Expert: Kelly - 9/1/2008

Question
hia
i have been trying to breed my two netherland dwarfs but instead of mating the have been fighting. At first i put the girl in the boys hutch just like it says everywhere on the internet but the girl attack the boy and they started fighting so i had to seperate them. I then took them to my room with the boy in a small wire cage to give them a chance to talk to each other but the girl tried to attack the boy again and they both came out of it with scratched noses. I have now left them out side next to each other in their runs (far anough away so they can do no damage) but they are still acting aggresive.
is there a way for them to like each other? and what am i doing wrong?
please help as these are my only breeding pair and the are a rare orange color that took me ages to find.
thank you ever so much
vivien

Answer
Hello,

Sometimes females can act aggressive towards the male as part of the mating process. Small bites, scratches and scuffles can be expected. You did the right thing by taking the female to the male's cage.

Just be sure to watch them and be ready to separate them if the fight seems to turn too aggressive. Basically, as long as the fight does not turn bloody they are probably fine.

After a few minutes of fighting, the doe normally calms down and allows the male to mate. My thought it you were probably concerned about one getting hurt and stopped the process before they were able to calm down and mate. As I said, just let them do their thing while you keep a watchful eye.

I have raised rabbits for nearly 15 years and have only had one case where I needed to remove the doe for the safety of the buck. A month later I tried to rebred her and she was fine.

Kelly