My rabbit will hopefully have babies soon...

Hey
Just letting people know that two of my rabbits, Moomin & Malakai bred on Thursday 21st April. Hopefully, there will be some little lionheads soon

My other lionhead Missy.. isn't being receptive? she isn't allowing the males to mate and is just running away from them? this happened last year but they both wouldn't mate.. this year Moomin was a randy bunny.. but Missy is still avoiding the males.. Kel, do you have any tips for me?

Picture of moomin & malakai relaxing in the corner of the rabbit run:

I don't know much about bunnies so don't really know what lionheads look like but, i know all bunnies are cute, so im sure they will be too. Look forward to seeing em

Oh and congrats

*moving this to small and furry*

haha thanks for moving it

Lionheads look like the rabbits in the photo.. they have a huge fluffy 'mane' around their heads malakai (the male) is a pedigree but I don't think my females are soo they haven't got a dense fluffy coat or a big mane.. just a little one .. except for missy whos looks more like an angora. A huge fluff ball

So cute. My daughter would love them and want to name them all "Cutie". LOL, she is 3.

hahaha my niece is 5 and she's called her hamster 'loveheart' and her cousin named his rabbit 'cake'. I think it's sooo cute when kids name pets

Yes, they always think of the best names.

haha i like simple funny names.. that's why i choose banana from my gecko

Ok... first thing... at 7 mos old she is still young and inexperienced... running in circles around the buck is part of their "dance of love", she just didn't have the sense to settle down when the buck was ready to mount. he got tired and frustraited, she got frustraited and they both quit or got fighty. She didn't have a successful first breeding season, you should table breed her with an experienced buck who will mount her regardless of if you're near or not

Now that you're trying to breed her again the only memory she has of how to breed is the unsuccessful first breeding attempt she had... so no wonder you're getting the same responses. you hold the doe in place if you have to... usually just a hand in front of the face will keep them still or hold her behind her head over her shoulders with your palm facing her head kinda like a horse collar.

I wouldn't put them in a cage bigger than 24 inches square first off. No large breeding pen is needed. That just tires the buck out and makes him a less rigerous breeder. I would put them together in the small pen, let them run around for a bit because the dance of love stinmlates them both... then if she still is getting too excited running all around after 5 minutes and he has had a couple failed mount attempts table breed them.

When I breed my rabbits I will breed them as early in the morning as I can because they are also crepuscular animals... then I will breed them again 6 hours later (which is usually close to sunset). The reason for this is because the first round of breeding stinulates the female to release more egg (since rabbits don't go into a traditional "heat" like most mammals, they are an estrus on demand animal), and the second breeding 6 hours later will fertilize more eggs making you have more babies that are going to be of a more manageable size at delivery for your doe. You don't have to wait for your doe to be in season. If you scratch her over her bum and up her spine and she flags her tail she's ready (or if her vulva is red and swelling), but even if she doesn't she will still likely accept a male after a little coaxing and the Dance of Love

Check out the site http://language.rabbitspeak.com/ this way you'll have a better idea of what all the running and flipping and "randy" behavior is really about. This should be mandatory reading for all rabbit owners/breeders. I give it out in my package of info to new pet buyers

I have some really good rabbit news too but I'll start my own thread on that... I need to get pix yet


For Jordan... Lionhead rabbit...



http://lionheadrabbit.net/gen_why5colors.htm

thankyou soo much for the advice I will have a read of that website now. I really hope I can get her to breed this year. And I hope moomin has a litter Malakai did mate with her ALOT lol

I will try that table breeding thing tomorrow afternoon if the weather is good outside.. I have just got a big rabbit run given to me along with a new cage for jacob off my neighbout.

Oooo can't wait for this news

and that is a beautiful lionhead in the photo