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rabbits and breeding

22 11:08:06

Question
we have 2 rabbits that are black and white speckled and 2 rabbits that are lion heads. (male/female) how long does a lion head stay pregnant? what temps are best for all these rabbits? whats the best way to sell my rabbits if i decide to? do they need anything besides reg rabbit food from store? thanks, shannon

Answer
All domestic rabbits have a normal pregnancy period of 28-32 days. However, some goes as long as 34 days with no problem.

Tempuratures that are comfortable for humans are also generally comfortable for rabbits. So if you are too cold or too warm (especially too warm, as rabbits handle cold better than warmth), the rabbits probably are too.

Make sure you are feeding a high quality rabbit food. Most foods found in a pet store are actually low quality. If they have colourful little bits in them or anything but the green pellets, get a different brand of food. All of these extras are like candy. The rabbit may like them, but they are not very good for the rabbit. A good quality food should smell like fresh hay, should contain only alfalfa or timothy pellets, and should be tight (not falling apart easily).

Other than rabbit pellets, rabbits benefit from the addition of fresh greens in the diet. Slow introduce each new vegetable to the diet. Start with a small piece of a new vegetable each day. Watch the rabbit and its feces for any changes, as these can be a sign of a bad reaction to the food (some rabbits do not do well on certain greens). Once you are sure the rabbit does well with it, you can slowly increase the amount it gets. Once it is eating a fair amount of the new food, you can start the process over with a different kind of vegetable.

Good vegetable choices are romaine lettuce (not iceburg lettuce), spinach greens, carrots and carrot tops, alfalfa or bean sprouts, beet greens (the tops of them), clover, cilantro, mustard greens, mint, peppermint leaves, dandelions (make sure they have not been treated with pesticides and are not next to a busy road where exhaust fumes could be on them), green peppers, pea pods, and parsley. Wash all vegetables well before feeding.

As far as selling goes, if you are intending to breed rabbits, I HIGHLY suggest you spend some time researching before you breed. Research the breed you want to raise. Talk to breeders of the breed. Look over a lot of examples of the breed to learn what are good and bad traits. Go to rabbit shows where your breed is being shown. Also learn as much as you can about breeding and caring for rabbits before you actually breed.

I would suggest joining the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA). Membership comes with some invaluable reading material including a guidebook and a bi-monthly magazine. Also, if you go to sell some of the offspring, being an ARBA member will generally make people give you more credit as a breeder.

Once you have researched and learned a lot about the breed, purchase the highest quality pedigreed stock that you can afford. I would definitely say to avoid breeding rabbits that are not pedigreed and high quality. If they were sold as pets, it might be because the line carries some very bad genetics. Problems that can hide in the genes of rabbits and be passed onto offspring include seizures, various genes that can result in dead babies, crooked teeth (which will need to be trimmed for the rabbit's entire life), poor foot pad covering (which can lead to very painful sores on the rabbit's feet), cataracts (which can result in blindness), and a lot of other bad things.

Also, I will warn you that it is VERY difficult to make any real money off of rabbits. Pet rabbits don't sell for very much (unless they are in a pet store, but pet stores don't buy the rabbits for very much; usually $10 at most), and the price of raising them to a suitable selling age can be as much (or more, especially if there are any problems that require veterinarian care...which can cost hundreds of dollars) as the price you sell them for. Most rabbit breeders that make money only due so because they also sell rabbit equipment (such as cages, dishes, toys, nesting boxes, etc.) and items (such as rabbit-themed jewelry, artwork, etc.). A few breeders have such high quality stock that they get very high prices for their rabbits. However, it cost them a lot of time and money to get to that point. They had to put in a lot of money to get their stock to the high quality that it is at, and they had to put in even more money in travelling to national shows where they could earn the high reputation needed to sell rabbits for those large prices.