We have had success!  With two of the female Dwarf Hotot rabbits bred and a litter of kits with a not so good outcome, we are now on the winning side.  Meet Callie, our 1 year old Dwarf Hotot mama to 5 perfectly beautiful baby kits.

We have learned a lot in the time we have owned this breed, I say we because although this is my 12 year old daughter's venture into the world of entrepreneurship, I am certainly helping guide her along the way.  This new litter was born 6/17/16 and thus far, all appear to be perfectly marked Dwarf Hotot standard kits.

Let me start by saying that this breed is HARD to find.  My daughter therefore thought it may be a good one to start with because hey, if they are hard to find, they will likely sell well!  I hope she's right.  In helping her research the breed I have learned so much too, fascinating information, so lets get to the point!

If only human pregnancies were that quick, wait, maybe not...I might have more than what I could handle if that were the case!

When breeding a female rabbit you take her to the male, not the other way around.  (Females are much more territorial and you don't want a black widow kind of outcome)

​ Once you breed the doe it is customary to wait 12 hours and breed again.  STOP THERE.  Don't be tempted to continue the breeding because a double pregnancy can actually occur.  Yes, someone call Maury Povich because you would have multiple pregnancies at the same time.  This is not so good because when the doe is ready to deliver the first litter, she will deliver all of the kits, even ones who are not fully mature enough to be born.  Sad outcome.

We use hay.  Give your doe a nesting box to keep the kits safe and away from the sad situation of a doe giving birth "on the wire" meaning, outside of a nesting box where drafts can cause a huge problem.

About 3 days before the due date (so day 25 after you have bred the doe) put your next box in and load it with nesting materials as well as adding plenty of extra to your doe's enclosure.  It is TOTALLY normal for a doe to either make and re-make, and re-make her nest....OR... not make the nest or pull hair at all until immediately before delivery.  Our doe routinely pulls her fur within the hour she delivers and not a moment sooner.

That leads me to another fact about nesting.  Mama rabbits will pull the hair from their dewlap or underbelly to line their nest.  If you ever have a litter pass away be sure to keep some of the doe's fur in case you need extra nesting material in the future (this stuff sells for ALOT online if you have to buy it during the winter!)

I have heard so many old wives tales about this one, and it rings true for wild rabbits.  But, I have talked to SOOOO MANY breeders who have a completely different take on it.  Here is the deal.  If you are the main caregiver for your rabbit, you generally hold and pet your rabbit, you should have no trouble.  

I am not suggesting trying to play with newborn kits, but within the first 24 hours checking the nest to count kits and be sure you don't need to cull (remove) a dead one is absolutely fine.  We rub the mama doe with lots of loving pets to get her smell all over our hands and then simply check out the new little ones.  Holding and snuggling for longer periods should wait until at least 1-2 weeks and the bunnies at least have their eyes open.

Unlike other mammals who spend the majority of their post partum days nursing new babies, mama bunnies do it quick.  In fact, rabbits do EVERYTHING quickly!  You likely will not see the mama doe nursing her babies at all.  This can be a cause of concern but a good way to tell if the kits are being cared for is to take close stock of the nest and, if you like, place something very small on the top of the nest, a thread or something, then you can see if the doe has been moving the nest materials to feed and check on her kits. 

Also, newborn kits will usually only nurse 2-3 times total in a 24 hour time span, and the nursing sessions can last as short as 5 minutes...see, like I said, its quick!

This is just as much for the mama doe as it is for the kits.  In the winter if your rabbits call a barn or other outdoor area home consider making sure they are WELL sheltered when they have kits.  If in a barn, block of drafts and if possible and safe, provide a heat lamp if temperatures really dip.

In the summer be aware that rabbits can overheat, VERY easily.  If you see that a mama doe has uncovered her kits in the nest, don't re-cover, leave them be.  Also on especially hot days be sure you have plenty of ventilation.  Right now our outdoor temps are in the 90's so we make sure to open the barn doors wide to provide plenty of air circulation throughout the day.  Another cooling measure, keep old pop or water bottles in your freezer and as the temps rise, put a frozen bottle in the cage or hutch with mama (not near the kits) that way she can cool off and stay comfortable.

There are a few things when breeding dwarf rabbits that you need to be aware of so that you aren't caught totally off guard should you come across one in a litter.  First with dwarf breed there are some genetic mutations, one being the "peanut."  A peanut is a kit that is born and is a fraction of the size of the others in the litter.  These kits are much smaller and weaker but unlike a runt, these guys possess a double dwarf gene and therefore are not viable.  They will usually die on their own in a few days.  

The second genetic misfire is the Max Factor gene.  This gene is not expressed quite as often as the peanut or double dwarf gene, but is something to be aware of.  The Max Factor is a genetic mishap in which the rabbit is born with its eyes open, therefore rendering it blind.  The rabbit will also have frog like legs that are splayed out making hopping almost impossible.  These rabbits are pretty easy to identify immediately but often will not just pass away and therefore render a breeder with a decision to make.

Luckily we haven't had any of those genetic mishaps in our breeding program, but I am glad to be aware of them so that I know what to do should I ever see such a thing.  The above picture was taken on day 2, it is amazing how fast the naked little bunnies start to become covered with soft peach fuzz.

This is going to be a fun next few weeks!

With dwarf rabbits there are a lot of considerations concerning their digestive tract, namely, one has to be very diligent in observing the little hoppers as they tend to have gastrointestinal issues galore as a rule.

Most recently we have been treating what we believe to be coccidiosis, a disease that can affect the intestines and liver and one that is caused by opportunistic pathogens.  This seems to be relatively common in younger rabbits and though it also affects older rabbits they have a tendency to become immune and just past the disease to the little ones. 

Symptoms of the disease include slimy diarrhea, lack of appetite, fading or weight loss, emaciation, and occasionally it can be fatal if not treated.  Most recently we had a 6 month old junior become symptomatic.  The symptoms for our little guy included first the lack of appetite, he wasn't eating his daily ration, the second symptom was the nasty gelatinous diarrhea which led to a quick call to our breeder friend.  It is so very important to closely watch the daily food intake of your rabbit to be able to discern immediately if there is a lack of feeding as this is almost always a reason for close observation.  

Common treatment of this problem includes the use of Corid (Amprolium) as a preventative in both the spring (before temperatures rise) and fall (before temperatures drop).  The administration is easy enough, it is just adding the powdered medication to water (for the 20% powdered solution we used 1 tsp powder to 1 gallon water) and offering it as the only source of water for 5 days (longer- up to 21 days for acute infections like we were dealing with). It is also recommended to treat your entire herd to ensure you won't have re-contamination.  At the moment we have a pregnant doe and we will not treat her until after she kindles as the medication seems to do well in mammal milk but has not been studied during gestation.

Another wise choice to control infection is to spray out the rabbit hutches with vinegar or bleach solution to aid in killing the disease.

Within 2 days our little guy had returned to his normal ornery self and was ready to eat whatever was put in front of him again.  This is an important medication to pick up at your local Tractor Supply Store and keep handy in your bunny medicine cabinet so that you can use it immediately as necessary.

My daughter began her bunny business a few months ago.  We researched her chosen breed, found top notch breeders, located appropriate housing and we were all set, just sit back and wait for the baby bunnies, right?

Well, in bunnyland, things are not as they always seem.  Though educational, my daughter's first attempt at bunny breeding was a flop.  It was very entertaining and funny to watch, you haven't lived until you have seen bunny business...let me tell ya! But, our buck was unable to get the job done...I think he was still a little too small.

The second attempt was much more successful, the doe was bred 2x's both 12 hours apart by taking her to the buck's cage for a fun little romp.  (again, hysterical to watch...the buck repeatedly stomped his foot at her as if to say "quit running in circles and sit still!)  I palpatated the doe's abdomen at day 14 which is when you are supposed to be able to feel "marbles" or "grapes" in the doe's abdomen... nothing.  We were both disappointed, though she did feel a bit "heavier".

By about 4 days before the doe was due for kits I picked her up and felt tiny movements in her abdomen...yay!!!  We knew we were in for some cute and fun bunny love very soon!  To say that both my daughter and I were ecstatic would be an understatement.  We checked on that poor doe incessantly just to see what she was up to..still nothing.

By day #29 there was a change, my husband checked on her around 6am, nothing...I went out around 9am and there was a nesting box full of fur and some of the wiggliest, naked-est little pink creatures.

I had done my research and I knew that mama bunnies pull fur out to soften and make a cozy nest.  I did not know much more...here is where the learning curve came in.

#1.  The old adage that you should never touch newborn animals does not apply to rabbits...or at least not to Dwarf rabbits.

#3. Bunnies do not sit in the nest to warm their babies and will only nurse 1-2 times in a 12 hour period...and the nursing sessions can be as little as 5 minutes.

#2.  The animal kingdom has neglectful mamas too.

#3.   Kits can "come back" to life.

#4.   Kits are VERY fragile and though their parents can be cold hearty, even a 50 degree cold snap is too much for naked babies.

This is where the story unfolds to a very sad ending.  I learned most of these facts, after it was too late.  When we saw the babies around 9 am I took the picture you see above, when I returned around 11 am to check again, there was no movement in the pile of fur...I decided to chance a quick touch and found the babies were cold.  I learned that often new mama bunnies (ours is pretty young) don't know how to properly line their nests and cover their babies which leads to tragedy.

As I cupped a baby kit in my hand and called one of the breeders we had gotten bunnies from I found that after a few minutes the baby kit started to move a bit, it went from ice cold to slight movements...this is the coming back to life part, just like with puppies sometimes bunnies can "come back."  It was short lived though we tried everything, we lost all 3 kits.  The breeders I spoke with said it was likely due to mama doe being a bit neglectful in her nest making.

I also learned that what I could have done differently was to actually stick my hands in the nest when I found the bunny babies as pictured and cover them up.  I also could have taken the nestbox inside my house and returned every 12 hours to let mama bunny nurse, keeping the bunnies inside the house for the first 2 weeks until they got their fur.  Finally, I learned that this is pretty common and that every breeder that I spoke with has experienced this type of situation.

Sad as it was, we learned A LOT in a few short hours.  My daughter took it hard but was able to get over the loss and still relish in her beautiful bunnies that she still has to play with and cuddle. Lesson learned.

I just had to share some adorable photos.  My daughter set up her first bunny photo shoot to showcase her team of rabbits.  She now has a facebook page and her own website up and running.  I wanted to share a few of the pictures she took today, doesn't it make you want to run on over and snuggle one of these little ones?

After spending hours scouring the web and farm and garden stores for the best prices, we settled on a ready made rabbit cage kit to start with.  What I was searching for was something stackable for my daughter's new rabbit business, I found it and luckily Rural King was running a sale.

We made a run and picked up 3 cages to house our doe and two bucks.  They looked easy enough to put together and I loved the stacking option for space saving and looks.  My daughter plans on using a larger hutch as a brooding box for mama rabbit and her kits once they are born, more on that later.

So here is the box and what it contained, I have to admit being a little befuttled at first, but with the help of another mom, we figured it all out and I think that aside from having very sore hands from all the wire crimping, we came out pretty good.

I have to say that now that I have built a bunny cage, even a stackable one, I believe that if a person is going to do a number of these it would be a cost savings to buy rolls of 1" x 1/2" wire, crimps and clasps and do it yourself.  I am pleased with my purchase because honestly until I saw the thing come together I couldn't have conceptualized it, but I now know for future bunny condos.

Here is the cage double stacked and then also after the third tier was added and it was placed in our barn.  The empty cage on top was just filled as we now have one doe and two buck rabbits.

My daughter decided to waste no time so she bred a doe and buck earlier last week.  It was quite comical as the mating ritual of rabbits is not only very quick and short lived, but also has a funny finale.  I learned a new term "fall off" it is when the male is done mating and he literally "falls off" and appears to have fainted for all of 1.5 seconds before rebounding and hopping around the cage again.  It was laugh out loud kind of funny. 

My daughter now has the calender marked, we will be palpatating the doe's belly to see if we have kits in another week and after that we add a nest box on day #28 and the kits should arrive on day # 31.  The due date of our dear Cleo the doe is just 2 days before Easter, isn't that perfect?

After her older sister just bought a car in cash, my younger daughter decided she wanted to step up her game so that she would be able to do the same in a few years.  We explored many options available to her and her love of animals drove her decision.  She decided on raising bunnies to breed and sell.  We decided to start small, and dwarf bunnies are so cute so it seemed like a perfect fit.  That is, until we realized that the pedigreed breed she had decided on was VERY hard to find.  While this made for a perfect business opportunity, it is not an easy start when you need to locate both a doe and a buck (female and male rabbit) to begin your business.

This is how we both spent the last few days, scouring the internet and books for tips, tricks, advice, breeders and the like.  I have learned more about rabbit reproduction and standards in the last few days than I ever cared to know!  What I realized though is that this is a HUGE learning opportunity and my daughter is going to be getting a very healthy dose of biology through this project, complete with Punnett squares!

The research ended in an amazing turn of luck whereby a breeder we had located happened to be driving through a city close to us and she agreed to meet us with 2 bunnies we would be purchasing from her (this was a lifesaver as this breeder was almost 3.5 hours away in another state!).  We are awaiting another breeder who will also be driving through a nearby city next weekend as she has a second buck we will be adding to the program.

To say that my daughter is overjoyed by this prospect is an understatement, she is in bunny heaven.  I have to admit, these little guys are adorable and will certainly have no shortage of love and handling at this house!

We settled on a pedigreed breed called the Dwarf Hotot (pronounced Oh-toe).  This is a papered breed that was a bit difficult to find and often has people traveling to different states to be able to find good breeding stock.  The recognized standard of the breed is to have no markings on the pure white rabbit, save for a black or brown band around the eyes.  My daughter's plan is to begin with 4H and hopefully some ARBA (American Rabbit Breeders Association) shows with her bunnies and to breed them for sale.

We began the process and will be keeping you updated as this seems like a fun learning experience!

Here is my daughter when we arrived home with the bunnies (yes we had to use dog crates to transport them to their new homes, no laughing!)

So, here goes a new adventure in the life of an incidental farmgirl!