HaloRabbits- Rabbit Journal

[HaloRabbits]

No, there is nothing for her to catch her head on. They aren't broken, sometimes she holds them right it is so strange lol.
I read one person said that their rabbit could hold them up or down like they just had extra control over them or something. Then I read that it is possible that maybe the nerves could be weakened.

They are New Zealand rabbits. Mother and father both have fine ears. These are the parents.

 

[Bunnylady]

Ears that fall on non-lop breeds aren't uncommon, particularly in hot areas. People who work with breeds that are supposed to have largish ears carried in a V shape deal with this all the time. I have had more trouble with this on my Harlequins, and I know English Angora breeders who will tape the ears of their young rabbits together to try to keep them from going down. Rumor has it that ears that grow during hot weather are longer and thinner than those that are grown during the cold months; whether that has been documented or whether that's just a "hutch myth," I have no idea. Rabbits lose a lot of heat through their ears, so making bigger radiators if they seem to be necessary does make a certain amount of sense. It certainly seems that juniors growing up during hot weather have bigger ears than their cold-weather counterparts, but I have never actually measured them to see.

As far as the health, stamina, etc, of a meat rabbit, I would not worry about fallen ears at all. The ligaments of the ears can get loosened/stretched any number of ways, even by others in the litter climbing on top of each other. A heat-stressed rabbit will sit with its ears as far apart as they can go, you may even see the tips of the ears curling over from the weight and possibly dehydration. Once the ligaments lose the ability to hold the ear up, it hardy ever comes back fully, but that doesn't mean that there is anything "weak" about the rabbit at all.

The only time that lopping ears on a non-lop breed are an issue is on a show table, where it's a DQ.

 

[HaloRabbits]

That is great to hear because other than her ears, she has a lot of what I want to keep in our heard and we wanted to keep one doe. Most of this litter is broken but I already have 3 broken breeders and do not want any more. Ill check her weight and teeth before deciding for sure. We planned to dispatch at 9-10 weeks so I will just wait until then.

 

[LocoYokel]

Great journal!
Did Tres get pregnant? Impatiently waiting for baby pics over here... can't wait to see what colors they may be.

 

[HaloRabbits]

We weighed Tres again this past weekend, she has gained a lot of weight and belly feels much tighter than before. She is due on Tuesday the 6th!

One of the boys from her last litter is a gold tipped black steel, OMG he is so cute! I will add pics this weekend when I can get out to take pictures. I wish he was a doe, no more room for bucks at the moment. My dad really likes the steel and would love more of that color, but we would have to build more cages. Like ASAP.

And now the breeder I got my starter rabbits from has texted me asking if I want some blues as she will be coming to town this week (she is located in WV and I am in NC). What to do? haha

 

[LocoYokel]

Yay Tres! I would love to see a pic of the gold-tipped boy. I had a blue from Tilda's first litter, this litter also has one but this time it had gold tips with the blue eyes. Am I wrong thinking that a lilac? I am very uneducated when it comes to rabbit colors but doesn't that mean both the doe and buck must carry the dilute gene as it is recessive?
I digress, hey, if dad likes the steel and has a hammer...
Rabbit Math!

 

[Bunnylady]

Yay Tres! I would love to see a pic of the gold-tipped boy. I had a blue from Tilda's first litter, this litter also has one but this time it had gold tips with the blue eyes. Am I wrong thinking that a lilac? I am very uneducated when it comes to rabbit colors but doesn't that mean both the doe and buck must carry the dilute gene as it is recessive?
I digress, hey, if dad likes the steel and has a hammer...
Rabbit Math!

You are correct in thinking that a blue (or any dilute color) in a litter means that both parents carry the dilution gene. But if your rabbit has any color other than blue-gray showing in its fur, it's not a blue. Gold tips could mean it's a blue steel. Lilac is the dilute form of chocolate; it's an all over sort of pinkish, dove-gray color.

But you ain't kiddin' on the rabbit math!

 

[HaloRabbits]

I caved and we are getting a blue doe from her Friday! We will build a couple new cages on Saturday. She will hopefully be fine with our grow outs for that one night. They are all the same age ~9 weeks.

 

[HaloRabbits]

We named the Blue doe Aoki. She is super sweet and all the babies got along great. Some of them went to freezer camp, well all except Aoki and the doe from that litter that we decided to keep.

Pictured are the gold tipped black steel buckling ( I really wanted to keep him but no more room for bucks) and the new doe Aoki.

 

[HaloRabbits]

Having trouble breeding our young does, will post a question on this. But in case one of you can help:

We have some young does ~5 months old. We tried to breed one two days ago and she wouldn't lift. So the next day we tried again, same thing. So we tried another doe that is the same age as her and she didn't lift either. Multiple sources I read said we could breed at this age, so I am unsure what the issue may be. Our first doe we got last year was already bred when we got her, so this is my first time dealing with young/unproven/virgin does. What can I do?