Baby bunnies!

[OliveFish05]

Thought I’d update on the baby bunnies. We kept Gus Gus and Red (her name is now Charlotte) for a lot longer than their siblings. I can’t believe they’re 5-6 months now. Gus Gus found a home and is going today! I’m keeping Charlotte a little longer to see how she grows up, might keep her for breeding. That means Gus Gus is the last one to go home

Willow is due with her first litter in less than a week. She gets her nest box tonight!
Willow

Gus Gus, just chillin in my lap his last day here

 

[Sgooosh]

OMG SO CHUBBY

 

[I Like Rare Fish]

Awwww. If I didn’t have cats I would totally get bunnies!

 

[Anonymous Fox]

I have a question;
What do you breed for? Profit, the animal, witnesssing 'the mircal of birth/life'(lol), or something else?
Also, would you call yourself an ethical breeder?

And i'd recommend starting to sell/rehome through petfinder/petango rathier than craigslist, they're more likely to go to a better home then, and i'm sure you'd want them to go to the best home possible

 

[OliveFish05]

I have a question;
What do you breed for? Profit, the animal, witnesssing 'the mircal of birth/life'(lol), or something else?
Also, would you call yourself an ethical breeder?

It is definitely not for profit. I would say my sister and I started raising the Holland Lops to gain experience managing a business, making good decisions, learning to do things like advertise, take good photos, be diligent, and be responsible while also having an enjoyable, rewarding hobby. We breed pedigreed rabbits out of show lines to the breed standard laid down by ARBA, but our main focus has always been health and temperament in the hopes of producing wonderful family pets, and placing those bunnies with educated buyers. I did a lot of research about bunnies, their care, breeding them, caring for the babies, and finding good homes before I ever purchased my first bunny. I would consider myself an ethical breeder. The health of the bunnies is always before producing babies to sell. My buns live in an enclosed shed out of the wind, rain, and direct sunlight. The doors of the shed are opened every day, all day for fresh air, the windows too so they get some nice indirect sunlight. They get a half a cup of Blue Seal Show Hutch Rabbit Feed (one of the higher quality feeds readily available) each day along with unlimited access to fresh, clean hay and water. They enjoy fresh fruits and veggies regularly (they adore banana and cilantro). They get indoor playtime and socialization as well as play time in large exercise pens to play in the grass. We try to let each doe have 1 litter in the spring and one litter in the fall, so that the weather is nice for the babies (Bunnies are very temperature sensitive and when they’re so small they can easily freeze or get heat strokes) and so the does are kept in optimal breeding condition but are not overbred. We don’t sell the babies until 10 to 12 weeks, we find they have an easier time with the transition to their new homes. We always send a care sheet covering the basics of care and housing with the bunnies we sell, as well as give buyers our phone number and email so they can reach out to us with questions or updates. We have the buyers sign a paper stating that they agree that they are responsible for covering the needs of the rabbit, including but not limited to feed, water, adequate shelter, spay/neuter, etc.

Out of curiosity, do you watch Lennon the Bunny on YouTube? Have you seen her video “The dark, twisted truth about breeding rabbits”?

 

[Anonymous Fox]

Out of curiosity, do you watch Lennon the Bunny on YouTube? Have you seen her video “The dark, twisted truth about breeding rabbits”?

You sound very ethical
I'm on a forum were a few people breed, so I'm used to it, just the basic questions I tend to ask people who breed out of curiosity lol
Yup, I watch most of her videos
I don't really agree with Lennon the Bunny. She forces care on people wayyyyyyyyyy too much and i don't think she understands that a lot of people can't free-roam or even afford free-roaming and that x-pens are, like, fine lol. She also is mean about it right away and doesn't tell them kindly first that someone's care is wrong, and-in my opinion-i think until someone is a jerk back about 'how there care is fine and your just stupid' is when you can just walk away or start standing up for yourself/the animal.
You also don't need to secretly record a backyard breeder to prove that backyard breeders are bad, y'know?
I watch 101rabbits more because of this

 

[OliveFish05]

You sound very ethical

Thank you, I try. There is a bit of a “stereotype“ when it comes to rabbit breeders. Like that they live in tiny cages with gashes from the wire and that the breeders don’t care “because it works”, or that they only try to cut corners to make maximum profit.

Yup, I watch most of her videos
I don't really agree with Lennon the Bunny. She forces care on people wayyyyyyyyyy too much and i don't think she understands that a lot of people can't free-roam or even afford free-roaming and that x-pens are, like, fine lol. She also is mean about it right away and doesn't tell them kindly first that someone's care is wrong, and-in my opinion-i think until someone is a jerk back about 'how there care is fine and your just stupid' is when you can just walk away or start standing up for yourself/the animal.
You also don't need to secretly record a backyard breeder to prove that backyard breeders are bad, y'know?

EXACTLY. She takes all the bad, unethical breeders and says “this is how it is, breeding is bad no matter what”. I feel like she is kind of “my way is the only way”. Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but she is very much what you said, forces the care. Did you see the video where she met these two girls in the grocery store who had their bunny with them? (They had a small, malnourished bunny, very sickly looking at the grocery store with them and said they fed it lettuce. She basically went over and freaked them out) Obviously the bunny wasn’t getting proper care, but I feel like she handled it all wrong. I would’ve been terrified.

I will have to check out that YouTube channel!

 

[OliveFish05]

Honestly for a while I felt kind of bad. I felt kind of like “well there are so many in shelters, and breeding only adds more rabbits to the world, and what if me raising rabbits makes me one of the people contributing to it” but then I realized I am doing my best to educate buyers and be a source of help for them when they need it. I’m not just producing these unhealthy bunnies who‘s parents were siblings and the litters were unplanned and uncared for who I’m selling for $15. I spent months and hundreds of dollars selecting and purchasing and caring for my breeders and I’ve spent countless hours caring for, loving, socializing, and finding good homes for their babies. Ultimately it’s on the buyers who don’t educate themselves and end up surrendering their bunnies, or the breeders who are just trying to make a few dollars.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Those are some very well-cared for rabbits. Cute as can be, too. Thanks for sharing them. We've thought about having rabbits as a pet for the Badgerling, or breeding rabbits for meat, which I'm sure would be a very different approach in some ways; perhaps not in the most important ways. But there are just too many critters around here that like to eat rabbits. I hear they're even harder to keep safe than chickens, and that's saying a lot.

 

[Fishmanic]

dont let @Colin_T get near those Wabbits . All he sees is "dinner"

 

[Sgooosh]

dont let @Colin_T get near those Wabbits . All he sees is "dinner"

View attachment 145806

uh oh

 

[OliveFish05]

Those are some very well-cared for rabbits. Cute as can be, too. Thanks for sharing them.

Thank you. I adore them, they are my babies.

We've thought about having rabbits as a pet for the Badgerling, or breeding rabbits for meat, which I'm sure would be a very different approach in some ways; perhaps not in the most important ways. But there are just too many critters around here that like to eat rabbits. I hear they're even harder to keep safe than chickens, and that's saying a lot.

Ohhhhhh yeah. Meat rabbits I’m sure are very different. I would get much too attached to be able to send them off to what many call “freezer camp”.
Rabbits dig out, where as chickens (I would hope) don’t. Possums can apparently fit through 2 inch gaps!

 

[Sgooosh]

Thank you. I adore them, they are my babies.


Ohhhhhh yeah. Meat rabbits I’m sure are very different. I would get much too attached to be able to send them off to what many call “freezer camp”.
Rabbits dig out, where as chickens (I would hope) don’t. Possums can apparently fit through 2 inch gaps!

you could teach the rabbit kung fu and give it shoes to kick

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Thank you. I adore them, they are my babies.


Ohhhhhh yeah. Meat rabbits I’m sure are very different. I would get much too attached to be able to send them off to what many call “freezer camp”.
Rabbits dig out, where as chickens (I would hope) don’t. Possums can apparently fit through 2 inch gaps!

"Freezer camp." Ha ha ha We have raised chickens for food and butchered them ourselves, and probably will again if we ever find our way back to the country again. We took very good care of them and kept them happy and healthy. We just didn't get too emotionally attached. Mrs. Badger and I both have a pretty realistic view of where food comes from, so it wasn't too hard.

But chickens aren't nearly as cute as rabbits; the meat birds are actually fairly obnoxious, personality-wise, and I never miss them once they go to freezer camp (egg birds of some breeds--we had Wyandottes and Rhode Island Reds--can be rather nice, but meat birds are bred to be rather aggressive and eat, eat, eat). I can hunt wild rabbits, no problem, but raising my own, from babies, for meat? I don't know if I could resist cuddling with them, and that's probably when they quit being a meat source and start being pets.

 

[Sgooosh]

"Freezer camp." Ha ha ha We have raised chickens for food and butchered them ourselves, and probably will again if we ever find our way back to the country again. We took very good care of them and kept them happy and healthy. We just didn't get too emotionally attached. Mrs. Badger and I both have a pretty realistic view of where food comes from, so it wasn't too hard.

But chickens aren't nearly as cute as rabbits; the meat birds are actually fairly obnoxious, personality-wise, and I never miss them once they go to freezer camp (egg birds of some breeds--we had Wyandottes and Rhode Island Reds--can be rather nice, but meat birds are bred to be rather aggressive and eat, eat, eat). I can hunt wild rabbits, no problem, but raising my own, from babies, for meat? I don't know if I could resist cuddling with them, and that's probably when they quit being a meat source and start being pets.

i want a chicken so bad and i want that chicken to lay eggs and then raise a baby chick of its own
or a bird idk

there is a Teeny chance
that if i ace my grades all a+ then i might get a small bird omg