breeding lionhead and a rex, bad combination?

[21]

Also in the chance that you breed your rabbits before me (which will probably happen) let me know how it goes! If you still decide to do the lionhead and rex upload some pictures! Even if you dont choose those still upload the pics cus theyre going to be cute lol

 

[bluemini]

Your welcome,and I will upload pics . We dont have any petstores,well we have one about an hour away but he is really expensive but always has mini rex rabbits,so if the lionheads dont work out I will go to the petstore . Good luck

 

[Bunnylady]

The gene that causes the rex coat is recessive, so if you cross a rex to any rabbit that doesn't carry a rex gene, you'll get normal-furred kits. The gene that causes the lionhead coat is dominant, so if a rabbit inherits the lionhead gene, it will show it.

If someone crossed a rex-coated rabbit to a rabbit with a lionhead coat and got rex-coated babies, then the lionhead was carrying a rex gene. Since this lionhead was a cross, it also makes sense that only some of the babies wound up with manes, too.

Teddy lionheads have lots of wool. If you cross a lionhead, even a teddy, to a rabbit that doesn't have a lionhead gene, you will get single-maned offspring. Most of them will wind up losing most of the mane by the time they are adults, probably just having a few wisps around the head and ears. They may be lionheads by some people's definition, but they won't have the big, poofy mane that pretty much defines the breed.

There is also the matter of type. Lionheads are supposed to have a compact, upright body, much like a Netherland Dwarf in type. Rex rabbits are bigger and longer, with a more horizontal body type. Crossing the two would result in a rabbit with type somewhere between the two.

The type issue comes up when you cross to a lop, as well. What you will have will be cross bred rabbits with normal coats. They will probably have some ear control, but the heads will likely be a bit wider than the head of a rex. Most likely, the rabbits' ears will tend to fall when the rabbit is relaxed, but not go all the way down like a purebred lop's ears would.

 

[21]

@blue mini good luck to you too! Lol lets see how this turns out...


@bunnylady youve given alot of good advice thank you. I think if anything i would breed my rex to a lop, hopefully obtain somewhat of the popular plush lop i just discovered. You say that if i do this the heads would come out a little larger, im ok if the bodies dont come out "perfect" or not what they are suppose to look like because i am not entering these bunnies in any competition im doing it soley for the experience. My only concern is will this be harmful to the kits? And major deformities? And also, if i breed my kits to eachother, or a kit to the mother and keep up this pattern, eventually will i obtain the plush lop look or just cause a mess?

 

[Bunnylady]

The kits shouldn't be "deformed;" there is nothing harmful to the rabbits about mixing breeds. But like I said, in the first generation, all of the kits will have normal coats, and probably some (or even total) ear control. If you took one of the kits and bred it back to the doe, some of the babies would get rex coats. Some people will tell you that about half of the kits will. Actually, what the ratios mean is that each baby has a 50/50 chance of having the rex coat. So, in a litter of, say, 8 kits, all of them could have rex coats, or none of them; you could have one rex and 7 normal, 2 rex and 6 normal, etc - there is no telling when your numbers are that small. If you could do the cross enough times to get 1000 babies from it, approximately 500 would have rex coats, and roughly 500 would have normal coats.

If you were to take two of the babies from this cross, and breed them together, then things get a bit more interesting. Remember, the odds really only play out when you are dealing with large numbers - a litter or two is too small a group to expect the ratios to be perfect. The odds are: 25% normal fur, without a rex gene; 50% normal fur, with a rex gene; and 25% rex coats. In a litter of 8, you may get several rexes, or none; either result is normal for a sample group that is that small. The problem, of course, is that the kits with 2 normal genes, and those with 1 normal gene and 1 rex gene will look alike. The only ones you can be absolutely sure have the rex gene, will be those that are born with rex coats.

Breeding back to the rex parent will most likely give you a higher percentage of rex babies, but of course, it increases the rex type in the babies. Babies from a lop x rex that are then bred back to a rex will likely have total ear control, and heads that are only slightly wider than the original rex parent. Not really what you want, if you are trying to create rex coated lops. Getting a good, wide head and ears that go down would probably need more influence from the lop; but the rex coat goes bye-bye in the next generation again. If you breed two babies from the original cross together, you might just get lucky, and get more lop type and the rex coat on the same babies - but then again, pigs may fly! My experience leads me to warn, that what you want is usually the last thing you see. Most likely, you will get some babies with good ear control, some with poor ear control (more lop type) some with normal coats and some with rex coats; but whether the lop ears you are looking for and the rex coat you are looking for wind up on the same baby is just a matter of luck.

It is perfectly possible to get rex-coated lops, of course; there are a bunch of people that have done it. [The Velveteen Lop (a scaled-down English Lop with the rex coat) is being developed and has been under consideration for recognition by the American Rabbit Breeders Association] You just keep doing the crosses, keep the animals that show the best combination of coat and type, and get rid of the rest. The problem is, it won't happen in a single generation; maybe not even in 4 or 5 generations. In the meantime, how many rabbits can you keep? What do you do with the extras? And of course, how many generations of inbreeding can you reasonably do without risking health problems? When you outcross, what do you cross to? It can get nutsy, and you can easily lose focus if you wind up filling your rabbitry with rabbits that you love too much to get rid of, that don't get you any further toward your goal.

Good luck!

 

[bluemini]

Thank you! Im just scared the fur is going to come out all mutated since theyre so different lol. And yes i heard to make sure the buck is smaller for safety. I put up another post you should respond and help me out!

I dont think anything would be wrong with the fur . And yeah def. make sure the buck is smaller.

Forgot to post this yesterday but , I sold someone a netherland dwarf (3lbs) then bought her back last summer,and he had bred her to a new zealand cross that was about 8 pounds or more(i had no idea) . All the babys were born dead and one took 2 days to be born,I had no idea,I thought she had them all. She was fine but it was a horrible experience .

So make sure that whatever breeds you pick,that the buck is smaller or the same size .

 

[currycomb]

you will loose the rex fur when you do not breed to a rex or a carrier of the rex gene. you will get bunnies with a bit of a mane to some looking full lionhead. you do not need a pedigreed rabbit to do what you are wanting. the lop ear rex is called a plush lop. hubby is working on that. has his first generations old enough to breed. will see what happens with that!

 

[21]

@ bunnylady thank you for all this advice you are a life saver!!
@ bluemini oh thats terrible to hear im sorry. And yes ive heard to always make sure the buck is smaller when breeding but i dont really know why i just know youre suppose to.

@ currycomb thank you for the info! But from what im hearing it sounds better and easier to go for the lop and rex. And i hope all goes well for you and your husband in your efforts to obtain the plush lop!

 

[yankee'n'moxie]

The type issue comes up when you cross to a lop, as well. What you will have will be cross bred rabbits with normal coats. They will probably have some ear control, but the heads will likely be a bit wider than the head of a rex. Most likely, the rabbits' ears will tend to fall when the rabbit is relaxed, but not go all the way down like a purebred lop's ears would.

I don't have a rex, or know anything about them, but I just wanted to comment on this. I have a Mini-Lop crossed with Flemish, and her ears are just as you described! One up, one down when I bought her, then the next day they where both down, and now they are both up! Depends on her mood!!

 

[PinkFox]

21, mabe you should start off with 1 breed of rabbit first, if you like the rex breed her to a rex.

theres alot of work that goes into developing a type for a mixed breed...

your lion head x rex mix would look like lionheads for the most part, theyd have the wrong body structure to be lionheads but they otherwise wouldnt look any different...
youd have to breed one of those liohead x rex babies BACK to a rex to even think about getting the rex coat, and even then its not guarenteed and by then youll prbably have lost the mane, giving you babies that look like every other mixed breed...

in terms of the plush lops, this is a project im personally interested in getting involved in myself and have done ALOT of reading into this.
again rex coat is resessive so breding a rex to a lop of any kind will give you a NORMAL haired rabbit...body srtucture and head would look somewhere between a lop and a rex and the ears would be somewhere in the middle (1 up 1 down, airplane or up when alert down when relaxed...)

in order to get the proper lop ears wiht the true rex coat youre going to have to breed multiple generations or rex to lop and rex x lop to rex x lop to get that combination of ears and coat. its not somehting that happens in 1 generation and theres a reaosn plush lops are hard to find...take a lot of work, multiple generatins and some clue as to how the genetics work to even consider such a project.
so my biggest question to you is...
if your new to breeding rabbits...why get into such a project right away? why not get involed in the fancy first, go to some shows get to know other breeders mabe get a couple more rex and "perfect" your rex line...then if after a couple years your still interested in plush and velveteen lops, youll at least have a better understanding of the technicalities.

just dont want you thingking hey ill breed this to this and get this and then get discouraged because the result isnt what you thought it woudl be...
and if your looking into the pet market remember Mixed breed bunnies are a dime a dozen...youll get much better sales price on good quality purebred bunnies with pedigrees...