Weird, :( rip mocha

[Bunnylady]

Hi Bunnylady, I leaned that the hard way in the '80s when I had 31 fr. lops from 3 different lines from Georgia, Virginia and Tennessee. I could not escape malocclusion! To heartbreaking to go though a litter at 8-10 wks old and cull such beautiful bunnies. I sold them all. I still miss them, they were so sweet! I have one now for a pet. He's sweet too and gives me lots of good memories

I had a friend that was fascinated with chocolate and harlequins (but was hopeless with genetics); she wanted me to breed some chocolate magpies from some harlequin dwarfs she had. I checked and checked when they were young, some seemed like their teeth were perfectly fine, but by the time they were of breeding age, every dang one of them had bad teeth. I finally just had to abandon the project - it was too frustrating!

 

[Gagroundhog]

Hi Bunnylady,what a shame. I bet they were beautiful! I'm having to replace my current rabbits b/c of bad hearts. They live about a year or less then die or send them to freezer camp b/c they aren't looking so good only to find their hearts are bubbled out on one side. They are only mutt rabbits but I like them. They are sweet and easy to handle. I want to find some more to spoil that will be healthy and live longer. Ive been reading breed profiles, its so hard to choose! I love the cinnamon, all the NZ and I didn't know there was a broken Nz. Very pretty! Heck I like them all! I have had dutch, mini rex, mini lop and a few other assorted dwarf breeds people gave me after Easter when their kids grew tired of them. Maybe the new year will bring a new breed my way that I can enjoy......... IF I could ever decide on one. What breed(s) do you have now? I have admired harliquins along time but never had any and please excuse my ignorance but is magpie a color or a breed? or both?

 

[Prairiechick]

Am I missing something? What breed was this? How old was he? If it was a Dwarf(Mini) breed, is it possible this may have been a peanut and just held on a long time?

 

[bluemini]

Am I missing something? What breed was this? How old was he? If it was a Dwarf(Mini) breed, is it possible this may have been a peanut and just held on a long time?

He was a full size rabbit,bigger than the doe by a few inches,just took him a while to grow. He was a holland lop. Def not a peanut

 

[bluemini]

I would say it was his teeth,he was always a little"thin" but nothing to this extent. The female is still doing great,her teeth are fine.

When I burried him,his teeth were out,like past his bottom lip.I see them everyday and never noticed it though?But the breeder checked his teeth and not the does for some reason,I think she knew,thats why he was cheaper!

 

[bluemini]

I got him in october and he was at LEAST 3-4 months then.

 

[DianeS]

I'm sorry to hear of your loss. It's so frustrating, isn't it?

If you suspect the breeder knew about the bad teeth but did not tell you about them, I'd make sure not to buy any of their rabbits again. Even if they're typically good lines, dealing with a deceptive (even by omission) breeder just isn't worth the trouble. Even if he "grew out of" the problem, you should have been told it existed when he was younger.

 

[bluemini]

I'm sorry to hear of your loss. It's so frustrating, isn't it?

If you suspect the breeder knew about the bad teeth but did not tell you about them, I'd make sure not to buy any of their rabbits again. Even if they're typically good lines, dealing with a deceptive (even by omission) breeder just isn't worth the trouble. Even if he "grew out of" the problem, you should have been told it existed when he was younger.

Yes,awful! And i drove over 3 hours to get them,just so disappointing

 

[Bunnylady]

It's also possible that the breeder checked him because he was still growing, but since the doe was more mature, she felt reasonably assured about what was going on there. The line of Dwarfs I referred to was the first time I'd ever seen mouths go "off" past the age of 3-4 months. I'd always seen signs of trouble well before that age previously.


Amy - Harlequin is a breed, but it is also a color (or more specifically, a pattern). When the lighter color is fawn or orange, we call it a Japanese, when it's white, that's a Magpie. So a Black Japanese is black and orange, and a Blue Magpie is gray and white. (That's how it works in the US, anyway, I understand that in Europe, the Magpie is a separate breed). Some breeds like the Mini Rex and some Lops come in tricolor, which is genetically a broken harlequin, but the plain harlies aren't showable in those breeds. Some people enjoy breeding a certain breed/color, whether it's showable or not, and this is the case with the harlequin Dwarfs. Even tri's aren't recognized in the Netherland Dwarf.

 

[Gagroundhog]

Bluemini I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year that includes a new happy healthy bunny in it!

Bunnylady, thank you, they sound beautiful, very interesting. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May we all have a happy healthy successful year with our bunnies this year