- poor mothering
- bad temperament
- improve disease immunity
- health reasons
- Disease control
- Sterility
- hit the three strikes rule (for whatever reasons)
- Animal doesn't fit with your management style.
Other reasons to cull
Rabbit manure is such a useful thing to have around when you are a gardener and if you are a gardener...the rabbits will thank you. :) IN this garden I have planted various items that will appeal to the rabbits. Peas, beans, carrots, various lettuces, plaintain, radishes (love the greens), turnips (love the greens), parley and more. My son was very helpful in getting the garden planted and marked off. The sticks are leftovers from the bunnies nibbling this winter. I needed to replant my parsley as it didn't manage to over-winter this year. Last year my spinach got so huge it was amazing! The rabbits loved it in small quantities so they kept me busy mixing spinach in with their other greens. I often needed to chop the spinach into smaller bits for them as the big leaves they just wouldn't finish. But it grew well and lasted almost all summer for me. I was delighted with it's longevity. I am very hopeful that the garden will be as productive for me this year as it was last. It keeps us all happy (animal and people) quite happy. One of the greatest things about having the rabbits is they will eat 99% of all the weeds that come up. Different times of the year they prefer different things, but they'll eat it up regardless. Mind... if you don't know you weeds, either have a tester rabbit OR research it to learn what it is. If it is toxic to rabbits then don't feed it. I have one weed here that is not good for horses... if it's not good for horses it generally isn't good for rabbits either.
So what's growing in YOUR garden? :) Watching fecal output on animals tends to be something owners keep a watch on. BUT if you don't know what's normal, how do you know what is different?
I never thought of doing a post like this, but had my way pointed to a post someone else had done up and thought hey... neat idea. BUT I haven't done up a post NOR taken pictures of rabbit or guinea pig poop so I'll just like you to this post for now until I decide to do up a post of my own. :) Cheers. Guide to Rabbit Poop. If everyone watched this video very few people would own rabbits.
Myths 1. Rabbits are low maintenance. 2. Short Life Span 3. No Vet Care 4. Rabbit should be outdoors 5. Rabbits love to be picked up and cuddled 6. Rabbits okay eating only Pellets 7. Rabbits smell 8. Rabbits good for small apartments 9. Can't leave a rabbit for a week-end Okay so let's address these comments 1. Rabbits are low maintenance. According to the speaker rabbits require more care than a large dog : Space cleaned, exercise, food. Hmm... seems the same as a large dog to me. Seriously. Rabbits... Clean the litter box, feed them, and if you have time, let them out to run around the place. 2. Rabbits have a short life span. As with any animal their life span can vary.. sometimes dependant on the care they receive, sometimes based on genetics. Oldest rabbit I had lived 13 years, youngest one died unexpectedly at 6 months. Go figure. 3. No Vet Care required. Raising rabbits for the past 8 years I've been to the vet twice with my rabbits. This is very dependant on your rabbit AND your care and handling of same. Fed an appropriate diet and purchased from someone who focuses on breeding for health, your rabbit should be fine. MIND with any animal purchased you need to expect and budget for animal care. With rabbits the toughest part is finding a rabbit savvy vet. 4. Rabbits should be outdoors. The speaker implies that a rabbit raises outdoors gets less than great care. Not everyone wants to nor desires to keep their rabbit indoors... doesn't mean the rabbits isn't well cared for. 5. Rabbits like to be picked up and cuddled. Not sure why so many pet/house rabbit society folks think this. Makes me wonder what they are doing wrong. Rabbits can and do enjoy the care and handling from their owners IF they are handled properly and with confidence. Too many people aren't confident and in charge when handling their rabbits. 6. Rabbits eating Pellets only. Yet another person who insists that rabbits MUST HAVE unlimited hay all the time for their teeth. Seriously folks... Rabbits wear down their teeth as they eat ANYTHING. A good pellet with have fibre in it. Hay is NOT a requirement for caring for rabbits. It's honestly just another part of the care of rabbits. BUT if you are allergic to hay then you can still own a rabbit... you can feed grasses, green feed, or a GOOD quality pellet, and your rabbit will do just fine. Mind I believe in feeding rabbits a variety of feeds so that you have a feed arsenal if your rabbit goes off feed. Sometimes rabbits do that.. and if you don't have a feed arsenal to give them how will you get your rabbit back to eating??? 7. Rabbits smell. Umm... it's an animal. Any animal has a odour to it. How you manage it depends on how much odour is released. Daily litter box cleaning helps heaps, adding a touch of apple cider vinegar to the water helps, use of proper bedding materials etc. 8. Rabbits good for small apartments. IF one would believe this video you'd be required to own a mansion to have a rabbit. Rabbits are FINE for whatever house you happen to live in. They will use the space they are alloted. 9. Can't leave a rabbit for a weekend. Where it is true that rabbits need more immediate care if they happen to get sick.. ANY animal can get sick easily and you could have a major problem when you get home. Many a rabbit can be left for a weekend if you provide sufficient food and water... if going away for a weekend that might mean three water bottles, a feeder stuffed with hay, a j-feeder loaded with pellets etc. You can't deprive them of sufficient food to eat. PET CARE COSTS
How much is that doggie (or kitty, rabbit, rat, goldfish or guinea pig…) in the shelter window? In addition to the initial cost of adoption, there’s a whole litany of expenses that the average pet owner will incur within a year. To make it easier for you to plan for your new arrival, we’ve prepared a financial breakdown of the annual costs of caring for a variety of species. To see the chart in full click here. I found their price guidelines rather a lot off. $730 to care for one rabbit over the course of one year and that's just regular care. AND if one considers what all the first year costs might be with neutering and other such things at over $1000. It was like HUH? how do you figure that. For ONE rabbit, even using the expensive litter....$730 for one year???? NOT.... At the most for litter it would be $240 ($20 bag of carefresh per month) for litter (most people go cheaper and do pine or aspen which would significantly bring that amount down. If one wished to you might be able to get pet insurance, you might wish to buy toys but you certainly don't have to, litter boxes for rabbits don't tend to cost $25. Anyways, I found it interesting, you might too. . I watched this video this morning and it made me consider the goals people set in their rabbitry.
For some it's a matter of winning on the table. Simply producing a rabbit that physically is all that it can be for winning on the show table. I like doing that with my polish. I have to admit it's fun. :) For others it's producing a rabbit that is temperamentally sound and of a good size for selling to the pet market. Doing that with my holland lops and my guinea pigs gives me a huge feeling of satisfaction. Not that I don't focus on that with my other rabbits as well. :) For others it's reducing the amount of time needed to get your rabbits to make weight for providing food for the table, or food for their animals, or for the animals of other people. I have to admit, I'm not where I want to be with my meat rabbits, but I'm getting closer. :) They are all great goals. It means work and effort. It means choosing animals for your herd that will further your goals. It means deliberation and thought, and not just randomly throwing two rabbits together. This is what makes a breeder. This is what makes for a good rabbitry. That thought and deliberation, followed by good animal care. Unlike dogs and cats, the female rabbit has a unique reproductive tract in that it lacks a uterine body and each of the uterine horns has its own cervix that opens directly into the vagina. There is abundant adipose tissue in the mesometrium and surrounding the ovaries, making identification and ligation of uterine vessels challenging for an ovariohysterectomy or Caesarean section.. Similar to cats and ferrets, rabbits are induced ovulators; however, ovulation occurs 10 h post-coitus in rabbits versus 30 h after copulation in cats and ferrets (2). Gestation ranges from 29 to 35 d, averaging between 30 to 32 d. Dystocia is the inability to expel fetus(es) from the uterus during parturition and may be due to maternal or fetal conditions preventing a normal delivery. Maternal factors may include pelvic, vaginal, or uterine abnormalities, such as small pelvic size and uterine inertia, or may be due to malnutrition, parasitism, obesity, and/or hereditary causes. Fetal causes include malpresentation, malposition, or malposture, oversize, fetal death, or malformations, such as fetal monsters. In many species, uterine inertia is the most common maternal cause of dystocia, and may be considered either primary or secondary. Primary uterine inertia can be defined as gestation beyond its expected length with no progression into stage 2 labor. It may be associated with hypocalcemia, obesity, overstretching of the myometrium from large litters, and conversely, inadequate uterine stimulation from small litters . Primary uterine inertia occurs less commonly than secondary uterine inertia . Secondary uterine inertia, or uterine fatigue, occurs due to exhaustion and lack of myometrial contraction after prolonged attempts to expel an obstructed fetus, which persists following the relief of the obstruction (6,8). Dystocia is not common in rabbits as normal delivery is typically completed within 30 min after onset. Common causes of dystocia in rabbits include obesity, oversized kits, a narrow pelvic canal, or uterine inertia. Indications of dystocia in rabbits include persistent contractions, straining, and bloody or greenish-brown vaginal discharge. However, as obstetrical problems are rare in rabbits and parturition is very quick with minimal physical exertion, any indication of labor can be interpreted as a sign of dystocia. ) These tips might be helpful to folks who own piggies. :)
I find the biggest thing with piggies is 1. understanding who they are 2. giving them time to chill 3. being confident in how you handle them. Trimming nails this way personally would drive me crazy, but it's a method that might work for some in the handling of their rabbits. Nails DO need to be trimmed every four weeks.
I thought this video gave some relevant reasons for raising rabbits for meat. Cute baby rabbits to watch while listening to his dialogue.
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AuthorI have been breeding rabbits for a quite a few years. I thoroughly enjoy them as animals and think they make great pets. I also like to take some of them to rabbit shows to see how they measure up to the standards. For the BEST rabbit forum I've ever found. Go to Rabbittalk.com. Good for the pet rabbit owner as well as the breeder for meat or show.
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