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Breeding a false Holland Lop Doe with a New Zealand Red Buck

22 11:21:55

Question
My Holland Lop doe just kindled a few days ago, and had one kit that got stuck.  I helped my doe with the delivery of her stuck kit, but the kit was already dead.  My question is, should we try to breed her again with her bonded mate, a New Zealand Red Buck?  We are not breeders, nor do we want to become breeders, but we would like to have one litter of kits from this couple before we take the buck in to get neutered.
Since my doe is so big, and the buck is relatively small for his breed, I hadn't been worried about breeding the both of them together until now.  The one problem that I am consistently seeing with the buck is that he doesn't seem to be an assertive male with respect to breeding...perhaps part of the reason why my doe only got pregnant with one kit, instead of three/four.  I have read that intact male rabbits usually will mount anything within their eyesight, yet my buck will only occassionally try to breed with his bonded mate.  Is this a New Zealand Red thing, or something just particular to my buck?

In closing, I am fully aware of the potential problems with breeding any Holland Lop, and particular the problems associated with breeding such a doe to a larger breed of buck.  Yet, I continue to wonder whether or not she could have delivered three or four kits successfully, whereas the one 'giant' just didn't have any chance for having gotten so big during the course of the pregnancy.

Much Thanks!
__Contessa__

Answer
Fetal giants are actually fairly common in holland lops (and other dwarf breeds) simply because they tend to have smaller litters, and may only have a single litter. The large head size of the breed can also be a factor in stuck kits. Also, just because the buck is small for his breed does not mean he doesn't have the genetics to produce larger offspring. A lot of times a rabbit that is small for its breed can produce normal sized (for the breed) offspring.

How old is the doe? If she is over a year, it is also possible that her pubic bones fused too tightly together. I generally recommend that round head dwarf breed be bred before one year of age to prevent this. With other breeds, it can still happen, but it is less of a problem because the fetal giants are rarer and they do not have the large, rounded head.

As for your buck's passiveness with breeding, it sometimes just happens. Some males are really aggressive breeders, others are not. I've had several bucks that you almost had to coax to mount the doe, and if the doe showed any signs at all of not being 100% ready to breed they would back off.