[Tracey]

Hi everyone. I am new to this site and would like some advice on breeding my pet rabbits. I have 2 female rabbits and i would like to breed one or maybe both of them in the near future. Both the females live together and get on famously. My question is: when I have mated one of the females, can she go on living with the other female or do they have to be seperated once the babies are due. Secondly, if I remove her to a seperate hutch to raise her young, when the babies are weaned and removed from her, can she then go back to living with the female as they do now. I am worried that after being seperated from her companion for any length of time , they will fight if re introduced. Any help and advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Tracey. 

[confused]

Hi, i would separate them , a lot safer that way, as to what happens after ? try them together and they should be ok, i've done it in the past but they are all individuals . all the best,and good luck.

[garrybaldi]

We have just gone through what you are looking to do with the 3 female rabbits we bought althought it wasn't initially planned. After my daughter found what she thought was a 'dead mouse' in their hutch it soon became clear that one of them wasn't a female and that both the others were pregnant! What we found out was that they often kill the first litter, especially if kept with others. When the pregnant mother starting nesting (pulling fur out and making a nest with the straw) we separated them and everything went well.

Putting them back together has been a bit more of a problem though. Our nuetered boy is now back with one of the girls after we got rid of the last of her babies but the other one had to be removed as she was fighting constantly. They all lived perfectly happy together before so we will try the other one again shortly. It may be that they willl have to sort out the dominance issues first but I wasn't happy leaving them overnight with the way she was fighting.

We have lion headed rabbits and they had 8 babies between them. We all found the whole thing a wonderful experience and have been fortunate enough to find homes for them all with my childrenss friends so although unhappy to let them go, they will still see them. Good luck with your breeding. Garry

[pigsatlesrues]

I have asked similar questions on here about a year ago, and have now had the expereince several time since.  We breed for meat, so have ongoing litters.  I agree with what Gary is saying. We have had 2 litters eaten, and some partially eaten but the female raised the rest really well.  Every litter is hit a miss.  One litter was eaten by a first time mum, the other we think because some visitors children we noisy around the hutch area the day after they were born.  My fault, I should have supervised them better.   We have a first time mum who has done a fantastic job raising her seven.

We always cover over the area that she is building the nest with a sack over the door to give her privacy.  The key is not to disturb her in any way. Don't be tempted to look in.  Make sure the person she is used to feeding her is the only one that feeds her  for at least a week after the birth.  You will see the nest moving so you will know they are there.

Re  putting the females back in together.  We have found in our experience that it doesn't work.  Our two NZ Whites are sisters.  They were separated pre  giving birth and after both litters were separated from their mothers, and both had a week to settle again, we put them in with together but both fought terribly, one became very dominant so all of my breeders all five of them live alone.

We leave the male living with the female for a complete week when we want mating to take place.  Some members may remeber my first experience when we had two lots of babies born a week apart by the same mother.  She killed the first ones and raised the second.  This we now know to be because I returned the male to her later in the week which is what I was told to do.  Leaving them living together works really well and we have had no problems since.  It gives him company as well, so he is always happy.

Anyway good luck and let us know how you go.

oooooow   NO BUNNY ICONS DAN!!

Kate