TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR RAISING HEALTHY RABBITS

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Most rabbit raisers use commercially prepared feed, because the storebought pellets provide plenty of vital protein and are a completely balanced diet as well. To be dead honest about it, putting together a do-it-yourself rabbit feed that includes all the correct amounts of digestible nutrients, protein, minerals, vitamins, and sheer food energy—and at the same time avoids poisonous weeds, mold, or other toxins—is simply too difficult a task for the average guy or gal.

You can, of course, supplement your critters' meals with an occasional helping of root crops, green vegetables, and bits of hay. (WARNING: Greens will give young bunnies a severe case of diarrhea.) Keep in mind, though, that any time you add such a treat to your rabbits' ration, you will undoubtedly be decreasing the total percentage of protein in the animals' overall diet.

Baby bunnies should be given free access to all the feed they can eat ... to help them grow as quickly as possible. But don't overfeed your adults, because obesity is one of the most prevalent causes of infertility in both male and female rabbits. An adult buck or "dry" doe should be fed about three to six ounces of pellets a day, a pregnant female needs five to ten ounces daily, and nursing mothers may require as much as 20 ounces. (It's best to tape "ration sheets" right to your feeders ... so you know how much food each animal should get.)

One last note about rabbits' eating habits: You may one day notice that the critters are coprophagous (in other words, they eat their own fecal matter). This "recycling" process is a necessary part of the animals' digestive cycle that provides—among other essentials—niacin and riboflavin, so don't interpret the habit as a sign of ill health. On the other hand, don't worry if you never see co prophagy, either ... rabbits tend to engage in this (as well as most other feeding) at night, and are able to get the job done even in wire-bottomed cages.

VII. BE AWARE OF YOUR ANIMALS' CYCLES

All rabbit raisers should pay close attention to their critters' reproductive life patterns. Mature "hoppers" can be bred year round. Does actually don't ovulate until ten hours after they're bred, so every mating union should be a fertile one ... providing neither animal is overweight and the buck has not been exposed to too much hot weather (as with many animals, excess heat causes shortterm sterility in male rabbits).

You can tell whether your doe is "in the family way" by giving her a checkup two weeks after her mating. At that time place the animal on a table, restrain her with a one-handed scruff-of-the-neck grasp, and "palpate" her belly with the other hand: that is, squeeze gently and slide your hand from the lower rib cage back and up to the pelvic region, feeling carefully for any marblesized placentas.

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