Breeding like rabbits – there’s an interesting science behind this saying. As being prey species, rabbits generally retain producing their species when confronted with drastically high preying wild world. Compare to any other livestock, the reproductive rate is high among rabbits. Also, doe rabbits can rebreed forthwith after giving birth. Do you know when do rabbits breed? With an extensive breeding capability, generally, a doe is able to kindle up to sixty rabbits weaned every year. As reproducing is the main thing in their life, they don’t take much time in mating. For wild rabbits, this is a productive strategy; but not suitable for commercial production and domestic rabbits. So, when you bring this furry pet home, you need to know what age can rabbits breed.
Do you know how a female rabbit is different from other animals? They gain sexual maturity at a very early age and their ovulation period starts after a male rabbit mounts on them. Due to this induced ovulation, if you keep her with the male, she can become pregnant even within 24 hours of kindling. Karen Patry, a well-known writer, member of the National Rex Rabbit Club and the American Rabbit Breeder’s Association wrote about the side effects of frequent rabbit pregnancies in her book. No matter the doe is old or young, frequent pregnancy may lead to some problems in the female rabbit such as not building a nest for the baby bunnies, not feeding them, or delivering sick babies, or becoming sick carrying baby one after another.
This is why you have to know what age rabbits breed. Here you’re going to get to know the basics of breeding rabbit.
What Age Can Rabbits Breed?
The Polish, English Angora, Belgian hare, or Flemish Giant; nevertheless the breed type is, the female rabbits get matured before the usual time of male rabbits. Why is why it’s mandatory to put similar-aged doe and bucks into a production cage. So, you must know how old should rabbits be to breed.
Moreover, sexual maturity in rabbits comes in different age ranges based on the breed types. The larger type breeds reach maturity overdue than the smaller kinds. Here is at what age can rabbits breed-
- The small size breeds such as Netherland Dwarf, American Fuzzy Lop, Columbia Basin Pygmy etc. should be at 4 to 5 months when bred.
- The medium size breeds such as American Sable, English Angora, Harlequin etc reach to breeding capability stage at 6 to 7 months age.
- The large breeds such as the Flemish Giant, Giant Chinchilla, and Giant Angora etc. get ready to breed within 6 to 9 months.
At what age do rabbits breed- the answer to this question also lies in the purpose of raising them. If the reason is only for meat, then you can produce them as much as you want. Otherwise, you would like to have just a few surviving babies each year at the appropriate time with a loving and good home and proper care. So, knowing what age do rabbits breed is an essential chapter of rabbit-raising.
Setting up the breeding schedule
The time between mating and kindling of rabbit-breeding is 32 days on average. This period can be longer for female rabbits with 4 or less kit compare to the production procedure of larger kits. While in humans, the female body releases eggs following a hormonal cycle, female rabbits do so after sexual intercourse. Their mating receptivity cycle becomes active on the fourteenth of each 16-day. Once a doe is done with kindling, she is all fit to go for a breeding journey again right after six weeks. Though commercial producers let the does breed back on 14 to 21 days after kindling, but we don’t recommend you that. The best breeding schedule is 35 days. As time passes, your experience will help you to decide how much time you should take as an interval between breeding and kindling. If you have several rabbits, you can make them mate within a few days one after another or on the same day (if possible). As a result, the birth-giving process will take place within 28 to 32 days later. Also, this process makes fostering the junior easier. Normally in a litter, doe can produce 7 or 8 lads and the size can be bigger or smaller depending on the particular breed of rabbit.
However, setting up a schedule for your rabbit breeding depends on your purpose behind raising rabbits. If the purpose is to only have meat, then you may breed as many as you want. But, if it’s only for your private interest, a few litters per year will be enough.
But, the main thing to consider before setting up a schedule is that you do a thorough health check-up of your rabbits. For example, if you put a doe after 21 days of giving birth and nursing a large breed, her poor health condition may affect reproductive performance. To avoid any kind of risk and potential health issues, make sure that the female rabbit is in good condition. Additionally, you should choose a rabbit breed with a forefather that has ostensibly healthy productivity and good genetics.
Signs of being ready to mate
Besides knowing what age can rabbits breed, it’s also important to ensure that but, how would you know that your doe is receptive to go through mating? Rabbits usually show some signs regarding this such as acting restless, rubbing their chins on the water and feed container, or showing interest to interact with other bunnies.
Follow its vagina. If it is whitish pink with less moisture, she is not ready for mating. But, if it’s red as well as moist, it is time to put the doe in the cage of the buck. Additionally, the female rabbit responsive to mating may present herself by lifting her tail when the buck touches her or lying on her stomach.
Should you take a doe to buck’s cage or vice versa? Well, if you put a buck into the doe’s place, it is very much possible that he would pass a long time in just sniffing around. Also, placing another animal in the doe’s cage could turn her defensive due to her territorial nature. So, it’s always best to place the does into the male rabbit’s cage when they are ready to mate.
Signs of being pregnant with female rabbits
After gaining sexual maturity, rabbits can start to produce litters. So, if you left an intact male and female rabbit of both over 3 and a half months ago, you should observe the female for any symptoms of pregnancy.
The most common visible sign of pregnancy in female rabbits is a growing belly. As the babies inside her belly grow as well as develop, the size of the belly gets bigger with times. Within 10 to 12 days from the time of breeding, you can feel several bumps of marble size inside the doe’s belly. These little bumps are the babies inside of the female rabbit and gradually within 2 weeks, they’ll be enlarged enough to feel while touching the tummy.
Moreover, you may notice some behavioural changes in the pregnant rabbit-like often being moody and irritable, or eating more than usual. Another noticeable symptom that indicates the pregnancy of a doe is preparing to nest. You may find out your female bunny digging any corner of her cage or pilling up her bedding. While you see the doe doing so, the probability is that the kindling time is very near. And, if you see her pulling out her fur, then probably she is going to give birth very soon like 1 or 2 days.
Mostly rabbits give birth during night hours or early in the morning. So, back on awaken up to a litter of babies, though their instinctive birth-giving process rarely needs any help from the human. The time duration of the kindling process is about 15 minutes. But, if the pregnant doe face difficulty giving birth or doesn’t give birth after 35 days from the time of breeding, it is an emergency to contact a veterinarian.
Rules for rabbit breeding
While breeding rabbits, you should consider the following principles:
- Always breed the same breed of rabbits.
- While your rabbits are 3 months older, keep them in separate cages.
- Make sure your rabbits are fully in good health condition.
- Check on any red flags such as soreness, severe redness, scabbiness, or discharge in the genitals of both male and female rabbits.
- Always take the female rabbit to the male rabbit’s cage; don’t do it the other way.
- After removing the doe from the buck after mating, place them back again after 1-12 hours of breeding.
- You must keep a record of the breeding day and take the doe for testing her pregnancy initially by the 10th -14th day of breeding.
- You should not breed rabbits of closely connected pairs like mother and son, brother and sister, and father and daughter.
Well, now you know what age can rabbits breed and all the related information that you should know. As being a prey species, rabbits continue to reproduce their species to exist in the wild. But, for domestic rabbits, frequent breeding can be a problem. After letting your rabbits breed, the surviving offspring are your responsibility for the next 8 to 10 years. So, if you want to add more rabbit members to your family, you can go with the breeding process once they’re ready for it.
