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- During gestation, it is important that your doe be fed a nutritional diet.
- Such a diet should contain 16 to 18% protein pellets and a good quality timothy hay.
-  Fresh, clean water should always be provided in addition to a healthy diet.
- This allows the rabbit to be in prime condition for breeding. Having a bad diet can create problems with reproduction and can also affect the attitude and willingness of the rabbit.

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- It is not uncommon for the breeding rabbits to become aggressive once they have mated.
- The female will usually become frustrated with the male and start nipping or biting at him.
- Breeders must be aware of this and active/alert in case this happens.

Keep a close eye on both rabbits, to ensure that the doe remains on good behavior.  Be ready to remove her immediately if she starts growling or even attacking the buck.

- Once the doe is pregnant, this aggressiveness remains a part of her personality throughout her pregnancy. She may be cranky or unwilling to cooperate for a long period of time.

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- Although domesticated rabbits are polygamous, sometimes breeders will have the same animals mate more than once.
- According to a research study done by the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture:

The interaction between re-mating interval and the reproductive
performance has a significant effect on several traits such as conception rate, gestation length, receptivity, stillbirth, litter size, weaning weight, litter weight,
body weight of doe, mortality, growth rate and milk production (Smith and Somade, 1994).

- So even though many breeders want to mate animals twice, they should try to avoid this to prevent as many problems as they can.

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- Rabbits within domestication breeding work with multiple partners.
- This is considered polygamy.
- According to our textbook:

"In polygamy, individuals frequently control or gain access to multiple mating partners." (Principles & Applications of Domestic Animal Behavior)

- This causes the mating behaviors to differ between each pair of rabbits being bred.
- On a side note, wild rabbits have appeared to form life-long bonds with their monogamous partner, so it seems that polygamy is only apparent within domesticated rabbits.

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- When rabbits mate, it is very possible (and likely) that they could form bonds with their partner.
- Mutual grooming is definitely part of rabbit behavior that indicates a bond, regardless of whether the rabbits are neutered/spayed.
- Once these bonds are formed, the rabbits will want to spend time with each other.
- However, with domesticated rabbits, breeders rarely allow the bonded male and female to stay together and live in close proximity.

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- The practice of breeding rabbits is called Cuniculture.
- Cuniculture is an agricultural practice of breeding and raising rabbits, usually for their meat, fur, or wool.
- Rabbits are also breed for pets!

I had a pet rabbit named Eddie for 13 years.

- There are some specialized breeders that run breeding programs to improve the overall look and nature of a certain breed.

These breeders control the breeding habits of their rabbits and therefore cause some of the normal rituals to occur differently or not at all.

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- Copulation and the associated mating behavior require a delicate coordination of muscular
activity.

"Elicitation of such
behavior under specific conditions must depend upon stimuli received by olfactory, auditory, visual, tactile or some other group of afferent endings."

- Here is a research study that describes how and why rabbits are able to breed with each other!

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- The doe is always placed into the buck’s cage.

This minimizes the distraction of the buck being moved to a new location. This, in turn, makes the mating act more effective.

- The Rabbits then complete the dancing ritual to begin mating.
- The male will then mount the female.
- Mating has not occurred unless the male throws himself off.

Most bucks will also proceed to thump their hind feet after the act is complete.

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- Rabbit breeds of medium to large size are sexually mature at 4 to 4.5 months.
- Giant breeds at 6 to 9 months.
- Small breeds (such as the Polish Dwarf and Dutch) at 3.5 to 4 months of age.
- The release of eggs in female rabbits is triggered by sexual intercourse, not by a cycle of hormones as in humans.
- Contrary to popular belief, the rabbit has a cycle of mating receptivity; rabbits are receptive to mating about 14 of every 16 days.

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-  Adult rabbits go through an interesting mating ritual in order to attract and select a mate.
- A male and a female, also known as a buck and a doe, perform a sort of dance in which the buck chases the doe.
- Once the doe stops, she will face the buck and box him with her front paws.
- This goes on until one of the pair leaps straight into the air.
- The second rabbit also leaps into the air, completing the ritual and signaling that mating can now take place.

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Created on January 23, 2011 using FlipShare.