Pink Champagne Rabbitry

We had a friend who couldn’t believe we ate our rabbits. But they are livestock!

Rabbits are one of the most sustainable meat species to raise. They have a lower environmental footprint, and with a little good and consistent care, will reward you with high quality meat for your family.

Raising rabbits as livestock, or cuniculture, is an efficient, sustainable method to produce high-protein meat, fur, and rich garden fertilizer. Requiring very little space and feed, a single breeding trio can sustainably yield dozens of pounds of meat annually.Why Raise Rabbits?Efficiency: Rabbits convert forage and commercial feed into edible meat incredibly well, often yielding a high meat-to-bone ratio.Productivity: Does can produce 3–4 litters per year. With short gestation (30–32 days), a single mother can produce 25–30+ offspring (fryers) annually.Fertilizer: Rabbit manure is considered "cold" compost, meaning it can be applied directly to garden beds without burning plants.Space-Saving: They require much less acreage than traditional livestock, making them ideal for small homesteads or urban setups.

Enterotoxemia.

I feel very strongly that every rabbit owner should be well educated on this topic.

The more I read about rabbit digestive disease, the more I believe enterotoxemia may be responsible for more sudden rabbit deaths than we realize.

Many rabbits that die suddenly never receive a necropsy, so the exact cause is often unknown. Owners may simply find a rabbit that appeared normal hours before.

So what exactly is enterotoxemia?

Enterotoxemia is a rapidly fatal condition in rabbits caused by an overgrowth of Clostridium spiroforme in the cecum, which releases a powerful iota‑like toxin. This toxin damages the intestinal lining, causes massive fluid loss, then quickly enters the bloodstream. Once that toxin circulates systemically, it causes shock, organ failure and death often within 6–12 hours of the first subtle signs.

It is most often triggered by:

• Low‑fiber, high‑carb diets
• Too many greens
• Sudden diet changes
• Stress
• Early weaning
• Inappropriate antibiotics (oral penicillins, clindamycin, etc.)

Early symptoms are extremely subtle (slightly soft stool, reduced appetite, mild lethargy), so many rabbits appear “fine” until they collapse. Because the progression is so fast and the signs are easy to miss.

From what I’ve seen and studied, I really do believe that heavy pellet diets and big, inconsistent piles of greens play a huge role in a lot of those “sudden” rabbit deaths people talk about. Rabbits need steady, long‑stem fiber to keep their gut moving the way it’s supposed to. When their diet swings toward too many pellets or watery greens, it can throw off the cecum fast, and that’s when the bad bacteria can take over. Enterotoxemia moves so quickly that most people never see the early signs they just find their rabbit gone and assume it was choking or a heart attack. Those things can happen, sure, but in my opinion they’re nowhere near as common as a gut crash that nobody realized was happening.

Please give me belly rubs!!

Mama kisses!!

Rhubarb is getting more silver. It is fun to watch them change.

Not two weeks old yet and the first one is out of the box!

Hello!! These guys will be two weeks old tomorrow