Breeding Rabbits
We had Radar for a week and were ready to attempt breeding rabbits for the first time. Radar was purchased as a proven buck (meaning he has impregnated does in the past), so at least someone knew what they were doing…
We had done our research beforehand and we were interested to see how our experience compared with others’. We were surprised when we were able to able to identify a lot of natural rabbit behaviors throughout the experience. Some may find it very weird to break this down into such detail, but it’s important to understand what we’re doing in order to make sure we’re creating as humane and natural an environment as we can.
What we learned:
Ages to breed. Does can breed as young as 4 months, but it’s better to wait until at least 6 months. Bucks have no minimum age.
Bring the doe to the buck. Doe will tend to get protective of her space, and buck may waste time sensing all of her smells or marking his territory. Bucks will spray their area with urine in order to mark their dominance.
Copulation induces ovulation. Does do not go into heat like other animals. Copulation induces their ovulation cycle, and their first ovulation occurs 8-10 hours after mating. They are fertile for days after mating. Various breeding schedules can take advantage of this information. Some people choose to breed one time in the morning, a second time 8-10 hours later. Some people choose to breed one time in the morning, a second time the next morning. Either way, many suggested to allow about 3 fall-offs before removing the doe from the buck.
Breeding behavior.
Fall-offs are literally when the buck falls off in a semi-catatonic state after “doing his business”.
Doe thumping her feet to the ground indicates she’s frustrated or not interested.
Doe biting at buck’s hind end is her way of showing aggression, disinterest.
Doe shaking her tail indicates she’s interested.
How to tell she’s pregnant. At 10-14 days you can palpate her sides and feel small marble-sized balls that are the growing embryos. If you are confident and experienced enough you may be able to estimate how many kits she’ll give birth to. Apparently, if you’re palpating marble-sized balls in the center of her abdomen it’s actually just stool. If you try to rebreed her while she’s already pregnant, she may refuse. Gestation is almost exactly 31 days. At Day 28, put nest box in her cage and she will start to fill it with hay, grass, and pull her hair from her front fat pad.
What actually happened:
This was Bonnie’s first encounter with another rabbit since we’ve had her, so it took a good half hour of introductions and playful behavior before we noticed anything significant. Finally what we’d been waiting for. Radar jumps on top of Bonnie. Bonnie lays still and Radar starts humping…her head. Ok, we’ve been told he was a proven buck. Maybe he just got excited and will do it right the next time? Well, he did this about 10 times. Eventually he got the memo that Bonnie wasn’t into that kind of stuff. We saw her thumping her feet a couple of times, and we saw her biting at his hind once. In general rabbits are such cute animals, it actually surprised me to see any aggressive behavior. Let me clarify: I didn’t realize they she was even exhibiting aggressive behavior because she looked so cute while doing it. Matt pointed it out. It was a great reminder that it’s important to be aware of what’s happening, to do plenty of research, and to know when you may need to intervene.
Radar moved very slowly. He stood still as a statue behind Bonnie until he was almost sure she’d be willing to receive him. She would make a little high pitched noise when she seemed interested. She would wag her tail. She would bury her head into a tall patch of grass or behind the feeder. Occasionally Radar would orient in the right direction, fall off, and go to back to the game of cat and mouse. We had 2 fall offs in 3 separate sessions, each session lasting about 30 minutes, and separated by several hours.
At the expense of sounding creepy, it was very interesting watching this natural behavior. To witness something very natural happening with instinctive behaviors occurring. We are even more excited at the possibility of having kits (newborn baby rabbits) just 31 days from this event. Our next project is to make our nest box, put it in her cage at 28 days, and hope for a pleasant surprise coming home from work one day!
