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

[ChirpChickens]

Quote:
that's what I thought but the lady I bought her from kept arguing that it was broken blue..

 

[PrimroseMom1]

Your post made me laugh.  I also have 2 does and a buck.  The two girls are sisters that I got when they were 5 weeks old. They are about 9 months old now.  I acquired the buck from a different breeder. I kept him in quarantine for a month.  I was so prepared for the first mating and NOTHING happened.  I mean NOTHING.  My daughter and her boyfriend were laughing at me and making fun of the fact that only I would have rabbits that don't mate and a chicken that doesn't lay eggs.  After keeping the rabbits apart for a week, the second mating was more successful.  We are two weeks into wondering if it took. My first palpation experience failed. 

I have a question regarding the two does.  I only mated one of them.  They are sisters and have been raised in the same living quarters.  They got feisty with each other for a short time while they established their dominance but that quieted down quickly.  Now that I suspect the one is pregnant, is it OK to keep them in the same cage and put a nest box in when it's time or separate them.  I'm planning on separating them as a precaution and then trying to make a cage where they can still see each other with a wire insert between them.  Feedback is appreciated.  

I always read to separate before the one kindles.

 

[kacklinkelly]

Thank you Primrose - I was feeling that was the safest thing to do after waiting for so long.

 

[abserbean]

Our babies are almost a week old, and growing fast! I think they will double in size by a week. Momma is doing well, nursing and taking good care of them. We do have one that is a little smaller, I don't want to say runt yet, but we will see. I will try to give that little one some extra nursing time in the evenings to see if it will catch up.

Sweet little face! This one has too much black so far, but the stomach and feet are white. Most likely will be sold as pet quality.



These two are the same baby, markings are turning out nicely, fault on the uneven nose spot, but otherwise very pretty.

The solid black is the smaller one, too wiggly to get a good pic!



These two are the same bun, the one we are hoping to keep, so far turning out well!

 

[Bunnylady]

@abserbean Do you know how to tell the difference between "true dwarfs" and "false dwarfs" in Mini Rex babies? One possible explanation for the size difference might be that the black is a true dwarf, and the others false dwarfs.

False dwarfs are proportionately longer than true dwarfs. A lot of the time, you can even spot the difference in babies. What I do is draw an imaginary line between the baby's eyes, then another line from the center point of that line to the baby's nose. I then compare the length of the two lines. If the line to the nose is longer, chances are, that's a false dwarf. If the line to the nose is shorter than or equal to the line between the eyes, it's probably a true dwarf. Some Mini Rex bloodlines have naturally narrower faces than others, so this isn't an absolutely hard-and-fast rule, but it has proven useful in my rabbitry, at least.

 

[abserbean]

@abserbean Do you know how to tell the difference between "true dwarfs" and "false dwarfs" in Mini Rex babies? One possible explanation for the size difference might be that the black is a true dwarf, and the others false dwarfs.

False dwarfs are proportionately longer than true dwarfs. A lot of the time, you can even spot the difference in babies. What I do is draw an imaginary line between the baby's eyes, then another line from the center point of that line to the baby's nose. I then compare the length of the two lines. If the line to the nose is longer, chances are, that's a false dwarf. If the line to the nose is shorter than or equal to the line between the eyes, it's probably a true dwarf. Some Mini Rex bloodlines have naturally narrower faces than others, so this isn't an absolutely hard-and-fast rule, but it has proven useful in my rabbitry, at least.

I didn't know that trick, I will give it a try! I'm pretty sure our buck is a true dwarf, I think our does may be false dwarfs, their proportions are different. We didn't have any peanuts in the litter, which if they were both true dwarfs we should have (right?). We are still learning here, this is my daughter's litter that is her project for 4H this year. So we need to weight them, do a growth chart, etc and figure out what we have. I also need to get a larger digital scale, my current kitchen scale only goes to two lbs., so we haven't weighed the parents recently. My buck was 3.8 the last time he was weighed, and doesn't appear to be much larger, the does were 4.4 and 4.8. We want to include as much info on pedigrees if we have any that are showable, b/c they will most likely be going to other club members. At least one, maybe two, will be pet quality only, so we won't do pedigrees on them. So far their coats are coming in very nicely, but it is still too early to tell much about type. (at least it is too early for me!)

Edited: so I compared one of the larger ones to the smaller one, and both appear to have the shorter nose line. I didn't get all four out and try yet, but those two at least seem to follow the true dwarf pattern. I will check them all later and update.

 

[Bunnylady]

If you've run into the Punnet square and/or the percentages thingy, you've seen the idea that 25% of the offspring from a true dwarf x true dwarf breeding are supposed to be peanuts. What you have to remember is that what that reflects is more like "25% of all offspring from true dwarf x true dwarf breedings" rather than the results of one particular pairing or even the lifetime production of one particular pair. A true dwarf has one copy of the dwarfing gene, and one copy of the normal growth gene, and it's just like flipping a coin as to which one any particular kit inherits.The rabbit doesn't go "OK, that egg got fertilized by a sperm with a dwarfing gene, so this egg gets a sperm with a normal growth gene." In a sample group as small as one litter, you can have all peanuts, or none at all, or any number in between, and it's all perfectly normal. As your sample group gets larger, the numbers will get closer. if you breed a pair enough times to get a total of 100 babies, and none of them turn out to be peanuts, it's a pretty safe bet that one of the other of the breeding pair is a false dwarf.

 

[K Epp]

Your post made me laugh. I also have 2 does and a buck. The two girls are sisters that I got when they were 5 weeks old. They are about 9 months old now. I acquired the buck from a different breeder. I kept him in quarantine for a month. I was so prepared for the first mating and NOTHING happened. I mean NOTHING. My daughter and her boyfriend were laughing at me and making fun of the fact that only I would have rabbits that don't mate and a chicken that doesn't lay eggs. After keeping the rabbits apart for a week, the second mating was more successful. We are two weeks into wondering if it took. My first palpation experience failed.

I have a question regarding the two does. I only mated one of them. They are sisters and have been raised in the same living quarters. They got feisty with each other for a short time while they established their dominance but that quieted down quickly. Now that I suspect the one is pregnant, is it OK to keep them in the same cage and put a nest box in when it's time or separate them. I'm planning on separating them as a precaution and then trying to make a cage where they can still see each other with a wire insert between them. Feedback is appreciated.

I'm right there with y'all. I put a doe in with my buck and he didn't so much as sniff her. He is about 6 months old and she a little older. Nothing... Nota sniff or anything. I left them together. They are lionheads if that makes any difference. My Netherland Dwarfs didn't have any issues getting to business.

 

[PrimroseMom1]

If you've run into the Punnet square and/or the percentages thingy, you've seen the idea that 25% of the offspring from a true dwarf x true dwarf breeding are supposed to be peanuts. What you have to remember is that what that reflects is more like "25% of all offspring from true dwarf x true dwarf breedings" rather than the results of one particular pairing or even the lifetime production of one particular pair. A true dwarf has one copy of the dwarfing gene, and one copy of the normal growth gene, and it's just like flipping a coin as to which one any particular kit inherits.The rabbit doesn't go "OK, that egg got fertilized by a sperm with a dwarfing gene, so this egg gets a sperm with a normal growth gene." In a sample group as small as one litter, you can have all peanuts, or none at all, or any number in between, and it's all perfectly normal. As your sample group gets larger, the numbers will get closer. if you breed a pair enough times to get a total of 100 babies, and none of them turn out to be peanuts, it's a pretty safe bet that one of the other of the breeding pair is a false dwarf.

That is so interesting. The only litter my mini-Rex had, she had one normal, one peanut, one deformed. This is the normal one now grown. So, I now know that the one I kept is from two true dwarfs bec

one from the litter was a peanut. That was him and the peanut at 2 days old.

Above is him at about a week.

Above is him grown.

 

[abserbean]

If you've run into the Punnet square and/or the percentages thingy, you've seen the idea that 25% of the offspring from a true dwarf x true dwarf breeding are supposed to be peanuts. What you have to remember is that what that reflects is more like "25% of all offspring from true dwarf x true dwarf breedings" rather than the results of one particular pairing or even the lifetime production of one particular pair. A true dwarf has one copy of the dwarfing gene, and one copy of the normal growth gene, and it's just like flipping a coin as to which one any particular kit inherits.The rabbit doesn't go "OK, that egg got fertilized by a sperm with a dwarfing gene, so this egg gets a sperm with a normal growth gene." In a sample group as small as one litter, you can have all peanuts, or none at all, or any number in between, and it's all perfectly normal. As your sample group gets larger, the numbers will get closer. if you breed a pair enough times to get a total of 100 babies, and none of them turn out to be peanuts, it's a pretty safe bet that one of the other of the breeding pair is a false dwarf.

Yeah, I totally wasn't thinking sample size, that makes more sense. My genetics classes in college are not helping me out any! Our buck fits the proportions and size for a true dwarf, our does I'm not as sure. I have one that her proportions look like a true dwarf, but she pushes the upper limit on weight, and one who is smaller but has a longer/leaner face. I did look at the faces of all of the kits, and following your trick they look like true dwarfs. They also seem to have the rounder cheeks that I associate with true dwarfs, but they are still pretty little.