I hate decisions

I made the decision to start selling out my rabbitry. I am going into college courses next year, my family is thinking about downsizing, and in general it just wasn’t profitable enough to do it long term. It’s been about a year and a half. I plan to sell my 2 males and 5 or 6 of my 7 females.

I talked to my mother and she said I may keep one rabbit to be a pet inside IF and ONLY IF I get it spayed and maintain their enclosure so it doesn’t smell. She said I could try two inside, but that she thought it would be much harder to have 2 and if starts to stink they’re going back outside. I will either keep Talullah and Tanana OR Charlotte. Talullah and Tanana are sisters and have been together their entire lives, so separating them is not an option. I can‘t keep all three as I can’t afford to have them all spayed, nor do I have the space for 3 indoors. So I have to choose between keeping the sisters or keeping Charlotte.

I think having one rabbit (Charlotte) will be more affordable, easier to make the space for her enclosure, easier to bond with her, easier to keep clean (not smelling), and a lot easier to watch her when she’s out to play. I also adore everything about Charlotte. Her color (sable point) is my favorite and her temperament is wonderful. She is calm and dainty and likes to sit in my lap.

Talullah and Tanana though. I think it would be nice that they have eachother, but I have a hard time watching them both, they are just all over the place. They like to run around and stuff, they are not very content to sit by me. Ever. It will also be a lot more expensive to have two. Two spays, more space, more toys, twice as much food, and twice as much poo and urine stinking up my bedroom. I feel... obligated... to keep Talullah and Tanana. They were from our first ever litter of babies. We kept them for a year, sold them when they didn’t work out for our breeding program, and where able to buy them back 5 months later (the original buyer was a liar, she bought them and sold them to someone who bred them, when we very clearly sold them NOT FOR BREEDING). I just feel a little bit like... we bought them back. They’ve been moved around so many times. I feel obligated to keep them for some reason. Like I will be letting them down to sell them again. But I also love Charlotte. I just cannot decide. It seems so simple to have a single rabbit but I feel so guilty to get rehome Lu and Nana.

what are your thoughts? I need help!

@Anonymous Fox

In order from top to bottom - Tanana, Talullah, Charlotte, Charlotte as a baby (we called her Red before we decided to keep her), Talullah and Tanana as babies with their brothers Lloyd and Blue, Talullah and Tanana snuggling during a movie night, Talullah and Tanana mesmerized by my mango seltzer while the cat looks on confused as to why they are so concerned by a can. Lol

Oh no!
If it’s really what you need…
Honestly… I don’t know.
I really don’t want you too because you are an ethical breeder in a world of 1000 backyard breeders, I was even trying to convince my parents to drive to Virginia to adopt/ buy on if your rabbits the other night <3
If I bred and chooses to stop, I would keep the ones that were most important to me, it would be way to hard for me to let go, and not know what they did leading up to there death.
Could you litter train them if they are not already (so there’s less pee and poo everywhere)?
If that’s not an option, could you give them to a relative/friend or someone who will keep you updated on them?
I’m sorry, I don’t have good advice. I’m an empath so I don’t want to tell people stuff that I don’t want to hear, like, “re-home them!” Or something.
Hopefully it all ends so that you and your bunny’s are happy

Female rabbits don't normally stink so why get them sterilised?
And if you use a litter tray, which most rabbits will, just clean it each day and they shouldn't smell bad. If they do then stick them back outside.

Colin_T said:

Female rabbits don't normally stink so why get them sterilised?
And if you use a litter tray, which most rabbits will, just clean it each day and they shouldn't smell bad. If they do then stick them back outside.

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It is generally recommended to have pet rabbits spayed or neutered. It is supposed to help with temperament, and supposedly they are more easily litter trained. According to one of my previous buyers, they were able to get the procedure done for $60 at a local vet. I plan to call around.

Anonymous Fox said:

Oh no!
If it’s really what you need…
Honestly… I don’t know.
I really don’t want you too because you are an ethical breeder in a world of 1000 backyard breeders, I was even trying to convince my parents to drive to Virginia to adopt/ buy on if your rabbits the other night <3

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Ah you have no idea how much that means to me! It is hard, caring for this many rabbits! It is pricey too, even buying the food and hay in 50 pound bulk orders. It has been 6 months since my rabbits had a litter, and my does are just not wanting anything to do with the males. I know I have to part with the majority of my brood stock, my males are getting old and one of my females decided to retire. I have a fellow breeder who wants one or two of my females. Probably Willow, maybe Charlotte or Rosie (Rosie (the all white one) is the mother of Willow (the darkest one) and Charlotte) they’re just too cute together. I don’t want to sell out. My parents want to downsize to like less than an acre of property. It could take months to find homes for all the adults, and there is no way for me to know if there will be a decent shed (windows, big doors for lots of fresh air, space for all my cages, etc) or enough garage space for the bunny setup.


It makes me sad. I’m going to go slow and only list a few at a time. We are going to reach out to some of the breeders we bought from and let them know we are selling. Sometimes breeders like to know when their babies are being moved around. In the case of Rosie’s breeder, she wants to buy one of Rosie’s daughters. She may even want Rosie too. We are contacting her tonight . If she doesn’t want any of them, I would love to keep Charlotte and Willow, but I would also love to keep Talullah and Tanana! I just love the idea of keeping sisters, but keeping two (or four) sounds so complicated! In all honesty, as awful as this sounds, I like Willow and Charlotte’s temperament and colorations (sable point and Siamese sable) better than Talullah and Tanana’s. Willow and Charlotte are just cuter, prettier, and calmer. I feel a little bit obligated to keep Talullah and Tanana though I don’t know why. They’re animals, they don’t care WHO takes good care of them as long as someone does. I sold them and then bought them back and I feel so bad to sell them again. I know I am going to sell my two males and two of my females no matter what though. I just feel like it’s such a hard choice to decide who to keep!

We just wrote a couple of the original breeders we bought our breeding rabbits from and let them know we were moving on Yogi (our male) and 3 of our females (Aurora, Willow, and Rosie). I honestly used to think Aurora was one of my least favorites, but then one day I was grooming her and she totally just flopped in my lap like “this is nice”. Man these massive molts are the worst!

OliveFish05 said:

It is generally recommended to have pet rabbits spayed or neutered. It is supposed to help with temperament, and supposedly they are more easily litter trained. According to one of my previous buyers, they were able to get the procedure done for $60 at a local vet. I plan to call around.

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Sterilising males (humans and rabbits) will help reduce aggression but it doesn't normally do anything to a female's agro. if it's anything like a dog, then sterilising females makes them more aggressive because they have no estrogen to counter the testosterone they naturally produce.

All rabbits naturally use a dung pile (toilet area) and this is easily accomplished by having a plastic tray with some paper kitty litter in and then add some of their droppings to the tray.

Colin_T said:

Sterilising males (humans and rabbits)haha will help reduce aggression but it doesn't normally do anything to a female's agro. if it's anything like a dog, then sterilising females makes them more aggressive because they have no estrogen to counter the testosterone they naturally produce.

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This isn't actually true lol
With all rabbits, it makes them less aggressive. Male or female.
There are WAY more pros with fixing rabbits than not. Rabbits in the wild live for 2 years on average, and rabbits in captivity live for 10-13 years on average. Why? Because of spaying/neutering (also there are no predators in captivity but that's a whole other thing). Like @OliveFish05 said, it also helps with litter training. Females tend to grow reproductive cancers by age 2 if not spayed, that's why it is recommended for rabbit breeders to not breed over 10 months (I think) and have them spayed after.

Anonymous Fox said:

that's why it is recommended for rabbit breeders to not breed over 10 months (I think) and have them spayed after.

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It’s actually age 4 that it is recommended to stop breeding, unless the rabbit develops issues. It is definitely better to spay sooner rather than later though to reduce the risk as I think you are right that the risk of reproductive cancer gets more serious after the age of 2.

Updates?

Anonymous Fox said:

Updates?

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Nothing new. I am still just trying to think about it. My mom says that if they stink, they go back outside. I am hesitant to spend all the money getting two spayed just for them to have to go back outside. I also don’t want one outside alone if it ends up having to be moved back out. In addition, she said the rabbit would have to stay in the playroom rather than my bedroom. The playroom is so loud and the dogs go through there all yet time and it makes me nervous

@Anonymous Fox wanted to let you know I chose to keep Talullah and Tanana instead of Charlotte. I found an older woman who wants to take Charlotte and give her a good home, she has experience with bunnies. Charlotte has such a calm, peaceful temperament I think she would do well in a home without kids and other animals. The woman has other rabbits, but nothing else.

OliveFish05 said:

@Anonymous Fox wanted to let you know I chose to keep Talullah and Tanana instead of Charlotte. I found an older woman who wants to take Charlotte and give her a good home, she has experience with bunnies. Charlotte has such a calm, peaceful temperament I think she would do well in a home without kids and other animals. The woman has other rabbits, but nothing else.

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Aww <3
I'll miss the photos of Charlette, but you did the right thing, and that's what matters most.
Good luck with Talullah and Tanana

Anonymous Fox said:

Aww <3
I'll miss the photos of Charlette, but you did the right thing, and that's what matters most.
Good luck with Talullah and Tanana

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Thanks! I will miss her too. I just feel like I have such a busy life that I don’t have enough time to give a single rabbit all the attention it needs. Talullah and Tanana will have each other for company when I’m not around to give them attention. I think Charlotte will do well with an older couple and another bunny. She isn’t aggressive or timid, but she just has such a peaceful, quiet personality. Idk. In addition, with having to have two bonded bunnies it makes me feel more comfortable that Lu and Nana are sisters.