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Can sibling rabbits be different breeds?

Bunnie

Bunnie

Warren Scout
I know it sounds odd, but I went to visit two rabbits last week the owner said she got them from a breeder and that they are both mini lops, they are brother and sister, but the girl is a white and light brown butterfly mini lop but the boy looks like a ginger and grey harlequin dwarf lop? I thought maybe they have like different dads or maybe there was a dwarf lop somewhere in there family tree but the owner thought the boy was just a big mini lop? I know he is definitely a dwarf lop my last bunny was a dwarf the same age and size so I know when they are dwarfs, but the girl (his sister the mini lop) is tiny she is the same age and has little ears and a round face. before I got my first bunny I spent ages studying the difference between dwarf and mini lops head shape, ear length, body size and I don't understand how they can be siblings if they are different breeds?

anyone got any ideas?

this is the bunnies, I know there cute but I really want them so please don't contact the owner and ask to adopt them as I am already competing with some one else to get them!

http://www.preloved.co.uk/adverts/s...ops-need-a-new-home-free-to-right-person.html
 
I have two mini lops with quite long ears :) I guess it's possible that he is just a big mini lop? One of my pairs are a mini lop, and a dwarf lop I got from a friend who was going to have her PTS, and they look remarkably alike in size and shape... guess it just depends on the bunny? I'm by no means an expert though. They are very pretty bunnies but I do agree with you, they don't really look like siblings!
 
I think if parents were crossbreeds they're likely to look different.

Nibbles and Buttons are from the same litter. Mum was an english lop, dad was a lion-lop. I think Nibbles looks more like dad and Buttons looks more like mum-Buttons is big and not as fluffy, Nibbles is smaller and fluffier.

1382427_10151658382873321_447168762_n.jpg

Buttons

1463137_10151773764313321_1712407502_n.jpg

Nibbles

1235010_10151656582543321_861376805_n.jpg
 
I'd say they are both mini/dwarf lop crosses. The lighter one has got a rounded face but not as smooshed as I have seen in mini lops and the harli has a slightly too rounded face to be fully dwarf. I'd say that they 'could' be litter mates.

But in answer to the question no, litter mates can not be different breeds. They can however show characteristics of different breeds if they are crosses.
 
I have a brother and sister the boy is dutch and the girl an english type bunny. Mum was a dutch but dont know what dad was. The litter were half and half!
 
Hele said:
But in answer to the question no, litter mates can not be different breeds. They can however show characteristics of different breeds if they are crosses.
Click to expand...

This ^. If they really are the same age and siblings - then they would be from the same litter. This would mean that mom and dad would be the same to each bun, so each bun in the litter would have some genes from mom and some from dad, so if both parents were pure bred mini lops then all of the litter are pure bred minilops. However if mom was a pure bred minilop but dad was say a minilop crossed with dwarf lop then each of the off spring could have different amounts of mini lop and dwarf lop genes, so you can get a mix with some siblings looking more like dwarf lop, others looking more like minilop but all of those siblings will be the same breed (in this example minilop cross dwarf lop).

It like in humans children from the same parents dont always look alike. Some kids are the spitting image of their dad, some their mom and some have a complete mix of features from mom and dad.
 
Tessie and Daisy are sisters (see sig). Daisy is white with blue eyes and semi lopped ears and Tessie is brown with dark brown eyes and uppy ears. They were born in rescue and mum is a lionhead. Dont know about dad. So, they could be siblings. Good luck. What a TINY cage...
 
tulsi said:
Tessie and Daisy are sisters (see sig). Daisy is white with blue eyes and semi lopped ears and Tessie is brown with dark brown eyes and uppy ears. They were born in rescue and mum is a lionhead. Dont know about dad. So, they could be siblings. Good luck. What a TINY cage...
Click to expand...

yes it is a tiny cage but that is open all day and they run around in a kitchen, hallway and bathroom and they are closed in the cage at night, so not confined for very long :)
 
Bunnie said:
yes it is a tiny cage but that is open all day and they run around in a kitchen, hallway and bathroom and they are closed in the cage at night, so not confined for very long :)
Click to expand...

I thought that was the pic from their old home. Do you have them now then?

Night time is when rabbits are active (well, dawn and dusk and night). Perhaps you could put a puppy pen or two up to give them some play space when you are sleeping?

They are sooooooo beautiful.
 
Alison Marie said:
I think if parents were crossbreeds they're likely to look different.

Nibbles and Buttons are from the same litter. Mum was an english lop, dad was a lion-lop. I think Nibbles looks more like dad and Buttons looks more like mum-Buttons is big and not as fluffy, Nibbles is smaller and fluffier.

1382427_10151658382873321_447168762_n.jpg

Buttons

1463137_10151773764313321_1712407502_n.jpg

Nibbles

1235010_10151656582543321_861376805_n.jpg
Click to expand...

Now its pictures like these that make life on RU soooooo wonderful.

Just so heart meltingly cute :love::love::love::love::love::love::love:
 
tulsi said:
I thought that was the pic from their old home. Do you have them now then?

Night time is when rabbits are active (well, dawn and dusk and night). Perhaps you could put a puppy pen or two up to give them some play space when you are sleeping?

They are sooooooo beautiful.
Click to expand...

The picture is them in their current house with their current owner, I went to visit them and the lady told me they can run around in the kitchen bathroom and hallway I haven't got them yet the other people who want them, are visiting them on Saturday and then the lady will chose which of us will get them, I will be converting the cupboard under the stairs as my rabbit room, I'll take of the door and put on a stair gate, I'll put down a nicer floor, paint the walls, add lights, curtains, shelves, different levels to climb on and just generally make it a nicer room.
 
Basically what Hele said. If parents are cross breeds or carrying another genetic strain this can mean the offspring display the colours and patterns of different breeds.

For example, my first rabbits included this female who was pregnant when I adopted her.


And this male who impregnated her.


And look at the kittens. There were five in total and each one a different colour. Only three of them resembled the parents, two of them looked wild but that is only because dad has wild blood.



And more recently I adopted these boys who were born in rescue. As you can see one looks Dutch and one looks Chinchilla.


and this was their litter. We don't know the parentage though


What I have found with my sibling bunnies is that the similarities lie in the features like the shape of the eyes and head rather than in the coulouring. Rabbit genetics are fascinating.
 
I was wondering this myself with Badger and Blueberry. They are BEW mini lion lops. I saw both their mum and dad - they were only 4 weeks old when I first met them :love::love::love: There were four in the litter, three were pure white with blue eyes and Badger, white with a black stripe on his spine and black patches on his eyes. He doesn't have blue eyes. Mum was a pure BEW mini lion lop, Dad was the spit of Slipper, it was quite uncanny :lol: So I guess that's why there was one who looked different.
 
Fifibutton said:
Basically what Hele said. If parents are cross breeds or carrying another genetic strain this can mean the offspring display the colours and patterns of different breeds.

For example, my first rabbits included this female who was pregnant when I adopted her.


And this male who impregnated her.


And look at the kittens. There were five in total and each one a different colour. Only three of them resembled the parents, two of them looked wild but that is only because dad has wild blood.



And more recently I adopted these boys who were born in rescue. As you can see one looks Dutch and one looks Chinchilla.


and this was their litter. We don't know the parentage though


What I have found with my sibling bunnies is that the similarities lie in the features like the shape of the eyes and head rather than in the coulouring. Rabbit genetics are fascinating.
Click to expand...

You posted this as I was typing mine :lol: Your bunnies are sooooooo :love::love::love: I love seeing pictures of ickle baby bunnies :love:
 
It is possible for some breeds to be born in the same litter

the only real genetic difference between mini lops and dwarf lops is the presence of the dwarfing gene... when true size mini lops are bred together only half the babies will be true sized mini lops (a quarter will be peanuts which die shortly after birth) and a quarter will be undwarfed mini lops (in effect the same size as dwarf lops) so to have two sized lops in the same litter is perfectly normal, many breeders will only use these larger does to stop peanuts been born which means half will be small (show sized) mini lops and the other half are larger

obviously colour differences can come from the same litter, depending on the parents breeding background, some pairs can produce over 200 different variations in colour (obviously not all in the same litter)

other breeds that can be interbred are mini lops and lionlops you can get litters with both in litters

dwarf lops and cashmere lops are again the same.

many of the fur rabbits (I often get sables, smoke pearls and satins in the same litter) but then the only real difference between breeds is the colour
 
Yes, you can get different breeds in one litter, this litter was born at my house, it was a pregnant doe that was dumped




Sadly, this is what you get with breeders who insist on cross breeding to get 'the perfect rabbit' :roll:
 
becki_moorcroft said:
It is possible for some breeds to be born in the same litter

the only real genetic difference between mini lops and dwarf lops is the presence of the dwarfing gene... when true size mini lops are bred together only half the babies will be true sized mini lops (a quarter will be peanuts which die shortly after birth) and a quarter will be undwarfed mini lops (in effect the same size as dwarf lops) so to have two sized lops in the same litter is perfectly normal, many breeders will only use these larger does to stop peanuts been born which means half will be small (show sized) mini lops and the other half are larger

obviously colour differences can come from the same litter, depending on the parents breeding background, some pairs can produce over 200 different variations in colour (obviously not all in the same litter)

other breeds that can be interbred are mini lops and lionlops you can get litters with both in litters

dwarf lops and cashmere lops are again the same.

many of the fur rabbits (I often get sables, smoke pearls and satins in the same litter) but then the only real difference between breeds is the colour
Click to expand...

Was just about to go into the genes and things but Becki has already covered it haha :) Siblings can really vary, Harley came from a breeder and in his litter there was a ginger dwarf lop, Harley who's got really short agouti fur and completely upright ears, and another rabbit that was huge, lop eared, brown and white spotty with long cashmere fur :lol: With lops coming with different fur types, colours and having the dwarf gene these do tend to produce more varied offspring than other breeds
 
Bunnie said:
The picture is them in their current house with their current owner, I went to visit them and the lady told me they can run around in the kitchen bathroom and hallway I haven't got them yet the other people who want them, are visiting them on Saturday and then the lady will chose which of us will get them, I will be converting the cupboard under the stairs as my rabbit room, I'll take of the door and put on a stair gate, I'll put down a nicer floor, paint the walls, add lights, curtains, shelves, different levels to climb on and just generally make it a nicer room.
Click to expand...

That sounds great. I really hope you get them.
 
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