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Ok, help me with Slipper's breeding please

Sarah1989

Sarah1989

Warren Veteran
Seeing there are a couple of other similar threads on here tonight, can anybody identify Slipper? I was told dwarf lop by P@H when I first got him, but there's obviously some lionhead in there with the fluffy mane. Parsnipbun was here yesterday, bringing my new rescue bunny, and she says not a dwarf lop due to shape of his face and also is quite large at the rear end with huge feet, but shrinks at the front and very unique. So, I'm guessing, some kind of lop x lionhead and who knows what else?







When he was last at the vets last summer, I think he weighed in at about 3kg.
 
I'm rubbish with breeds :lol::oops: I'd have guessed lionhead x lop is in the mix as you say, he is gorgeous :love:
 
Too big to be a lionhead x dwarf lop or mini lop. To be honest, if you bought him from P@H, then he doesn't have a breed. The breeders are like puppy-mills without the focus on breed, just quantity - he is likely a mix of several different breeds. Only thing you can say for sure is that he has some form of lop and some lionhead in him. He could have some of a larger lop in him, but they're fairly desirable and less common so it's probably more likely he has a common lop like the dwarf and then some of another large breed in him, because if you're a breeder with giant lops you'd be stupid to not breed them with other giants, as giants fetch more money and they're in fashion. But you never know.

You'll probably never know, but it doesn't really matter - health-wise you'll have to watch out for the same things as all pet-shop buns and lop mixes, temperament is very subjective and often not breed-based and body score is a better way of judging a good weight than breed standards. With pet rabbits there's not really much advantage to knowing the breed unless you want to breed or show them. Most rabbits, even if they look like one breed, are actually a mix of many in various proportions.
 
Definitely some lion head and some lop in there, so probably a lion lop! I think most bunnies seem to have a little bit of everything in them though unless they're specifically bred for their breed which I hope isn't all too common!

He's a very handsome bunny :love: I love his face splotches!

I think my Lilly has a little bit of everything in her :D Harvey I think is probably a dwarf lop, or a mix of multiple lop types :lol:
 
nessar said:
Too big to be a lionhead x dwarf lop or mini lop. To be honest, if you bought him from P@H, then he doesn't have a breed. The breeders are like puppy-mills without the focus on breed, just quantity - he is likely a mix of several different breeds. Only thing you can say for sure is that he has some form of lop and some lionhead in him. He could have some of a larger lop in him, but they're fairly desirable and less common so it's probably more likely he has a common lop like the dwarf and then some of another large breed in him, because if you're a breeder with giant lops you'd be stupid to not breed them with other giants, as giants fetch more money and they're in fashion. But you never know.

You'll probably never know, but it doesn't really matter - health-wise you'll have to watch out for the same things as all pet-shop buns and lop mixes, temperament is very subjective and often not breed-based and body score is a better way of judging a good weight than breed standards. With pet rabbits there's not really much advantage to knowing the breed unless you want to breed or show them. Most rabbits, even if they look like one breed, are actually a mix of many in various proportions.
Click to expand...

You seem to know loads about this :shock: any chance you know anything about different lops? I've always been very sure Harvey is a dwarf lop, he looks like one and is the right size (2.3-2.5kg depending on if I'm a push over and give him bigger meals or not :oops:). But I read recently that dwarfs don't have the really flat faces that minis and other lops have, is that true? Is there a large difference in face shapes of lops? I now think my flat faced boy is just a mix of lops! I got him from a garden centre, they said the breeder said he was a pure-bred dwarf lop, although don't know whether to trust that very much of course!
 
*Funny*Bunny* said:
You seem to know loads about this :shock: any chance you know anything about different lops? I've always been very sure Harvey is a dwarf lop, he looks like one and is the right size (2.3-2.5kg depending on if I'm a push over and give him bigger meals or not :oops:). But I read recently that dwarfs don't have the really flat faces that minis and other lops have, is that true? Is there a large difference in face shapes of lops? I now think my flat faced boy is just a mix of lops! I got him from a garden centre, they said the breeder said he was a pure-bred dwarf lop, although don't know whether to trust that very much of course!
Click to expand...

Not really, I hardly know anything about specific breeds, most of it is just deduction. Plus, I spent ages trying to find out what Barney's breed was, having been told only that he was from a breeder and a breed that 'sounded french', but P@H couldn't remember what the owner actually said when she gave him up for adoption. So I came to most of those conclusions whilst trying and failing to figure out his breed or breed mix :lol: Plus, breeding and genetics really interest me, especially seeing as my mum bred buns for a little while when I was a kid.

You're right about the lops - google pics and look at breeders' websites. The mini lop has a very squished face generally, the dwarf a pointier one, the english lop has a VERY pointy face. And I can't remember which way round they are but the french and german ones have slightly different shape faces too. But the thing is, it is down to the breeder - there is a breed standard but it depends why the breeder is breeding and what they are trying to get out of it, and also how much they care about how pure their breeds are and where they get their buns from. And the thing is, if you read up on the breeders, they often inject some of another breed into their gene pool, to enhance a certain feature or dilute a certain trait, so even 'pure-bred' rabbits aren't always that pure!
 
nessar said:
Not really, I hardly know anything about specific breeds, most of it is just deduction. Plus, I spent ages trying to find out what Barney's breed was, having been told only that he was from a breeder and a breed that 'sounded french', but P@H couldn't remember what the owner actually said when she gave him up for adoption. So I came to most of those conclusions whilst trying and failing to figure out his breed or breed mix :lol: Plus, breeding and genetics really interest me, especially seeing as my mum bred buns for a little while when I was a kid.

You're right about the lops - google pics and look at breeders' websites. The mini lop has a very squished face generally, the dwarf a pointier one, the english lop has a VERY pointy face. And I can't remember which way round they are but the french and german ones have slightly different shape faces too. But the thing is, it is down to the breeder - there is a breed standard but it depends why the breeder is breeding and what they are trying to get out of it, and also how much they care about how pure their breeds are and where they get their buns from. And the thing is, if you read up on the breeders, they often inject some of another breed into their gene pool, to enhance a certain feature or dilute a certain trait, so even 'pure-bred' rabbits aren't always that pure!
Click to expand...

Sounds all very complicated :lol: I think I'll just keep calling Harvey a dwarf lop, despite his overly flat face! Mum says it looks like he's run into a wall! I don't know why anyone would breed that trait in, it's just asking for dental problems!
 
I don't think he's a direct lionhead cross lop because his ears are too 'loppy', could maybe be a lionlop cross pet bred dwarf lop (mini lionlop is an actual breed, some people seem to think lionlop is just a nickname given to a lionhead crossed with a mini lop). But as has already been said, pets at home use breeding mills so he could be a mix of anything, but there's definitely a lot of lionlop/lionhead in there
 
DemiS said:
I don't think he's a direct lionhead cross lop because his ears are too 'loppy', could maybe be a lionlop cross pet bred dwarf lop (mini lionlop is an actual breed, some people seem to think lionlop is just a nickname given to a lionhead crossed with a mini lop). But as has already been said, pets at home use breeding mills so he could be a mix of anything, but there's definitely a lot of lionlop/lionhead in there
Click to expand...

I do also have 2 mini lion lops, 1 mini lop & a lionhead :lol: so I do love all the breeds in him :lol:


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
*Funny*Bunny* said:
You seem to know loads about this :shock: any chance you know anything about different lops? I've always been very sure Harvey is a dwarf lop, he looks like one and is the right size (2.3-2.5kg depending on if I'm a push over and give him bigger meals or not :oops:). But I read recently that dwarfs don't have the really flat faces that minis and other lops have, is that true? Is there a large difference in face shapes of lops? I now think my flat faced boy is just a mix of lops! I got him from a garden centre, they said the breeder said he was a pure-bred dwarf lop, although don't know whether to trust that very much of course!
Click to expand...

Purebred (especially show bred) lops all have very flat faces except for English lops. Most 'dwarf lops' you see as pets are probably very cross bred, hence the pointy face, but because their ears lop and they're a medium size they're just called dwarf lops, although I tend to call them pet bred dwarf lops so people don't expect them to be the same weight as stated in the breed standard
 
DemiS said:
Purebred (especially show bred) lops all have very flat faces except for English lops. Most 'dwarf lops' you see as pets are probably very cross bred, hence the pointy face, but because their ears lop and they're a medium size they're just called dwarf lops, although I tend to call them pet bred dwarf lops so people don't expect them to be the same weight as stated in the breed standard
Click to expand...

Thanks :D that's interesting :) maybe the breeder who bred Harvey bred proper dwarf lops then, I asked the garden centre about where they got their rabbits from and they said they had a few local breeders, and that the one who bred Harvey was reliable and always knew what breed he was giving to them to sell. So maybe he was knowledgeable about breeds! Harvey definitely is no way near show standard, he's way too fat :lol: not that I care either way, he could have no ears and fur and I'd still think he was adorable! Although I'd also feel very sorry for him!

I'll keep referring to him as a dwarf lop then, he probably is majority dwarf lop anyway!

(PS sorry sarah for asking questions on your thread :oops: hope you don't mind!)
 
*Funny*Bunny* said:
(PS sorry sarah for asking questions on your thread :oops: hope you don't mind!)
Click to expand...

:lol::lol::lol: nope, I accidentally hijack other people's threads sometimes. Besides it bumps up how many pages I have on my threads, I tend not to attract loads of responses for some reason so it makes me feel loved even if it's not me :oops::lol::lol::lol:
 
Sarah1989 said:
:lol::lol::lol: nope, I accidentally hijack other people's threads sometimes. Besides it bumps up how many pages I have on my threads, I tend not to attract loads of responses for some reason so it makes me feel loved even if it's not me :oops::lol::lol::lol:
Click to expand...

:lol: awh, well even if my questions weren't about you or slipper, I still have love for both of you :D

This breed stuff is quite interesting really, I bet all the genetics is fascinating! Don't worry, I'm not getting any ideas on breeding!

DemiS do you know if there's a specific genetic make-up for harlequin colouring? Or is it just a mix of any and all colours? :lol: I think Lilly is a perfect example of a mix of a hundred different breeds, I see no specific breed in her at all, except for some distant lop relative!
 
*Funny*Bunny* said:
Thanks :D that's interesting :) maybe the breeder who bred Harvey bred proper dwarf lops then, I asked the garden centre about where they got their rabbits from and they said they had a few local breeders, and that the one who bred Harvey was reliable and always knew what breed he was giving to them to sell. So maybe he was knowledgeable about breeds! Harvey definitely is no way near show standard, he's way too fat :lol: not that I care either way, he could have no ears and fur and I'd still think he was adorable! Although I'd also feel very sorry for him!

I'll keep referring to him as a dwarf lop then, he probably is majority dwarf lop anyway!

(PS sorry sarah for asking questions on your thread :oops: hope you don't mind!)
Click to expand...

Harvey does have quite a flat face so it doesn't look like there's that much breed mixing gone on :) And yeah you may as well :) Although the term dwarf is misleading, dwarf lops don't actually have the dwarf gene :lol:

*Funny*Bunny* said:
:lol: awh, well even if my questions weren't about you or slipper, I still have love for both of you :D

This breed stuff is quite interesting really, I bet all the genetics is fascinating! Don't worry, I'm not getting any ideas on breeding!

DemiS do you know if there's a specific genetic make-up for harlequin colouring? Or is it just a mix of any and all colours? :lol: I think Lilly is a perfect example of a mix of a hundred different breeds, I see no specific breed in her at all, except for some distant lop relative!
Click to expand...

Yes there is it's a kind of 'extension' gene, dominant to tortoiseshell but recessive to steel and agouti and plain colours like black and blue
 
xClairex said:
Slipper is soooooo cute, I really wanna steal him!
Click to expand...

Ok, you can have him, I'll PM you my address :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

Nah I love him really and he's getting much nicer. I haven't been bitten yet this year! :shock: Watch me have jinxed it now :lol:
 
DemiS said:
Harvey does have quite a flat face so it doesn't look like there's that much breed mixing gone on :) And yeah you may as well :) Although the term dwarf is misleading, dwarf lops don't actually have the dwarf gene :lol:



Yes there is it's a kind of 'extension' gene, dominant to tortoiseshell but recessive to steel and agouti and plain colours like black and blue
Click to expand...

That is really random about the dwarf gene! I do always feel odd calling him dwarf, he's not the smallest of bunnies, especially with his large belly and dewlap right now, lets hope he burns them off with spring fever :lol:

Harlequin sounds like a special gene to have! It's weird to think if Lilly hadn't got the "extension" gene she may have been a tortoiseshell :shock: I love playing with her fur and finding all the odd streaks of colour :D

Thanks DemiS it's really interesting to find out about this :D
 
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