Brazilio the rabbit

Question
Hi there-it sounds like you are a very considerate and compassionate rabbit lover and are happy to help! I have two gorgeous rabbits, Sahara an orange dwarf and Brazilio who is a larger breed but I'm not quite sure what. I got him from a pet store where he was all cooped up, and I now keep him in a nice large run filled with grass and greenery I think he might be a New Zealand and Agouti cross, but am not sure. Would you recommend me breeding these two rabbits? At the moment they are separated. I am only planning to breed them for family enjoyment, not for money. Thanks for your help!

Answer
Hi,

I don't recommend breeding them.  The short answer is that you are not going to get the 'family enjoyment' that you are thinking you will.

Things can go wrong during breeding and injuries can result.  If you are not prepared for them and how to deal with them, as experienced breeders do, you will have trouble and vet bills.

Once mated you don't want the male and female together, as he will want more sex and she, being pregnant, will not.  Fighting can occur.

Females become aggressive when pregnant.  Sometimes first time moms are too stressed and don't recognize their kids and may scatter them or attack and kill them.

Males can't be around the babies.

And in 3.5-4 months the babies will start hitting sexual maturity and you now have a huge problem in that they may start getting pregnant, and the last thing the world needs is genetically-inbred lines of rabbits.  

And I doubt you have endless resources to spend on medical care and food and space to house more and more litters.  

My suggestion to you is that if you want to try to bond your existing rabbits, is to get both of them fixed.  That way you have both rabbits at a low-hormone level.  They will both be a lot mellower and that is what you want.  You have to wait 4-6 weeks after surgeries to bond them to make sure the hormone levels are leveled off.  Further, for your female rabbit, you will save her life getting her spayed, as 85% of unspayed females develop uterine cancer by age 5-6 and die.  Spayed females can live 10-12 years as an indoor house rabbit.

The key is going to a good rabbit vet for this.  You don't want any old vet doing it, you want a vet with a proven track record with rabbits.  Start here:

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

and find a House Rabbit Society recommended vet near you.

The bottom line is that people who have never bred rabbits have unrealistic ideas of how easy and fun it is.  There are a lot of negatives and they are not prepared for them.  If you want a better, closer relationship between you and between your bunnies, get them both fixed, wait 4-6 weeks after the last surgery, and then attempt to bond them.  They will be able to be together without endless litters.  If you really care about your rabbits and want them to be happy, you should get them fixed.  That is the compassionate thing to do.

Lee