# Brand new to rabbits, breed help



## lindseykaye05 (Feb 19, 2010)

Hi, I am brand new (as in last night at 10pm) to rabbits and am hoping for some help.  I got this rabbit off craigslist, the family was moving and couldn't keep it any more.  They got it 1 year ago from a feed store.  I was wondering if you guys had any idea what breed it is. 






[/img]


----------



## Bunnylady (Feb 19, 2010)

Offhand, I'd guess a pet quality Holland Lop.

I'd also say his color looks chocolate, and he was probably kept where he was exposed to sunlight to have faded that much!


----------



## JoieDeViveRabbitry (Feb 20, 2010)

See to me he looks like a Holland lop Mix of some kind with those airplane ears... Even most of the poor quality hollands have actual lop ears...

 And he could very well be sunbleached or he could be a poor harlequin...

 Could be half Halequin half Holland! LOL


 Is it a buck or a doe?

 Also, be careful with the towel... Rabbits LOVE to chew and towel bits in his system would not be good!

 IF predetors are an issue in your area, you will certainly want to bump up that chicken wire to something like hardware cloth or 1"X1" rabbit cage wire...
 Even the rabbits can chew through chicken wire.

 Always remember that rabbits are the ultimate prey animal and that EVERYTHING loves a free rabbit dinner!

 Good luck with him/her? Any names?


----------



## Bunnylady (Feb 20, 2010)

Twenty years ago, when I first started breeding Hollands Lops, we saw a lot of Hollands that looked just like this guy. Relatively narrow through the muzzle, "rug muncher" horizontal posture, and a narrow, "slipped" crown that causes the ears to go forward like the blinders on a harness horse. Holland Lops often retain a certain amount of ear control, especially when exited, and judges are instructed to let them settle down on the show table before assessing ear carriage, particularly on young animals. Believe it or not, I have known people that would tape coins to the ears of their Holland babies, to encourage their ears to go down and _stay_ down! I handled an awful lot of Holland babies with what I called "Weeble ears" (that wobble but won't go down!!)

Odds are, you won't ever see an animal with this type at a rabbit show today, even in the "For Sale as Pet Only" cages. The Holland head of today is bigger and wider, and as Jenna said, their ears almost always go down. The "correct"  posture for a Holland is sitting up, much as a dog sits. A rabbit that sits like this might be taught to pose correctly, but there are skeletal reasons that this position is more comfortable, and a judge would pick up on them. I still think this rabbit's parents could both be Holland Lops, but I suspect it came from a "me, too" breeder rather than a person with show stock. 

 I'm sure Jenna's comment about a half Holland, half Harlequin was meant as a joke, but (since I have bred Harlies for as long as I have bred Hollands, and have much more experience showing them) I am sure that this rabbit  doesn't have any Harlequin in it. The body is all wrong, for one thing. The patches of color just don't look like the kind of thing the harlequin gene does, either in my Harlies or my harlequin-patterned Mini Rex. You can't show a harlequin MR, but when you combine the harlequin with the broken pattern, you get what is called a tricolor, and that _is_ showable, both in the Mini Rex and the Holland Lop.


----------



## JoieDeViveRabbitry (Feb 21, 2010)

"Rug Muncher" posture... Had me DYING 


 I was TOTALLY joking about the Half Harl/Half Holland... What a mess that would be! 

 It never fails to amaze me how sunbleaching can make such interesting patterns... I have alot of experience with Newfoundland Dogs and we saw it alot in Bronzes, the sunbleaching on some would make them look nearly brindle!! 

 Now, on the comment of the "body being all wrong"...

 I have a half French Angora half Standard Rex doe, broken Copper...
 Her body is ALL FA, but with ALL Rex fur! 
 My point was that it is possible to have a mix that could have totally one breeds body with the others pattern or fur, but you are correct that the propsed joked Jap Harl pattern is all wrong in this case...


----------



## lindseykaye05 (Feb 21, 2010)

Thank you all so much!  The rabbit is a girl and her name is Brownie.  

I took the towel away from her yesterday.  It was in her cage when we got her so I wanted to let her keep it for a little bit just for comfort.  Then I realized it was completely soaked with her urine so it went in the trash asap.

We are keeping her in the garage for now but will be moving her outside.  I will get some better wire up around her cage before we do though.  

I am really wanting to get into meat rabbit breeds.  I don't want to sell them, I just want to have them so I can live off the land a little more.  I am guessing it would not be a good idea to get a California or NZ and breed it with this one?

Thanks again for all your help, I really apprecaite it.


----------



## embkm (Feb 21, 2010)

Hi and welcome to BYH!  I have a Brownie too... she gave me 6 babies on Wednesday night!

I wouldn't breed a NZ buck to a Holland Lop doe... I think the buck should be close to the same size so the babies aren't too big for the doe to deliver.


----------



## kelsystar (Feb 24, 2010)

Is that a little bit of fuzz around her neck and behind her ears? Could be part Lionhead.


----------



## Bunnylady (Feb 25, 2010)

kelsystar said:
			
		

> Is that a little bit of fuzz around her neck and behind her ears? Could be part Lionhead.


No, the fuzz on the top of her head is the "crown" that all lops have. She also has a fairly broad jaw, which is also typical of lops.


----------

