Breeding
A female rabbit (doe) is fertile all year long. The gestation period is around 28–31 days. A few days before birth, a nest box should be provided for the new mother. The doe will pull fur from her dewlap and, along with hay or other materials provided, will create a nest. The young are called kits and are born hairless, deaf, and blind . Fur begins to grow in by day 5 or 6 and after 10 to 12 days the kits' eyes will open. At the age of three weeks their mother will begin to wean them off milk, meanwhile the kits will begin to eat hay and pellets. The average number of kits per litter is six but can range from two to twelve. Because rabbits are induced ovulators a doe can become pregnant by the simple act of mating if conditions are right. A doe can get pregnant soon after giving birth.
Cannibalism is rare but can happen. In the wild it is a defensive mechanism to remove all blood and dead tissue from the nesting area to avoid detection by predators. If young are stillborn or die after birth, many times the doe will ingest the remains. Males (bucks) rabbits have no part in raising the young. In the wild, bucks will kill litters to induce the female to mate with them, therefore passing along his genes. (Rabbit Production, Cheeke et al.)
Read more about this topic: New Zealand White Rabbit
Famous quotes containing the word breeding:
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—Dorothy Corkville Briggs (20th century)
“The test of a man’s or woman’s breeding is how they behave in a quarrel. Anybody can behave well when things are going smoothly.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“We have been God-like in our planned breeding of our domesticated plants and animals, but we have been rabbit-like in our unplanned breeding of ourselves.”
—A.J. (Arnold Joseph)