Floyd and Family

[Pendragon]

If these photos show up, then be warned..... they may be the first of many! I've just got my first digicam, and what better way to practise using it, than taking masses of bunny pics?!

Here is Floyd himself, at large in my (tiny) garden:
http://www.nenuphar.plus.com/pendragon/rabbits/Floyd1.jpg

And this is Mrs Floyd, with one of the babies in her second litter.... a very mismarked but cute & unusual little kit. She had one like this in her first litter too... a rainbow rabbit, with blue eyes!
http://www.nenuphar.plus.com/pendragon/rabbits/MrsFandbaby.jpg

They are all pure-bred Tri-colour Dutch, which are a rare breed.

[emilou]

They are very cute and gorgeous and sweet, we are all so proud of our buns arent we. Thanks for getting back to me about my buns funny fur colouring. It is all very fascinating, if you can think of any good books about the subject let me know as I work in a bookshop and am becoming very interested.
Your bunny has the same name as my dog, Floyd!

[Pendragon]

Well, if you are interested in learning about the coat colour genetics of small animals (cats, rabbits, rats, mice, gerbils, hamsters, guinea-pigs) there's a book called "Colour Inheritance in Small Livestock, by Roy Robinson - ISBN 0 903775 06 9

It's fairly old (1978) but it's a good introduction, and all the information on the rabbit breeds and colours still stands. No photos unfortunately!

For photos of colours & breeds, this one is really good: the Encyclopedia of Rabbits & Rodents by Esther Verhoef-Verhallen, ISBN 184053 06 77 - it may be out of print though. It's been translated from Dutch so a few of the photo captions are a bit iffy (i.e. not colour names that are used in the UK!) but it's wonderful - I call it my bunny "Mail-Order Catalogue" as in: "Ooooh... I'd like one of those and maybe one of those... and gosh, they're nice too..." :lol:

If you have trouble finding these books, they can be ordered through the Fur & Feather website, http://www.furandfeather.co.uk
You can also get other good rabbit books from there, such as Virginia Richardson's Rabbit Nutrition book, and Green Foods for Rabbits & Cavies by F R Bell.

[Lynn]

Aaahhhhh, Floyd and his bunny family are beautiful :)

[bunnyhuggger]

......... a rainbow rabbit with blue eyes! beautiful description, bet you got high marks for English at school! :lol:

Mr and Mrs Floyd are stunning, but please please can we have a clearer pic of the baby, pretty please? :D

[Lizzie]

Beautiful buns. I just adore misfits - and before you say anthing Mrs. Annielops and HB and anyone else, yes it is probably because I am one!!!!! - I have Leonard with only one ear and Isabella who is almost blind, then Merlin......well, let's not talk about Merlin or he might put a magic spell on me!!!!

As an ignoramus in these matters and loving bunnies just cos they are cute whatever they look like, Pendragon, please would you explain to me why that goreous looking kit is mismarked. And what will happen to him/her in the long run :?:

[bunnyhuggger]

I just adore misfits - and before you say anthing Mrs. Annielops and HB and anyone else, yes it is probably because I am one!!!!!

My mouth is shut, not saying a word, not a dickie, not even thinking anything! *walks away whistling, hands behind back, staring into space ..............*

[Pendragon]

As an ignoramus in these matters and loving bunnies just cos they are cute whatever they look like, Pendragon, please would you explain to me why that goreous looking kit is mismarked.

"Mismarked" is a broad term meaning only that the markings aren't what is required for show... but in Picasso's case, he is "mismarked" to excess... enough to be really unusual and striking! They very rarely turn out like him, with white patches all over the place and blue eyes too....

And what will happen to him/her in the long run :?:

He already has a pet home lined up, which he will go to at 10 weeks... After seeing Rainbow from the first litter, several people asked me to keep them in mind if I ever had another one like her :)

[bunnyhuggger]

Awww, Picasso what a beautiful and appropriate name. How lovely. Sue, do you think you could persuade Picasso's new mum to join here so we could see his progress?

[Tamsin]

Awww, Picasso what a beautiful and appropriate name. How lovely. Sue, do you think you could persuade Picasso's new mum to join here so we could see his progress?

Your rooting for more bunny pictures again aren't you!

Floyd and family are kidnap worthy, the little un nicking food out of his mums bowl is soooo cute!

Tam

[bunnyhuggger]

:shock: Nooooooo, Tamsin, how could you think such a thing!!! :shock:

[Pendragon]

Just for you Lynda, since you were curious about "mismarkings" and asked soooo nicely :wink:

Here is the beautiful Ember.... a well-marked Tri-colour - Floyd's daughter from the first litter:
http://www.nenuphar.plus.com/pendragon/rabbits/Dutch/Ember_left.jpg

She's my little star, and has a personality to match.

[Pendragon]

Just for you Lynda, since you asked about "mismarkings" and asked sooo nicely :wink:

Here is the lovely Ember.... a well-marked Tri-Dutch...one of Floyd's daughters from the first litter:

http://www.nenuphar.plus.com/pendragon/rabbits/Dutch/Ember_left.jpg

She's my little star, and has a lovely personality to match.
(I took the photo today, by the way).

[Pendragon]

Oh, and I did a couple of Picasso for you too.... :D

Here he is:
http://www.nenuphar.plus.com/pendragon/rabbits/Dutch/Picasso.jpg

...and one of his bottom, showing you his odd markings! When he was in the nest, his markings looked a bit like a "builder's cleavage"!!!! Thankfully he grew some fur...
http://www.nenuphar.plus.com/pendragon/rabbits/Dutch/Picback.jpg
More of the other babies to follow soon, if you can stand the cuteness... They are 3 weeks & 4 days old.

[bunnyhuggger]

OOoooooooooooo http://pages.prodigy.net/rogerlori1/emoticons/dustycouch.gif *cough! must get that couch cleaned........* thank you Sue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aren't they beautiful, and Ember (yet ANOTHER lovely name! Where do you get these names?) she looks like she has a crisp white blouse on with a fancy skirt and matching headgear! ............... and ahhhh! would you just look a Picasso................... builders bum http://pages.prodigy.net/indianahawkeye/newpage12/1.gif .........., oh please can you get Picasso's new mum (or dad) to let us see him as he grows up.....................

[Diddeen]

do you have any piccys of your rainbow bunny???
Picasso is just gorgeous!
Chris

[Pendragon]

Hi Chris,

I only have a couple of pics of Rainbow, as I didn't have a digicam then, so a friend took a few.

The babies in the pics were the same age as Picasso is now - the one on the right is Ember when she was tiny!
http://www.nenuphar.plus.com/pendragon/rabbits/Floyd%20Litter/babydoeandwhitestripes.jpg

Lynda - I don't know if the lady who is due to have Picasso has a digicam or not... and she doesn't get online much, unfortunately :( But he won't be going till at least 10 weeks, so plenty of time for me to do some "growing up" photos! :D

[Diddeen]

aaawww they are absolutely adorable :D
Chris

[Lynn]

They are beautiful - does the little one have baby blue eyes (or is it just my laptop that makes them look like that).

[Tamsin]

Awwww! It looks like rainbow got all the black stripes and picasso all the ginger :lol: They are soo cute.

Tam

[Pendragon]

They are beautiful - does the little one have baby blue eyes (or is it just my laptop that makes them look like that).

No, you're right, Lynn - Rainbow had both eyes blue (one with a dash of brown in it) and Picasso has both eyes part-blue part-brown.

It's because they have more white than normal Dutch should have... the extra white takes out some of the brown pigment in the eye.

[Adele]

Thank you for sharing those photos with us Sue, the bunnies are stunning, a real credit to you :D

Lynda if you make me laugh anymore with the icons, I could have a little accident.....a WEE waterworks problem to be specific....it is your comments with the icons that make them live too, I think you are a born again Comedienne :lol: :lol:

[bunnyhuggger]

Ahhh BUT!!! .................. I'm a boring old **** in real life!!!!! http://pages.prodigy.net/rogerlori1/emoticons/yawn1.gif(bet that word it's in your bleeping box Tam http://pages.prodigy.net/indianahawkeye/newpage23/4.gif)

[Tamsin]

Well it is now :wink:

Just curious... does the extra white fur turning the eyes blue just work that way in dutch buns? My bunny Alfie has beautiful blue eyes and he's an agouti lionhead, he just has a white stripe on his nose.

Tam

[bunnyhuggger]

Thank you Sue!! I think Picasso is just stunning. Please can you keep us up to date with his progress then, or I know I know http://pages.prodigy.net/indianahawkeye/newpage17/14.gif ......... I'll come down and stay with you to take pics just to make sure everyone has access to a photographic record of his progress .......... there now, that's a generous offer, whatcha think.......................*runs off to pack suitcase and kiss Jim bye bye (leaving him with a full and detailed instruction booklet on how to look after the current inmates of course)...............http://pages.prodigy.net/rogerlori1/emoticons/Zoom.gif *

[bunnyhuggger]

Our Daisy had blue eyes :cry: , he was a white lionhead lop. The pupil in one of his eyes looked different from the other though, it was sort of oval shaped and enlongated, the other one was normal. He used to scan his head from side to side a lot, like he found it difficult to focus. If he was nervous or scared, the scanning was even more pronounced. Poor wee man, didn't have much going for him, but he couldn't possibly be more loved than he was. His story is on our website, but if you're planning on taking a wee peek, get a box of tissues ready!

[Pendragon]

Ahh.. I know what your Alfie is then, Tam :wink:

You may have heard of Blue-eyed White rabbits. The gene that creates this is named the Vienna gene, since the first blue-eyed white breed was the White Vienna.

The gene is a strange one, since a rabbit with two Vienna genes is a blue-eyed white, but a rabbit with one Vienna gene has blue, or part-blue eyes, and white patches on the face, front feet and shoulders! (Sound familiar, yet...?). Sometimes these white patches can resemble the markings of the Dutch, but the gene is completely different to Dutch, and not related at all, it just produces a superficially similar effect.

When a rabbit has two Vienna genes, these white patches have spread to cover the whole rabbit, leaving a white coat and blue eyes. It is a "marked" rabbit without any markings!

And yes, Tam - the reason the part-Viennas (usually known as "Vienna carriers", "Vienna sports" or "Vienna variants") and full Viennas have the blue eyes is for the same reasons as Picasso, despite the genetic difference... the white patches are removing pigment from the eye.

[Tamsin]

Wow thats a spot on prediction! Alfie has a white nose like a dutch and white around his neck and a few white tufts on his toes :)

http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/care/images/bonding_friends.jpg

The genetics is very interesting, so you could have a bunny with dutch markings and blue eyes that wasn't actually a dutch rabbit genetically?

[Pendragon]

Wow thats a spot on prediction! Alfie has a white nose like a dutch and white around his neck and a few white tufts on his toes :)

So, now you know he is from a blue-eyed white background!

The genetics is very interesting, so you could have a bunny with dutch markings and blue eyes that wasn't actually a dutch rabbit genetically?

Yes you can... although the blue/part-blue eyes are your best clue... normal Dutch rarely, if ever, have blue eyes (Blue Dutch have dark blue eyes, not china blue like these) unless they have too much white; ones that have come from Blue-eyed White and have the Vienna gene have blue and part-blue eyes with usually very little white... although I once owned a gorgeous Nethie buck from BEW ancestry with a good Dutch pattern and blue eyes!

BTW... who is the little person next to Alfie? Unusual markings! I bet he/she is a real character.... what an expression! hee hee

[Tamsin]

I'll be on the look out for possible vienna gened bunnies now!

The lop next to Alfie is Jasper, he passed away age 6 earlier this year (he had troubles with teeth & pastruella). Your right, he was a real character, a very cheeky, people bunny. There are some pictures of his and Alfies first meetings here - http://www.rabbitrehome.org.uk/care/bondingdiary.asp

He wasn't really as pudding shaped as he looks in that photo, it was longish hair that makes it look that way honest :wink:

Tam