I've read that rabbits ought not to be bred brother to sister. Does anyone know if half brother to half sister is acceptable? Thanks!

-- Doreen (bisquit@here.com), November 30, 2001

Answers

Are you breeding for a breed or for meat. I for meat I see no problem with bro. to Sis

-- grant (organicgrange@yahoo.com), December 01, 2001.

I'm breeding for sale and for meat, so I am concerned about making sure that the lines are all right. thanks!

-- Doreen (bisquit@here.com), December 03, 2001.

I don't think that would be a problem. Do they have the same dad or mom?

-- Katie B. (babykatie101@hotmail.com), November 18, 2002.

hi i breed for meat only for years and i have had no problem with in breeding your stock /let me know how you get on i breed canadian and nz whites ,ihave tried others but i find these the easiest and better eating good luck mick tas australia

-- mick (tillie@iprimus.com.au), February 11, 2003.

breeding rabbits for meat is wrong i think rabbits are cudly sweet and wonderful playful pets not for eating!!!

-- timothy scott buchanan (spongebob1028b@insightbb.com), February 26, 2003.

In my country, not much research has been carried out on rabbit breeding but in my opinion I would say that that is acceptable to enhance hybrid viguor with minimal deviaton from the pure line

-- katherine Pam (gistwithkate@yahoo.com), March 06, 2003.

I think that would be okay, I know mother to son and father to daughter are okay but i am not sure but I think it would be fine just to be sure you might want to ask your local vet

-- hannah Kettering (daly10358@earthlink.net), March 09, 2003.

In the wild you can't control who breds with who and I don't think a rabbit can tell the difference, but as far as breeding for a pet it seems like it could cause defects!!! But thats my opinion I don't take that chance when I breed for pets!!!

-- Missy (missy_mom2001@yahoo.com), March 28, 2003.

Do you breed for meat and pets? don't u find it heartbreaking having these cute wee rabbits and knowing they will be killed and eaten instead of having loveing homes? i've just started breeding rabbits for pets. I think you should try to only breed rabbits they arn't related, its in the best interest of the rabbits. Think about them. Bec

-- bec (butterfly_25_12@hotmail.com), April 02, 2003.

I just starting breeding rabbits a few months ago. I started with two males and a female, all un-related, I took females from one litter, and bred them with the other male, and vise-versa, that way nobody is related, as I sell for pets.

-- mandy (mandelyn_82@yahoo.com), April 10, 2003.

Hello I breed rabbits for pets and show.I think it is horrible to breed them for meat.They don't deserve a short life such as this.If you are wanting to breed rabbits for whatever reason,please do not breed them for meat.

-- Alyak Eus Strebor (alyakstrebor@aol.com), April 11, 2003.

IF you are going to breed rbbits for meet you r a ugly horrible minded person to kill a rabbit that dosn't even have that much meat

-- jamie harrobits (blumpbunny@wanabee.com), May 18, 2003.

dont breed any rabbit that share the same mother or father it can cause genetic defects later in the generations if you are just going to breed for meat i suppose genetics doesnt mean much but if you are selling to others for pets they may want to use them later in a breeding program. best of luck

-- taneal young (teetzy2000@yahoo.com), May 25, 2003.

I think Many of you shoudn't even be in rabbits,first off when you get into rabbits you must understand not all rabbits are going to be pets. Breeding father to daughter,mother to son is fine. there will not be any genetic defects, if you start off with a good line. but do not cross brother to sis,but you can cross half siblings. most people over breed and end up having to knock the bunny in the head sounds sick right. so be sure your breeding for a purpose.

-- Michele Sonnen (mrsonn@yahoo.com), June 06, 2003.

slut of the yeAR

-- jack (simpson@hotmail.com), July 02, 2003.

I agree that breeding rabbits for meat is wrong. My little couple is adorable and I couldn't imagine anyone doing any harm to them.

And yes, father to daughter and Mother to Son Breeding is fine, but not Brother to Sister as the rate of Birth Defects can be high even in a clean line. You're just adding to the chances of them having problems.

-- Matthew Egan (elseplace@mac.com), July 07, 2003.

I don't see why people think it is wrong to breed meat rabbits. Animals were created for food. It is the same for producing cattle and swine for food. I have many pet rabbits and am very interested in breeding meat rabbits. I plan to start soon so that I can take them to auction.

-- Kara Leavitt (Degulover@centralpets.com), September 06, 2003.

I have no problem with people breeding rabbits for meat. Afterall they are animals. I would never breed my two lovely Holland Lops for meat but I do not have a problem with people that do. How do they taste?

-- tami (tvp83@yahoo.com), September 15, 2003.

like rabbit.

-- Stan (sopal@net-pert.com), September 18, 2003.

animal inbreeding is a interesting subject. Does anyone know the out come of inbreeding mother-son dogs?

-- Michelle (Mtovar82@AOL.com), November 28, 2003.

I had a dog who was the offspring of a mother/son. She turned out to be less then half the size of her parents(runted) but she was the best dog I ever had. Very smart and lived a long healthy life.

As for the bunny lovers. There are chicken lovers who think eating chickens is wrong too. Oh well...

-- easycheezy (trot@hotmail.com), December 03, 2003.

i breed show rabbits not meat, but for all of you on here saying how terrible people are for breeding meat rabbits i hope you're all vegitarians..if not then you're hypocrits becuase every animal could be a pet whether it be a cow or pig and i don't see people boycotting ranchers.its life. sad yes. but get over it

-- shallon (pmrabbitry@hotmail.com), December 12, 2003.

I have had pet cows, chickens, pigs, ducks and horses. Chickens are quite intelligent and make great pets, as do Muscovy ducks, pigs are as smart as dogs. All my farm animals were intended for meat, but they had very loving healthy living conditions during their lives, not like the corporate farms that produce meat for McDonalds etc...Our rabbits are not for meat, they are wonderful pets and I wouldn't eat them, however, my grandmothers rural family survived because of them as do many third world nations. Perhaps if things get worse I will need to as well, but they will be well cared for during their lives and culled decently.

-- Mitch Antonello (prima@dowco.com), January 13, 2004.

im raisen meat rabbits for an SAE project for the FFA. so i can breed the 2 initial rabbits i buy toghether and then breed one of them with their kids then breed the kid's offspring too the to the kids litter and so on and that would be fine?

-- matt justice (awesomearcher07@aol.com), June 13, 2004.

you can't breed animals back in the family like you mention. it causes deforms in the blood line and the offspring will suffer.

-- joe stamps (joe@ind.net), June 13, 2004.

Its not hypocritical at all to not agree with breeding rabbits for meat, there is plenty of meat out there already to eat so its not like you are going to starv (apart from third world countries where its acceptable). And if your a so called responsible breeder whether meat, pet or show then spend some of that money you are making on buying more cages and more rabbits instead of breeding siblings. we are breeding rabbits for pets and would not dream of breeding brothers and sisters, mothers or fathers with each other.

-- J (keakahona@aol.com), June 18, 2004.

I breed large amounts of rabbits. The only no no in breeding is to breed litter mates, anything else is totally acceptable and will not degrade the blood line. If breeding for show you don't want the same buck or doe for 4 generations, but you do want to keep the BEST traits in the lines. As far as breeding for meat.

I breed rabbits for profit, where the money comes from doesn't really make a difference. If you look at the number of cats and dogs and other animals that are killed each year because of lack of good homes, then eating a bunny to keep it from the dumpster is at least a much better ending. When you have 100 does and they are bred every 1.5 months and you end up with 700 - 900 kits every month and a half, then selling for meat isn't a bad thing. If it comes down to a starving person or a dead bunny .... I choose the dead bunnie. Also rabbit meat is very healthy. Oh and all of my rabbits enjoy a very nice life.

-- Don (webrunner06@hotmail.com), August 09, 2004.

half brother to half sisiter is fine and so is father/daughter mother/son, you can breed full siblings but later down the line it can cause birth defects as well as if your breeding for show it doesn't look very good on a pedigree

-- Jess (crash_course46@yahoo.ca), August 29, 2004.

i am just starting out breeding rabbits. and i have read that you aren't supposed to breed sis to bro but i think half sis and half bro are still the same lines

-- holly morgan (christina.morgan@tesco.net.com), August 30, 2004.

OMG, you all are a bunch of babies about rabbit meat. Do you feel sorry for the cows, pigs or chickens that are killed for meat? Well grow up and get a life we are all part of the food chain! As far as inbreeding and linebreeding there is a difference. Linebreeding is when you breed rabbits to other rabbits from the same line. Inbreeding is when you breed siblings together or parents to offspring. I have done both with my rabbits and have see wonderful results. I have bred siblings, half siblings, parents to offspring and so on with not a problem at all. So get over all of you issues and go on with life. :)

-- Stacy (librarian@yahoo.com), September 03, 2004.