Rabbit breeds.

Hi all,

I am an utter newbie to the forums, so please be gentle with me

I have two rabbits, one male (Flake) and one female (Biscuit) I only realised that they were opposite sex when Biscuit had her 1st litter of kits. Sadly they all died. As she had the kits in the middle of the night, I couldn't get her a hutch of her own until the next morning, so inevitably she had another litter, (They were of course seperated the morning after her first litter but it was a little too late)

Anyway, she had 9 kits this time, we did lose one, but the other 8 are now 4 days old (her first litter were all dead by this point) And they are all fat with milk, lovely and warm and very wriggly! She is being a wonderful mother this time round, she even built her nest 48 hours before birthing (not 2 hours before like last time)

I am trying not to interfere too much with the kits, I only check on them to make sure they haven't fallen from the nest during feeding, and to make sure that they are all warm and being fed properly.

as I dont have the space for 10 rabbits I am going to have to sell the majority of them on when they are old enough, so I thought I should double check their breed. (The place we got them from didn't know)

After research I am torn between 2 breed, Rex and English Spotted. And I was hoping that you guy could help please.

here are the pictures:

Biscuit:




Flake:




Their babies:






Hope you can all help.

Haley.

They are definitely not Rex. They look to be a cross breed. I hope the parents were not related ie Brother and Sister.

They look cross breed. They also look like they need hay in the hutch

This excellently written sticky may help you.

Believe it or not they do have loads of hay in their hutch, they both have a habbit of moving it so they can sit on the bare floor, strange rabbits lol. Any idea what breeds they may have been cross bred from?

Haley x

Mafofalofal said:

Believe it or not they do have loads of hay in their hutch, they both have a habbit of moving it so they can sit on the bare floor, strange rabbits lol.
Haley x

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Ahhh, thats good then

Elena said:

This excellently written sticky may help you.

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Thank you for the link. I had previously done alot of research and knew most of the info, but it really helps to have it all in one place and so detailed.

they look like they have rhinelander in them!!!

Cross breeds, could have some English in them. A lot of people assume spotty rabbits are English Spots but yours do actually have a bit of a 'back stripe' and they look quite finely built as English are.

Gaile said:

they look like they have rhinelander in them!!!

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Rhinelanders are really big, strongly built rabbits and very rare I doubt they do

Sounds like you are trying to do the best for them but please don't sell them. Please get them neutered and vaccinated and find them the best home possible with a neutered mate.

They could be a cross between several different types, english spot looks to be the most dominant but the breed won't really matter as you can't sell them as purebreds. If they came from the same place there is a high probability that they are related and the babies inbred. They could have health issues but the fact that they have survived this long is a good thing.

Gaile said:

they look like they have rhinelander in them!!!

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They do don't they? The only thing missing is the coloured patch around their nose.

Stator said:

Sounds like you are trying to do the best for them but please don't sell them. Please get them neutered and vaccinated and find them the best home possible with a neutered mate.

They could be a cross between several different types, english spot looks to be the most dominant but the breed won't really matter as you can't sell them as purebreds. If they came from the same place there is a high probability that they are related and the babies inbred. They could have health issues but the fact that they have survived this long is a good thing.

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I don't intend to sell as a breeder, just to rehome them, I couldn't possible look after all of them when they are fully grown (even if I would like to lol)

I think you're predominant breed is English Spot. They also have the stripe down their backs. Have a look at these.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=en...NHNLL8QOUp8yUDg&ved=0CDYQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=800

Mafofalofal said:

I don't intend to sell as a breeder, just to rehome them, I couldn't possible look after all of them when they are fully grown (even if I would like to lol)

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are you receiving any benefits? There was a thread earlier about how the blue cross will subside the cost of neutering and spaying for rabbits if you get certain benefits - I don't know if this would be of any help to you.

Aside from that, if you're going to sell them just make sure you actually go to the peoples houses first and make sure you're happy with their set up and their knowledge of proper diet etc - a caring owner won't mind you doing that and it means you won't have to worry about where they've really gone and what kind of lives they'll have

BattleKat said:

are you receiving any benefits? There was a thread earlier about how the blue cross will subside the cost of neutering and spaying for rabbits if you get certain benefits - I don't know if this would be of any help to you.

Aside from that, if you're going to sell them just make sure you actually go to the peoples houses first and make sure you're happy with their set up and their knowledge of proper diet etc - a caring owner won't mind you doing that and it means you won't have to worry about where they've really gone and what kind of lives they'll have

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Yea, I saw that thread earlier, and I have bookedmarked it for later use.:thumb: Also I think we have concluded that the main breed is definately English Spot, I'm just curious as to what they were bred with x

They don't have the standard English shape, so I totally agree with a cross breed, but that could be anything could be a grandparent lop, could be a rex, could be another cross breed). I'm not sure why the breed matters though, because personalities are far more important and a far more important 'selling' point than the breed. That way you can match the right home to the right bunny and make sure they have the best chance of happiness

Sky-O said:

They don't have the standard English shape, so I totally agree with a cross breed, but that could be anything could be a grandparent lop, could be a rex, could be another cross breed). I'm not sure why the breed matters though, because personalities are far more important and a far more important 'selling' point than the breed. That way you can match the right home to the right bunny and make sure they have the best chance of happiness

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I completely agree, I am not in the slightest bit bothered about their breed, I adopted them because I instantly fell in love with them I was just curious because I am naturally a nosy person, I am quite excited to see what the babies are going to look like, i can already see that 2 of them are completely dark brown with only a tiny patch of white around their neck. I can also see that a couple of them have the same markings as mum and a couple have the same markings as dad! They are just so cute and wriggly, I know I am going to have a hard time giving them up but I dont have enough space to keep them!

xx

Mafofalofal said:

I completely agree, I am not in the slightest bit bothered about their breed, I adopted them because I instantly fell in love with them I was just curious because I am naturally a nosy person, I am quite excited to see what the babies are going to look like, i can already see that 2 of them are completely dark brown with only a tiny patch of white around their neck. I can also see that a couple of them have the same markings as mum and a couple have the same markings as dad! They are just so cute and wriggly, I know I am going to have a hard time giving them up but I dont have enough space to keep them!

xx

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I used to breed and made sure I got a lot of interest previously, and sent out questionnaires to people who wanted a baby (asking about what they know about rabbit care, if they have kids/other pets, pictures of accommodation etc.), and picked out the best rather than just selling to the first person that came along. I also told the new owners if anything should happen which means they can no longer take care of the rabbit they should be given back to me, or I should at least be told where they're to be rehomed to. Don't put the prices so low people want the rabbits for snake food/dog bait but don't put them so high no one can afford to buy the rabbit on top of vaccs and neutering costs

Ideally you would neuter/spay the rabbits before rehoming or make a contract so the new owners do, but if there's a chance the parents are brother/sister, and you're selling two babies to live together PLEASE neuter/spay them BEFORE rehoming (Even if they're the same sex, you could of sexed them wrong), you never know the new owners might forget to close both hutches one day and two generations of such closely inbred rabbits is bound to cause so many problems

As for giving them up, try not to get attached. They are not your rabbits, they will be rehomed, keep telling yourself that.