Charmedcavies

Rabbits are vegetarian; they don’t eat meat and shouldn’t be feed it. Their diet should consist of mainly hay/grass, and vegetables, you should give them concentrated/dry food as well once a day! Pellets are the best form of “dry food”, as with the mixes sometimes the rabbits are picky and leave certain things, which is wasting money really, with the pellets they usually love them and don’t leave any! I use super rabbit excel with all my rabbits, and I think it is the best; I recommend it to everyone who has rabbits or is thinking about buying one! You can use pretty much any type of hay, but its best not to buy the stuff used for horses and farm animals, as this usually isn’t as soft and dust-free as the stuff you can buy in the pet shops! They don’t need vegetables daily, but it won’t hurt, as long as you don’t give them too much, if you over-feed with greens they will usually get diarrhoea! You can give them occasional fruit but I don’t give mine fruit, as I find it gives them bad diarrhoea almost immediately!

Rabbits need soft absorbent bedding; I use wood shavings (NOT sawdust) and barley straw! Make sure the wood shavings aren’t really dusty! Pure pasture wood shavings are fabulous, and Pettex barley straw is very good, I recommend using this! I also the line the hutch/cage with newspaper! Rabbits should be cleaned out at least once a week, more often if there’s 2 buns, or babies! I clean my bunnies out every 4-6 days! At least every month I scrub/disinfect the hutches with hibbi scrub, rinse well, and then dry with a fan heater!

Rabbits obviously clean and groom themselves, but you must also brush them every so often, If they are long haired (angora cashmere etc) they will more than likely need brushing daily, unless there hair has been trimmed right down! Breeds like lop/Dutch etc only need grooming about every week! But you can groom them everyday if you want. Often rabbit’s fur will get matted, this is where hair gets stuck or tangled together, sometimes you can sort this out by combing through the matted fur, or you may need to cut/shave the matted parts off! Rabbits also need their nails cutting, sometimes this needs to be done monthly sometimes only every 6 months or so, it depends on the rabbit!

Rabbits can suffer from various problems, but it would take forever to list them all here, I must list 2 of the biggest “killers”, Myximatosis and Vhd, (viral haemorrhaging disease) thankfully rabbits can be vaccinated against both these diseases! Rabbits with vhd don’t usually show any signs of having it until they die! Myximatosis has terrible symptoms and a rabbit can pick it up from infected flies and wild rabbits! Once a rabbit is affected, there’s not much you can do, only occasionally will a rabbit survive it, and this is if it’s caught very early! If you think one of your rabbits may have myxi, Move it right away from any other rabbits, and seek veterinary advice straight away! It is quite common for rabbits to get external parasites, e.g. mites/fleas/lice etc, these can usually be sorted with an insecticidal spray or cream; I prefer to bath my rabbits in insecticidal shampoo, or seelen, which is brilliant for mange and fur mites! It seems to work better and quicker than the sprays! You can now buy rabbit spot on, which may work for fleas/lice, but I find it does nothing for mites! Ivermectin is a very good effective treatment for mites, this is more commonly used with guinea pigs, but it can be used for rabbits, it is very hard to get hold of though, and your vet will rarely supply it! Rabbit’s teeth grow quickly, and if not trimmed when they need to be, it can cause various problems, check your rabbit’s teeth often, make sure they aren’t too long/broken/really dirty etc! I health check my rabbits weekly, this includes checking their eyes/ears/coat/movement/feet/mouth/teeth/claws/bum – genital area and stomach (I feel to see if it’s bloated or anything) You should take your rabbit to the vet for a thorough health check yearly, the vet can also do its vaccinations at the same time!

I don’t encourage people to breed rabbits, it isn’t something to be rushed into, and it is hard work, you don’t make money from it, in fact you lose money, and you may have difficulty finding loving suitable homes for the babies! I have just listed in detail a few tips/facts about breeding rabbits

• A male rabbits is called a buck, A female rabbit is called a doe, baby rabbits are called kits, sometimes new born rabbits are known as pinkies,(like newborn rats) because they are pink, hairless etc!

• The gestation period (length of pregnancy) for a rabbit CAN range from 28 – 33 days, but it usually ranges from 30 – 32 days, I find that its only French lops who may go to 33 days! And I’ve never heard of a rabbits giving birth on day 28 but it is possible!

• Rabbits can pretty much get pregnant at any time; I’d say they are in continuous heat, mating triggers the release of eggs! In the summer bucks may turn temporally infertile (if it is very hot), and during moulting sometimes the doe wont conceive!

• Newborn rabbits are called kits, they are born blind (eyes not opened yet) naked (hairless) and totally dependant on mum! By the time the kits are 2 weeks old there eyes should be fully open, some will open eyes as early as 10 days old, some wait until 14 days!

• Rabbits will start nibbling on solid food/hay etc at 2-3 weeks old, but they will still be drinking mums milk, they shouldn’t be weaned off their mums milk until they are at least 6 weeks old, I think the ideal age to fully wean babies is 8 weeks (take them away from mum, and have them completely off mums milk) but you can leave them with mum until 10 weeks if you wish (or longer with the female babies) But NEVER take them away from their mum before 6 weeks old! It also depends on the breed, French lops mature slower, and I believe they should be kept with their mother for longer than say a dwarf lop!

• Rabbits usually kindle (give birth) at night or early in the morning, you shouldn’t disturb her if you manage to catch her giving birth, leave her to it, After she has completely finished, wash you hand thoroughly, dry well and rub your hand in the bedding and stroke the mum, then carefully move back the fur from the nest and check the babies, if there is any dead ones remove them, make sure the babies are warm enough, make sure there is enough straw and that mum has pulled enough fur! Make sure you always leave the nest how you found it!

• Do not leave the buck in with the pregnant doe, and if she is being housed with other rabbits (even if does) take them all out!

• Does have 2 uterus’s, they can have what’s called a “double pregnancy” for example if breed with a buck on Monday, and a successful mating takes place, then the next Monday she is breed again, and another successful mating takes place, she could give birth to one litter after 31 days or so, then she could have a second litter 7 days later! But sometimes it just causes a hormone in balance and all babies are aborted or reabsorbed!

• Bucks can be sexually mature as early as 3 months old! With does its usually later, but they can be sexually mature at 4 months! The ideal age to breed a buck is 6-8 months (but it wouldnt hurt to breed a bit before that) The ideal age to breed a doe is also 6-8 months, (do not breed before 6 months) With giants, you shouldnt breed bucks before 8 months old (ideally wait until 10) and does shouldnt be breed until 10months - 1yr (depending on their growth, possible 1 month earlier would be ok)

If you have any questions about breeding that isnt answered here please e-mail me!

All the information on this page, is from my own knowledge and experience, it’s not copied from any other sites! If you think any of the info is incorrect, please send a polite e-mail and if I agree with what you’re saying I will change it!

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