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The first time anyone sees rabbits mate, they are initially shocked and then usually they start laughing hysterically as the buck (male rabbit) falls over after successfully mating. If you haven’t seen it, I’ll include a few videos below.
A male rabbit (Buck) falls off of the female rabbit (Doe) after successfully mating. The fall is often dramatic, either straight backward or off to the side. Sometimes the buck even faints for a few moments.
This action of falling over after breeding is referred to as a “fall off”.
A male rabbit falls off after mating because of a systematic tensing and relaxing of his muscles. During mating, the bucks muscles get progressively tenser, and upon successfully mating all of those muscles clench up completely and then relax completely causing the rabbit to fall off.
The buck falling off after breeding happens nearly 100% of the time following successful breeding and is totally natural.
It’s also nothing to worry about, even if the fall is dramatic and even if it’s followed by a short fainting spell.
But it is really funny.
Here are some videos of rabbits breeding complete with dramatic fall-offs. Enjoy!
P.S. Here is a link to information about breeding rabbits from Michigan State University which I used as research for this article.
Hello. I am new to rabbits and have a question. We put a doe in with our buck for the first time for both of them. She lets him mount fine….he mounts but is not successful after two or three attempts then quits. The research I’ve seen says the buck will mount, do his thing then fall off. That’s how you know he was successful. He mounts but acts like nothing happened. Just goes about his business. That was the first time we tried. We tried again the next day with NO interest at all about mounting her. We tried a new doe but NO interest for mounting. Not even one attempt. Any suggestions? (Both rabbits are 6 months old and new to breeding)