I have an untried trio of rabbits I was hoping to breed next week. I live in northeast Kansas and like the rest of the US we've had lots of really hot days this summer, and we are expecting another round of 95-100 degree days next week. I've recently read about heat induced infertility and how it can affect bucks up to 5 months later! Is this really something I need to worry about? I figured I would have to wait at least until this next heat wave was over, but should I wait even longer?

Clipping the incisors does not “fix” malocclusion. It shortens the visible crowns. The underlying occlusal problem can remain, and the cheek teeth need to be evaluated as well. Rabbits can develop abnormal cheek-tooth wear, elongated crowns, hooks and sharp spurs that traumatize the tongue and cheeks. The photos here are an example of what can be happening farther back in the mouth while someone is concentrating on the front teeth. More importantly, routinely clipping rabbit incisors with nail clippers is specifically discouraged in current veterinary literature because the tooth can fracture or split, damaging the pulp or root. Proper dental treatment involves examination of the entire mouth, often diagnostic imaging, and appropriate reduction with dental equipment or extraction when indicated. It is not simply “clip the teeth and the rabbit is fine.” Whether an individual rabbit should receive lifelong veterinary dental management or be humanely euthanized is a welfare decision based on the severity, prognosis and feasibility of treatment. But presenting repeated home clipping as though it cures the underlying dental problem is simply incorrect. because a rabbit is not a tiny horse or dog. Rabbit dentition and skull anatomy are fundamentally different. Their teeth are continuously growing, and malocclusion is not simply a matter of cosmetically straightening crooked incisors. The entire relationship between the jaws, incisors and cheek teeth determines how those continuously growing teeth wear. Orthodontic braces also require repeated manipulation, adjustments and long-term treatment. Rabbits are prey animals that can experience substantial stress from restraint and oral procedures, and dental work may require sedation or anesthesia. Even if someone could technically fabricate an orthodontic appliance, “technically possible” does not automatically mean humane, practical, or capable of correcting the underlying abnormal jaw relationship. The welfare question is not “can we keep this rabbit alive?” Modern medicine can keep a lot of animals alive. The question is whether repeated invasive intervention gives the rabbit a better life than humane euthanasia. Sometimes treatment is appropriate. Sometimes the kinder decision is to stop treating a permanent structural defect as a maintenance project.

One of the easiest traps in breeding color and fur breeds is becoming so focused on what is on the outside that the rabbit underneath it gets forgotten. A beautiful coat cannot compensate for poor structure. In breeds where color, markings, wool, or fur quality carry a large portion of the Standard of Perfection, breeders can become intensely focused on improving those traits while type quietly deteriorates generation after generation. Eventually there are beautifully colored rabbits sitting on weak frames: less bone, reduced size and muscle mass, low or dipping shoulders, weak feet and pasterns, pinched hindquarters, hollow loins, narrow bodies, and poor overall balance. That is backwards. Build the barn before painting it. Correct structure has to come first. Breeding stock should have adequate bone, strong straight legs, sound feet, proper width, good depth, a well-filled loin, strong hindquarters, appropriate muscling, and the balance expected for the breed. Once that foundation exists, then refine color, markings, wool, fur texture, density, or whatever specialized trait makes that breed distinctive. This is particularly important in breeds where breeders have enormous pressure to chase appearance. Harlequins can have gorgeous markings and still be poorly built. Angoras can carry spectacular wool and still lack the body underneath it. Champagne and other color-focused breeds can have beautiful surface color while losing the substance and commercial structure that should support it. A rabbit does not become quality simply because the difficult color genetics finally lined up. Breed standards are not permission to disregard everything that received fewer points. Points determine placement in the showroom. They should not become a breeding philosophy where one highly visible characteristic is improved at the expense of soundness. Breeders also need to be willing to make difficult selections. A spectacularly marked rabbit with poor feet, weak shoulders, pinched hips, a hollow loin, insufficient bone, or seriously deficient type should not automatically become breeding stock simply because the color is valuable.

One of the biggest mistakes people make when getting started with rabbits is buying the rabbits first and figuring out the setup afterward. A good rabbit setup starts with the boring stuff: housing that stays clean and dry, good airflow, reliable water, a nutritionally complete pellet, and enough cage space for the rabbit to move normally without creating a sanitation nightmare. Wire cages are not automatically “bad housing.” Properly sized, well-built wire cages have been used successfully in rabbit production for generations because they allow urine and feces to leave the living surface, make individual rabbits easier to monitor, and dramatically simplify sanitation. The important questions are wire gauge, floor support, cage size, cleanliness, ventilation and whether the rabbit is actually thriving in that system. The same goes for feeding. A rabbit does not need a Pinterest-worthy salad bar to have a good diet. Start with a properly formulated rabbit pellet and clean water. Learn what is actually in the feed before adding handfuls of treats, vegetables, supplements and random forage. More ingredients do not automatically make a diet better. And probably the most underrated beginner skill: LOOK AT YOUR RABBITS. Know how much they normally eat and drink. Know what their normal manure looks like. Put your hands on them. Check feet, teeth, body condition, coat and vent. A rabbit quietly losing weight in the back of a cage can look perfectly fine until it suddenly isn't. Good rabbit keeping isn't about making the setup look appealing to humans. It's about building a system where problems are easy to prevent, easy to see and easy to correct. So for the experienced rabbit people here: if someone handed you a brand-new rabbit owner and you could give them ONE piece of advice before they bought their first rabbit, what would it be?

Rabbit Slaughter Methods: What the Evidence Actually Shows Rabbit slaughter is one of those subjects where terminology matters. Stunning, killing, cervical dislocation, exsanguination and strangulation are not interchangeable procedures. A humane slaughter method should render the animal unconscious rapidly, keep it insensible until death, and have a sufficiently large margin of reliability that a competent operator can recognize and immediately correct a failed attempt. For this overview I am using two different kinds of sources. The USDA humane-slaughter framework is used as a general benchmark for what humane livestock slaughter is intended to accomplish: the animal should be rendered insensible to pain by a rapid and effective physical, electrical, chemical or other method before invasive processing begins. I am not presenting that statute as a rabbit-specific legal requirement. Rabbits occupy a different regulatory category and federal rabbit inspection is voluntary. The 2024 AVMA Guidelines for the Humane Slaughter of Animals, particularly the rabbit-specific section on pages 80–82, are used for the actual discussion of rabbit methods and effectiveness. The AVMA guidance reviews rabbit-specific research rather than simply extrapolating from cattle, poultry or other livestock. Cervical dislocation Cervical dislocation is probably the best-known small-farm rabbit slaughter method. This includes manual techniques and mechanically assisted methods. Broomstick-style methods and commercial devices such as cervical-dislocation tools work on the same basic principle, although published effectiveness figures should not automatically be applied to every homemade or commercial device. Proper cervical dislocation is not strangulation. The objective is rapid separation at the upper cervical region, disrupting communication between the brain and spinal cord and producing rapid loss of sensibility. Strangulation instead causes progressive hypoxia while the animal remains conscious for a period of time.