in as if to make sure everyone is there and then they jump out and lay down. After about 2-3 weeks, I let the moms out of their cages for exercise time and they return to the cages in the evening. I was initially concerned about the does bringing some contaminant into the nest box, but so far we have been fortunate. Good luck no matter what you decide. Enjoy!

 

[SternRose]

My Mini Lop/Mini Rex litter is the sweetest kits!

Is it possible to breed Mini Rex to Holland Lop( Mini Rex Buck Holland Doe)
and get kits with Mini Rex fur and Holland built?

 

[Bunnylady]

My Mini Lop/Mini Rex litter is the sweetest kits!

Is it possible to breed Mini Rex to Holland Lop( Mini Rex Buck Holland Doe)
and get kits with Mini Rex fur and Holland built?

After several generations of careful selection, you might manage it, but in one generation, no. The gene for the Rex coat is recessive, so if you breed a Rex to a rabbit with a normal coat, the babies will all have normal coats. You would have to breed the resulting babies to something that also had the Rex gene to see Rex coats, so just getting the Rex coat would take 2 generations.

Mini Rex type and Holland Lop type are very, very different; they are even posed differently. It would probably take several generations to get that big, round Lop head back if you outcrossed to something with a head as narrow as a Mini Rex.

Incidentally, some folks are working on a small Lop with a Rex coat; they call it the Velveteen Lop. It's kind of like a scaled-down English Lop; the type is closer to a Mini Rex than a Holland:

 

[sideWing]

The doe's a Siamese Sable; is your Sable Point the sire? If so, you can rule out black; the highest possible allele in the C series is shaded (c[SUP]chl[/SUP]). Newborn Siamese Sables do not look black, they look a sort of mid-brownish-grayish color (In other words, there's some kind of color there, but it's more a case of saying, 'well, it's not a black, it's not a chocolate, it's not a blue, it's not a tort . . . .'). Crossing a Siamese Sable to a Sable Point could give you a Seal; Seals are such a deep, dark shade of brown as to look nearly black. You definitely don't have any blacks or chocolates in that litter; one appears to be a sable point, the others might be white. Pointed Whites start out completely white, then start getting color on the points as they grow. 

Thank you! Yes, the sable point is the sire. They are already getting a silver look to them at 16 hours old. I will get more pics tomorrow.

 

[RedRidge]

I read that a Siamese Sable newborn would look almost black. All of these kits are pink. I know a little about genetics, but I don't know what I have here. Anyone have any guesses?

The genetic calculator gives me Siamese Sable, Pointed White, Sable Point, and black/chocolate. 

This is a beginner genetic color chart I give rex folks. But genotypes apply to all breeds (sometimes a different name though). If it isn't self explanatory just ask questions.