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Breeding Like Rabbits!
The Hows and Whys of
Managing Your Rabbits' Fertility.
First of all, if you have ever
seen a baby bunny, you already know that they are pretty darn cute! In fact, few
things are more precious than the site of 3 week old baby bunnies
hopping around your home or yard.
However, as we all know, little
bunnies become big bunnies. And big bunnies, although wonderful,
do not always hold the same appeal as cute little babies.
Furthermore, rabbits need a great deal of care and attention -- just
like a dog or a cat. And the question you must ask yourself is,
"How many rabbits am I willing to feed, house, clean up after, pet, and
play with? Considering that rabbits need two hours of exercise per
day, plus daily cage cleaning and feeding -- the question becomes, "How
much time am I willing to devote to pet care?"
Furthermore, not only do
little bunnies become big bunnies, but... big bunnies
make more little bunnies. And so on and so on and so on... And if the
problem with this is not immediately apparent to you, let me spell it
out a little further...
Why You Want to Control Breeding:
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Sanitation --
Bunnies eat. Bunnies poop. Lots and lots of bunnies eat lots and LOTS of
food and poop... a lot.
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Expense -- Rabbits cannot thrive on
table scraps alone. They need rabbit chow, every day.
(Plus Timothy Hay or alfalfa.) So realize that the cost of rabbit
food will not be so cheap once you have more than half a dozen of
these furry little friends. In fact, you could easily pay $30
to $50 a month in rabbit chow alone if you decide to raise and keep
a family of bunnies.
Note
that many people think rabbits are "a cheap pet".
Naturally this depends on the level of care you give your pets.
Any animal who is neglected quickly becomes "a cheap pet" --
until the toll of the neglect adds up and you must pay the huge vet
bills. (Sadly some people feel they can just let the rabbit
die, especially if it is stuck behind the garage in a cage -- where
they don't have to watch it suffer.)
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Fighting
-- Rabbits are highly social animals, very
conscious of pecking order and territory. The more rabbits you have
living together, the more tension they will feel about who exactly
is senior to whom, and who gets first rights to the treats, and who
exactly can sleep where, and so on. This tension can lead to
frequent chasing and biting -- especially if you happen to have more
than one individual who feels the need to really dominate others.
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Destruction of property
-- Rabbits love to munch. As a friend
of ours once put it, the rabbit motto and mission statement is, "It
goes in my mouth!" They will munch garden hoses, television wires,
telephone cords -- and of course your garden, bushes, hedges, lawn
and ground cover -- down to and including the roots! Too many
rabbits can leave your place of residence looking rather defoliated
and tattered, inside and out.
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Neglect sneaks up on
you --
Trust us, it is very hard to properly care for large numbers of
bunnies. To keep their food and water dishes constantly filled,
clean their cages, or otherwise keep their poop cleaned up (if you
do not, you will also have a plague of flies), becomes very time
consuming. And what about giving them all love and attention?
Assuming you have a life at all -- or even if you don't -- you will
soon discover that it is very difficult to pet and cuddle a whole
horde! (And bunnies who are not given enough attention, become
anti-social and shy of people -- even to the point of biting out of
fear.) Plus, in many areas, it is against the law to have more than
a certain number! |
| Further Thoughts...
If you are not concerned about the cost of
food, the hassle of sanitation, and the problems of stress induced
aggression, potential neglect, and the destruction of your home or
yard....also consider the following:
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Finding homes for extra
bunnies is not always so easy. Especially finding good homes -- i.e. no
neglect and no cooking pot in their future. And let's face it, there
are only so many people out there who want a pet rabbit anyway.
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Second, do not think even for a
moment that you can "simply release them into the wild".
This is a cruel and ridiculous expectation, and if you
click
here, we'll
explain more about this if you like.
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And third, there is again the fact
that rabbits breed like... well.. rabbits!
Their rate of
reproduction is astonishing. They can become pregnant
between 3 and 6 months old... they give birth only one month after
becoming pregnant, can
become pregnant again the day after giving
birth, and they are frequently fertile (i.e. able to
become pregnant)! In fact, for all intents and purposes, just pretend
they are always fertile! |
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How to Control your Rabbits' Fertility:
The only sure way to control your rabbit's fertility is to have them
spayed or neutered.
People have said to us, "Why
do I need to get my rabbits' neutered or spayed? Can't I just keep
the males and females in different cages? And the answer is, "In
a perfect world, yes you could."
But of course, we don't
live in a perfect world. We live in a world in which cage doors get
improperly closed and bunnies get out when they shouldn't, or in
which a visitor or family member accidentally places a rabbit back in
the wrong cage after cuddling it, etc., etc. It's amazing in fact how
often these accidental "conjugal visits" take place -- even
when we try our best to keep the genders separated.
And then, there is the fact that
it can be very hard to check the gender of a rabbit. Meaning,
it's hard
to tell the boys from the girls.
Even good veterinarians sometimes
find it tricky! So forget about the guy at the pet store-- or, we even
had one person write to say the rescue center they adopted their
rabbits from goofed up! And you know that they want to make sure
that no unwanted bunnies come into the world. There are already
plenty of bunnies in need of loving homes without willy-nilly breeding
even more. And that's a fact.
So take a tip from some folks who
learned the hard way
-- get your bunnies spayed or neutered. Then
they can play together without worry. Now, when you call your vet you
will likely faint dead away when you find out how much he or she
charges for spaying and neutering rabbits. So call your local animal
shelter and
get
a referral to a spay/neuter clinic that will do it for around half
price. Be sure to follow their
instructions when you pick up your rabbit -- including keeping him or
her away from his fellows for a few days while his/her incisions heal, and making sure he/she is
kept someplace clean while the incisions heal. Please bear
in mind that a male rabbit may still be able to impregnate a
female rabbit for up to one month after he has been neutered!
So please keep your male separate from his un-sprayed female bunny
friends until this period had passed.
More Information
Animal Land Fun Quiz:
UPDATED!
Rabbits, Rabbits and more Rabbits |
PDF/DOC |
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click one of these
topics for more information
For information about
rabbit care, please click on one of the underlined topics above.
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