Q. How would you hold a rabbit to determine its sex?
A. With your left hand hold the rabbit in a setting position on the table.
Using the right hand place your thumb behind right hind leg and use index
and forefinger to depress the tail backwards and downward. Then use the
thumb to gently depress the area in front of the sex organs to expose
the reddish mucus membrane.
Q. How do you tell the difference between a buck and a doe?
A. In the buck the organ will protrude as well rounded tip ( penis) while
in the doe the membrane will protrude to form a slit ( vulva) with a depression
at the end next to the anus.
Q. What would happen if letter mates were not separated?
A. Rabbits eight to ten weeks are fertile and may breed if not separated.
Pregnancy in a doe this young may stunt her growth. Litter lass may also
be higher.
TATTOOING A RABBIT
Important Fact:
Learning to tattoo the project rabbit is an important and necessary management
skill. All animals which are shown are registered ARBA registration system
must be tattooed. This practice also provided positive identification
for the purposes of record-keeping and protection against theft.
Question to Ask
Q. When do you tattoo your rabbit?
A. When you wean them at six months or older ( six months is best).
Q. How many letters or numbers may be put in the ear?
A. The tattoo plier holds five letters or numbers.
Q. If you want to be able to tell whose rabbit it was, it's number, and
mouth it was born, what combination of letters and numbers might you use.
A. Possible S3921- Severson, rabbit 39, February 1981.
Q. What steps would you take to tattoo a rabbit?
Pick out the metal number needed and put it in the tongs or pliers.
Determine the sex and breed for your records.
Contain the rabbit in a tattoo box or by wrapping firmly in a towel with
only the ears exposed.
Wipe the left ear clean with cotton dipped in alcohol.
With the tongs make a puncture in the smooth part of the ear.
With a stiff bristle brush, press the tattoo ink into the holes and use
a new pencil eraser end to force the ink through the holes.
Apply a thin film of Vaseline over the ink and wipe off a clean tissue.
Q. When tattooing what would be the some possible problems which might
develop if the job is not done carefully?
A. One might hit the large vein in the upper part of the ear, break or
tear the ear, place the tattoo upside down, or drop ink on the fur.
Q. How do you know the digit will be transferred into the ear correctly?
A. Push the tongs into a piece of cardboard before applying on the ear.
Q. What if ink gets on the fur?
A. Use Vaseline three of four days later or just let it wear off.
Q. How would you correct a poor tattoo?
A. Using a sharp darning needle, repuncture the hole and repeat the inking
steps.
Q. How do you know if it is a good tattoo?
A. When ink comes through the opposite side of the ear when rubbing with
the eraser.
Q. What if a rabbit has a tattoo in both ears?
A. This means the left ear tattoo shows the pedigree number and the right
one shows it's registration number.
Q. If tattoo pliers are not available how could a tattoo be made?
A. Use a pen type tattoo to prick the ear in a series of dots.
WEANING A RABBIT
Important Fact:
Producers who raise must perform many important management practices
when the time comes to wean the litter. In order to be successful the
producer should know when to wean; how to tattoo; and hoe to make selections
for show, breeding, meat, or pet purposed.
Questions to Ask
Q. What is the optimum age to wean the rabbit litter?
A. Six to eight weeks.
Q. Why should you cull your rabbits?
A. Undesirable traits should not be passed onto further offspring?
Q. How can you see the difference between show rabbits and other types?
A. By looking at your rabbits daily and knowing their breed types, fur
quality , and breed markings.
Q. Why do you separate sexes?
A. They fight and may breed at too early an age.
Q. What if I don't have enough cages?
A. Culls can be put together until butchering. Butchering is done when
they reach four to six pounds.
Q. What are the recommended steps to take when weaning a rabbit litter?
A. 1. Sexing
Culling- determine the use that you want of them-pets, meat, show, breeding.
Go through the disqualifications and eliminations list.
Tattooing ( covered in another project meeting guide).
Housing separate cages should be provided for each rabbit retained in
the herd.
DETERMINING PREGNANCY IN RABBITS
Important Fact:
An accurate method of determining pregnancy is important in managing
a rabbit breeding herd. Valuable time can e lost in the breeding schedule
if does are assumed to be pregnant when reality they are not. A number
of methods have been advocated to determine whether a doe has conceived.
Probably the flesh and swelling of he abdominal area. A second method,
test mating, is also unreliable. Pregnant does may accept a buck, or open
does may refuse the buck. The third method, palpation, is only reliable
method a diagnose pregnancy. With practice this can be done as early as
10 days after breeding.
Questions to Ask
Q. How would you hold a rabbit and palpate it for pregnancy?
A. Hold the ear and the folds of skin over shoulder in the right hand;
place the left hand between the hind legs, slightly in front of the pelvis;
place the thumb on the right side the fingers on the left side of the
abdomen; exert light pressure, and move the fingers and thumb gently backward
and forward.
Q. Why is an in flesh and welling of the abdominal region not a reliable
test for pregnancy?
A. Only toward the end of the gestation period can this procedure period
be fairly indicative and if the doe does not prove to be pregnant, valuable
time has been lost in the breeding schedule.
Q. What is test mating and why is it also unreliable as a test for pregnancy?
A. In test mating, the doe is returned to the buck's cage about the 18th
day after mating. If the doe avoids the buck, or fights and whines, she
may be pregnant. However, pregnant does may accept the buck again or open
does may refuse to allow the buck to serve hair.
TRIMMING A RABBIT'S NAILS
Important Facts:
This is an excellent learn-by-doing activity. Producers will how to trim
long nails to avoid injury to the rabbit and possible to the show person.
Questions to Ask
Q. Why is trimming nails important?
A. A rabbit with long nails may injure itself if its nails become caught
in the wire. Tenderness, bleeding, and infection may result.
Q. Why don't wild rabbits have long nails?
A. Because they wear them off.
Q. How do you determine the proper length to cut the nail?
A. Cut them back just in front of the part with blood supply. This is
called the cone area of the nail and can easily be seen when held up to
the light.
Q. What type of equipment could be used to trim the nails?
A. Regular finger nail clippers or a dog's nail trimmers.
Q. How often should you trim a rabbit's toenails?
A. Whenever they start getting long. Some rabbits need to be clipped
every six months or more.
RECOGNIZING THE NORMAL RABBIT
Important Fact:
Rabbit producers who can recognize the characteristics of a normal healthy
rabbit will more readily be able to identify changes when they occur.
Questions to Ask
Q. What stance is normal?
A. Rabbit may sits with hind legs hidden under bellies and forelegs in
front of chests. Some "flip" onto a side to sleep when really
tired. Others may "sit up" on hind legs. The top line is normally
rounded and the ears may be erect or flop down on the breed.
Q. What is the normal gait of a rabbit?
A. Usually it is a hop but it also may appear to walk when moving slowly
to nibble grass.
Q. What disease might cause a loss in weight?
A. Several diseases may cause loss of weight including parasitism.
Q. What is the rabbit's normal fur condition?
A. Smooth and glossy. A 6-to-15-week-old normally sheds fur.
Q. What might scruffy fur indicate?
A. Ringworm, fungal disease, ear mites, ticks, nutritional deficiencies.
Q. What color and condition should the rabbit's skin and mucous membranes
be?
The rabbits skin and mucous membranes which line all body openings such
as the eye, ear, nose, mouth, rectum, and vagina should be pink and moist.
Q. What are the two types of fecal droppings a rabbit releases?
A. During the day the droppings are round, firm, black, and dry. At night,
softer, more brown, moist droppings are released and reingested by the
rabbit. This unique practice called coprophagy results in the rabbit not
losing as many nutrients and vitamins as would occur otherwise.
Q. What are some examples of abnormal body discharges?
A. Feces containing blood or mucous and runny feces may be signs of mucoid
enteritis, coccidiosis, or pneumonia. A vaginal discharge such as pus,
pasteurellosis.
Q. What are several rabbit sounds?
A. Grunts, growls, screams.
Q. How do you take a rabbit's temperature?
A. Lubricate a rectal thermometer with Vaseline and insert to about one
inch in the rectum. Remove after two or three minutes and read the temperature.
Prepared by
Gregory Reed, Director
Farmers Home Administration Technical Assistance Program
The information given is for educational purposes only. References to
commercial products or trade names are made with the understanding that
not discrimination is intended of other products that may also be suitable.
Alcorn State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color,
national origin, sex, age, handicap and veteran status and is an equal
opportunity employer.
Publication 405
( Rev. 10M-18-94)
