I'm currently updating the blog from Computersaurus (one of the back up computers that takes ten years to do the simplest task, so if something tragic happens you know what to blame). Anyways the reason why I'm updating my blog and not my website is because... The only computer in the house that contains the program that I use to update my website currently has it's guts spread over the kitchen table as it receives a motherboard transplant and a few upgrades. Several days ago it had a virus and died a horrible death. However soon I will be getting a laptop (this weekend) that will have my website program as well as the computer so I can update wherever I go.
So until then I do have rabbits for sale. I have several Brun bucks (like aways) and I do have a doe or two available. For Mini Rex I have a ton of juniors available both bucks and does in a variety of colours.
I do not have any litters due, and will not have any due for a while.
I am now also on the board of directors for the Dominion Rabbit and Cavy Breeder's Association.
So that's it for now, I would ad some sort of picture but Computersaurus will not let me upload anything.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
This post is not for pet lovers, or the squeamish.
I've processed the following breeds:
Satin
Mini Rex
Argente Brun
Argente Brun harlequin cross.
From these few breeds I have found that the Mini Rex have a better dress out rate than the Satins and the Cross (mine you the Mini Rex are adults at the time and a max of 4lbs) The Bruns so far have been exceptional with not only their growth rates but their dress out rate. The meat! Satins have by far been the whitest meat. Followed by the Halrequin crosses, then Mini Rex then Bruns being the darkest.
I have also been doing a little experiment with feeding my meat rabbits same with a friend of mine. Free fed rabbits Vs. Control fed Vs. Naturally fed. Vs. fed with Pet store food and treats. Or essentially all you can eat (pellets treats etc) Vs measured pellets and treats. And natural as in hay and grains and greens, and how the average pet would be fed.
I did the free fed Vs Control fed and my friend did the naturally fed Vs. Pet store fed.
What we found was free fed and pet store fed had extreme levels of internal fat and external fat. In some entire organs were completely surrounded by fat. The meat (or muscle) was also lacking compared to the rabbits the other two programs.
Control fed and naturally fed had low levels of internal fat and next to no external fat. They both had great meat (muscle mass) however control fed had a better growth rate then naturally fed.
The experiment is still ongoing.
Satin
Mini Rex
Argente Brun
Argente Brun harlequin cross.
From these few breeds I have found that the Mini Rex have a better dress out rate than the Satins and the Cross (mine you the Mini Rex are adults at the time and a max of 4lbs) The Bruns so far have been exceptional with not only their growth rates but their dress out rate. The meat! Satins have by far been the whitest meat. Followed by the Halrequin crosses, then Mini Rex then Bruns being the darkest.
I have also been doing a little experiment with feeding my meat rabbits same with a friend of mine. Free fed rabbits Vs. Control fed Vs. Naturally fed. Vs. fed with Pet store food and treats. Or essentially all you can eat (pellets treats etc) Vs measured pellets and treats. And natural as in hay and grains and greens, and how the average pet would be fed.
I did the free fed Vs Control fed and my friend did the naturally fed Vs. Pet store fed.
What we found was free fed and pet store fed had extreme levels of internal fat and external fat. In some entire organs were completely surrounded by fat. The meat (or muscle) was also lacking compared to the rabbits the other two programs.
Control fed and naturally fed had low levels of internal fat and next to no external fat. They both had great meat (muscle mass) however control fed had a better growth rate then naturally fed.
The experiment is still ongoing.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Starting to show some basics.
So you've got your great rabbit awesome but is it as great as you think it is? What is the most common things rabbits are disqualified for?
Colour: In order to show a rabbit it has to be one of the recognized varieties within that breed. Take for instance Chocolate agouti, it is showable in Rex but not Mini Rex. Also make sure the colour you think your rabbit may be is actually the correct colour. Often times I see smutty sable points listed as Siamese Sables, or Chocolate agouti listed as Red or Castor. I've even seen Torts incorrectly labelled as Harlequin. The list is endless.
Brokens: Brokens have to have more then 10% colour on their backs with colour on their nose or whisker bed, and less then 60% colour on their backs (or they're booted). Less then 10% colour is referred to as a charlie.
Foreign or white patches. White blazes, white toes, white spots on solid rabbits. Will all be dq'd which includes all VM's.
Wrong eye colour: Check the standard most rabbit colours are supposed to have brown of blue-grey eyes depending on the colour. The only colour to have blue eyes is the Blue Eyed White. Blue eyes in any other colour will be disqualified. Marbled eyes are disqualified as well.
Breed: Make sure the breed you have is actually the right breed. Often times people sell Albino rabbits as New Zealand Whites even though they're mutts. People also seem to sell any large rabbit as a Flemish Giant.
Weight: Most often then not rabbits are Dq'd for being over weight especially in dwarf breeds where a lot of people neglect to check the standard and make sure their rabbit is the required weight for the breed.
Missing toenails: It happens sometimes rabbits pull a toenail, so checking toenails is always a great thing to do.
Illness: If you're rabbit is sick for the sake of everyone else showing don't bring it. You'll get a lot of people mad at you and your rabbit will not only be dq'd but will have to be removed from the showroom.
Colour: In order to show a rabbit it has to be one of the recognized varieties within that breed. Take for instance Chocolate agouti, it is showable in Rex but not Mini Rex. Also make sure the colour you think your rabbit may be is actually the correct colour. Often times I see smutty sable points listed as Siamese Sables, or Chocolate agouti listed as Red or Castor. I've even seen Torts incorrectly labelled as Harlequin. The list is endless.
Brokens: Brokens have to have more then 10% colour on their backs with colour on their nose or whisker bed, and less then 60% colour on their backs (or they're booted). Less then 10% colour is referred to as a charlie.
Foreign or white patches. White blazes, white toes, white spots on solid rabbits. Will all be dq'd which includes all VM's.
Wrong eye colour: Check the standard most rabbit colours are supposed to have brown of blue-grey eyes depending on the colour. The only colour to have blue eyes is the Blue Eyed White. Blue eyes in any other colour will be disqualified. Marbled eyes are disqualified as well.
Breed: Make sure the breed you have is actually the right breed. Often times people sell Albino rabbits as New Zealand Whites even though they're mutts. People also seem to sell any large rabbit as a Flemish Giant.
Weight: Most often then not rabbits are Dq'd for being over weight especially in dwarf breeds where a lot of people neglect to check the standard and make sure their rabbit is the required weight for the breed.
Missing toenails: It happens sometimes rabbits pull a toenail, so checking toenails is always a great thing to do.
Illness: If you're rabbit is sick for the sake of everyone else showing don't bring it. You'll get a lot of people mad at you and your rabbit will not only be dq'd but will have to be removed from the showroom.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Genus for Leporidae family
Genus: Oryctolagus
- European Rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus
Genus: Sylvilagus (Cottontails)
- Swamp Rabbit, Sylvilagus aquaticus
- Marsh Rabbit, Sylvilagus palustris
- Eastern Cottontail, Sylvilagus floridanus
- New England Cottontail, Sylvilagus transitionalis
- Mountain Cottontail, Sylvilagus nuttallii
- Desert Cottontail, Sylvilagus audubonii
Genus: Lepus(Hares)
- White-tailed Jackrabbit, Lepus townsendii
- Black-tailed Jackrabbit, Lepus californicus
- Snowshoe Hare, Lepus americanus
- Artic Hare, Lepus arcticus
When you see people who claim they caught a "wild" rabbit and mixed it in with their domestic rabbits. Most often then not they have caught a domestic rabbit that had been let loose, or they're lying.
How breeds are ruined.
Last year at a fair show a woman was talking to me about rabbits. She said she owned a Mini Rex that she bought in or around the London area. She was also quite adamant that the rabbit I was currently holding was in fact not a Mini Rex. Her idea of a Mini Rex came from the one she owned, she stated that Mini Rex were supposed to have long ears and very fine bone. They were supposed to be 5lb-6lbs and their fur was supposed to be exceptionally silky and lay flat when they were petted. All in all she described what I pictured to be one very ugly rabbit. She had also said that I must have been confused because the rabbit I was holding was much to small, and much to round to be a Mini Rex and that it's fur was all wrong. The rabbit I was holding was a multiple Best of Breed Winner.
I can see how this woman was confused. When you look at a lot of the Mini Rex listed for sale in classified websites, or even some pet breeder's websites. You get the idea that a Mini Rex is some sort of big, long, ugly rabbit with no density to it's fur. When in reality a good Mini Rex is a very attractive small rabbit with luxurious fur. So how does this happen? How does a breed turn into some sort of monstrosity that lead people to believe what a Mini Rex really is is the complete opposite of what they're supposed to be.
People are the main reason for it. Certain breeders who give no heed to the standard and breed their rabbits willy nilly. People who only breed for pets, or are only in it because they think they can make a bit of money. When you stop breeding a rabbit to the standard it stops becoming the breed it is supposed to be. When enough people are breeding this to that, producing essentially "junk" animals and flooding the market with these rabbits then general consensus starts to believe that is what a Mini Rex is truly supposed to look like. The worst offenders for this are the people who only want to breed "rare" colours. When colour is only worth 15% in the Mini Rex standard a lot can go horribly wrong with body type and fur.
At the Royal when I was judging I had a few Mini Rex show up on the table that had I not been judging youth I would have disqualified for lacking in breed Characteristics. (The rule is no disqualifying youths we want to encourage them by giving constructive criticism and not outright dq-ing). Anyways, the rabbit was placed last and I could not find nothing good to say about this rabbit, even the colour was off so I ended up saying she was a lovely pet. After judging the mother of the youth came up to me and asked me why I thought it was a pet they had bought it from X breeder (a breeder I recognized but will not post) and were told she would be a great rabbit. I showed her the standard for the breed and then an example of what that is supposed to look like. She was actually very surprised about it, so I wrote down a few websites for her to check out to get a better idea of what to look for in a Mini Rex.
This holds true for other breeds as well, I have seem some gruesomely awful Holland Lops, and Netherlands that just aren't Netherlands, It seems every broken coloured rabbit is an English Spot or Checkered Giant Cross, every Chestnut rabbit is a Flemish Giant, and any rabbit with wool is an Angora. Most of which hold not discerning breed characteristics of any breed, but are being sold as Purebred and pedigreed.
I can see how this woman was confused. When you look at a lot of the Mini Rex listed for sale in classified websites, or even some pet breeder's websites. You get the idea that a Mini Rex is some sort of big, long, ugly rabbit with no density to it's fur. When in reality a good Mini Rex is a very attractive small rabbit with luxurious fur. So how does this happen? How does a breed turn into some sort of monstrosity that lead people to believe what a Mini Rex really is is the complete opposite of what they're supposed to be.
People are the main reason for it. Certain breeders who give no heed to the standard and breed their rabbits willy nilly. People who only breed for pets, or are only in it because they think they can make a bit of money. When you stop breeding a rabbit to the standard it stops becoming the breed it is supposed to be. When enough people are breeding this to that, producing essentially "junk" animals and flooding the market with these rabbits then general consensus starts to believe that is what a Mini Rex is truly supposed to look like. The worst offenders for this are the people who only want to breed "rare" colours. When colour is only worth 15% in the Mini Rex standard a lot can go horribly wrong with body type and fur.
At the Royal when I was judging I had a few Mini Rex show up on the table that had I not been judging youth I would have disqualified for lacking in breed Characteristics. (The rule is no disqualifying youths we want to encourage them by giving constructive criticism and not outright dq-ing). Anyways, the rabbit was placed last and I could not find nothing good to say about this rabbit, even the colour was off so I ended up saying she was a lovely pet. After judging the mother of the youth came up to me and asked me why I thought it was a pet they had bought it from X breeder (a breeder I recognized but will not post) and were told she would be a great rabbit. I showed her the standard for the breed and then an example of what that is supposed to look like. She was actually very surprised about it, so I wrote down a few websites for her to check out to get a better idea of what to look for in a Mini Rex.
This holds true for other breeds as well, I have seem some gruesomely awful Holland Lops, and Netherlands that just aren't Netherlands, It seems every broken coloured rabbit is an English Spot or Checkered Giant Cross, every Chestnut rabbit is a Flemish Giant, and any rabbit with wool is an Angora. Most of which hold not discerning breed characteristics of any breed, but are being sold as Purebred and pedigreed.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Causes of new born deaths
Let's face it the chances of a rabbit cannibalizing her young are slim to none. Touching newborn babies will not make a doe decide that she needs to eat her kits domesticated or other wise. A rabbit that accidentally over cleans a kit and takes off a limb will not get a "taste" for blood and cannibalize her next litter. All does eat their placentas (okay so not all, I a time or two have stuck my hand into a nest box expecting to pull out of baby and end up pulling out the gooey mass of a placenta) and a placenta is tissues and all that lovely gory goo that kits get their nutrition from so you could also say every doe is a cannibal as they ingest tissue of their own. When a doe has a litter, she's going to ingest blood no matter whose doe, or what her temperament. If a doe is cannibalizes her young chances are it was caused by an underlying issue whether she was OCD about cleaning her new kits, or has some sort of mental retardation. A doe is not going to up and decide that she is going to eat her kits because a human touched them. There is also not set age or size where if a doe does decide to become a cannibal that kits are safe. I have a doe who has always been a bit freaky who killed off her litter one by one and ate the kits and they were nearly 3 weeks old.
One of the main causes of death in new born kits is from the doe stepping on them. Whether it's accidentally while they are trying to nurse, or something startles them and they jump in the nest box. Most cases the kit will look perfectly fine.
There is also were the doe does not get her milk in and even though she tries to nurse them they'll all just die off, this is usually due to a lack of hormones and is not a good trait to continue breeding.
With dwarf breeds you often times get peanuts in your litter also known as double dwarf. This is where a kit inherits a dwarf gene from both parents. This is a lethal combo and there has only been a couple cases where a peanut has lived past 1 month old. Most die before they're a week old. You can tell a peanut right off the bat, they are smaller then the other kits with a bulbous head underdeveloped hindquarter and minuscule triangular ears. As the other kits grow the peanut does not and the difference in size becomes more noticeable.
Does do not kill off any weak or deformed babies nature does. A doe does not differentiate between a perfectly healthy baby and one that has club feet, or might possibly be a fader in a week or two. If the kit cannot compete for milk with it's siblings then it does not get enough milk to sustain itself and live. It is a simple form of survival of the fittest. People have come to believe that the only reason that they find dead babies that are deformed or ill is because the doe knew there was something wrong with them and killed them. If this were true there would be no "special" bunnies in the world.
Faders or failure to thrive. These are kits who reach three to six weeks and then just "fade" away despite eating and drinking like a normal kit. No one is quite certain what causes faders.
These are some reasons why kits die.
One of the main causes of death in new born kits is from the doe stepping on them. Whether it's accidentally while they are trying to nurse, or something startles them and they jump in the nest box. Most cases the kit will look perfectly fine.
There is also were the doe does not get her milk in and even though she tries to nurse them they'll all just die off, this is usually due to a lack of hormones and is not a good trait to continue breeding.
With dwarf breeds you often times get peanuts in your litter also known as double dwarf. This is where a kit inherits a dwarf gene from both parents. This is a lethal combo and there has only been a couple cases where a peanut has lived past 1 month old. Most die before they're a week old. You can tell a peanut right off the bat, they are smaller then the other kits with a bulbous head underdeveloped hindquarter and minuscule triangular ears. As the other kits grow the peanut does not and the difference in size becomes more noticeable.
Does do not kill off any weak or deformed babies nature does. A doe does not differentiate between a perfectly healthy baby and one that has club feet, or might possibly be a fader in a week or two. If the kit cannot compete for milk with it's siblings then it does not get enough milk to sustain itself and live. It is a simple form of survival of the fittest. People have come to believe that the only reason that they find dead babies that are deformed or ill is because the doe knew there was something wrong with them and killed them. If this were true there would be no "special" bunnies in the world.
Faders or failure to thrive. These are kits who reach three to six weeks and then just "fade" away despite eating and drinking like a normal kit. No one is quite certain what causes faders.
These are some reasons why kits die.
Friday, April 1, 2011
I have come to the conclusion that rabbits who are easily over posed are normally undercut allowing their feet to be pushed forward more then they're supposed to because there is not full hindquarter to stop it.
And that is my thought for the day. That and baby bunnies are the cutest things on the face of the earth. I currently have baby bunnies coming out of my ears and most of them are at that insanely adorable age of 3 weeks where they're like mini adults.
And we currently have a pair of ducks out in the backyard, random I know :)
And that is my thought for the day. That and baby bunnies are the cutest things on the face of the earth. I currently have baby bunnies coming out of my ears and most of them are at that insanely adorable age of 3 weeks where they're like mini adults.
And we currently have a pair of ducks out in the backyard, random I know :)
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