Pat has a TON of rabbit equipment, jewelry, gift and decorative items for sale. Check it out! I have a really nice 3-holer carrier from Pat that I love. Her plastic pans are squared off on the corners and very deep. The 3 holes open individually, a must when you have the nosy neighbor Holland Lops. If you purchase something, tell her that Debbie V. from Maine sent ya!
I recently visited Pat Vanecek's wonderful rabbit supplier website: www.bunnyrabbit.com and saw a neat or should I say OUT-STAND-ING invention? No more bending over carriers to get bunnies to and from the show table. It's a Carrier Stand!
Pat has a TON of rabbit equipment, jewelry, gift and decorative items for sale. Check it out! I have a really nice 3-holer carrier from Pat that I love. Her plastic pans are squared off on the corners and very deep. The 3 holes open individually, a must when you have the nosy neighbor Holland Lops. If you purchase something, tell her that Debbie V. from Maine sent ya!
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Merry Christmas and Happy Holland-days!
In an earlier blog I mentioned rabbit Christmas cards. Way back before many of you were into rabbits, before the American Fuzzy Lop was an accepted ARBA breed, the breed COD holder sent out Christmas cards. Her name is Patty Greene-Karl from NY. A little history on the American Fuzzy Lops. When Hollands first came to the States, some crossbreeding was done to create a larger gene pool or to bring in another trait. Somewhere along the line, a poor misguided soul (I'm being kind here) bred in Angora to "improve" the coat. The first years of Hollands being an accepted breed, it seemed more likely you'd get a fuzzy lop (Angora wooled Holland Lops) when breeding broken to broken. I don't know how sound this "broken to broken fact" is but the first time I did breed broken to broken, I got THREE! As an "added?bonus?" they were mismarked. Whenever two Hollands that carry the fuzzy gene are bred together, you can get an Angora coated Holland. Overall, there are variations of length of coat on Hollands. Some have the short (and often shiny) fur, some have medium length with a slow rollback, others have longer, thicker and dense fur that will never get slick. It is especially thick around their hindquarters and underside. I've found that brokens are more likely to have longer, thicker, super dense fur. I don't think this has to do with the fuzzy gene but rather simply a different gene. For lack of a better term, a "real thick dense fur" gene. Many bloodlines carry the fuzzy gene which isn't visible until two animals with this gene are bred together which makes that wool gene dominant, hence the resulting long fuzzy coat. Some people keep these Fuzzy Holland Lops and show them if they are representative of the AFL Standard. A Maine bred (NOT MINE) Fuzzy Holland Lop even won Best of Breed at the ARBA Convention. Other breeders sell them for pets. Either way, if a pedigree is given out it must state it is a Fuzzy Holland Lop, not AFL. Anyway, getting back to the Christmas Cards.... Patty used to send me a Christmas card each year of a fuzzy lop or two on a grooming table with a sign beside them. The first year of course said something like, "American Fuzzy Lop 1st Year", then each consecutive year had a sign up until they got accepted and that year's Hooray sign. Here is a Christmas wish for you all - that the Fuzzy Fairy doesn't gift you in 2015! Another way to help keep your bunnies water intake up in the wintertime is to provide them with the occasional carrot. Generally with all treats I tell people that for something to be a treat, it needs to be only a small portion that is gone in 5 minutes. Otherwise you are giving them too much of something and it will lessen their appetite for their regular food. (grain and/or hay) Plus not to mention spoil them into demanding little demons who insist on only treats or treats first!
Bunnies have different tastes and what one likes for treats differ from another. Some like bread, apple, carrot, potato peelings, berries, banana, comfrey or parsley. Remember, all small portions. Never give lettuce as it has too much water and can give them diarrhea. Never give cabbage, it could tie up their digestive tract. Don't give them broccoli, too gassy, again a stomach problem maker. Gemstone and her sister Blue Sapphire tend to take their small piece of bread and run circles around their cage with their "prize" held high in the air, noses pointed skyward. They run round and round like someone is likely to snatch it away any instant. This either stems from when they were babies and keeping littermates from snatching their treats away. Or could have come later when they had babies of their own that would steal a treat if put immediately on the cage floor. Eventually they tick down like a bad wristwatch and sit still to eat their prized treat. We usually feed pieces of whole wheat bread but one time I'd brought home some white bread. I don't know just how colorblind a bunny may be but one doe definitely knew the difference. She normally loved her whole wheat bread. But the second I set the small piece of white bread down, she startled and ran away from it. No coaxing changed her mind and she kept her distance or ran away when I tried to put it near her. She was scared of the white bread. Next time she was offered whole wheat and woofed it down. Silly doe. Like the 5 minute treat gone rule, if they show no interest in it within 5 minutes, remove it, they don't want it. The good news is that we won't be getting more rain like this past week but.... temps are going to drop. For those of us in colder climates, don't forget as you get colder, your bunnies do too. Make sure they have fresh water available as often as possible. Maybe add to your Christmas wish list for a second set of water bowls so you can switch out frozen ones. We did this when we had an unheated rabbit barn. In the a.m. we'd put the frozen water bowls into a couple of 5 gallon pails and bring them in the house to thaw while putting the second set out with fresh warm water. The bunnies sure appreciated it. Keeping them hydrated, keeps them eating.
Give extra hay for eating and if using straw for bedding, throw a little extra of that in as well. If you have a special pet that you like to bring in the house to play with, time to stop that. Taking them in and out is not a smart thing. They can easily get overheated while indoors and then getting put back out in the cold is an unkind and risky thing to do. Would you wear your winter coat indoors or go outside without one? The good thing is that the bunnies aren't molting. They are holding onto every piece of fur they can and are going to need it for the months ahead! It's been a really busy month, sorry I haven't been able to keep up with this blog for those loyal readers. Then, of course, the inevitable start of winter cold. Not the temperature kind of cold, the sneezing kind. The amazing thing is that once inside the rabbitry feeding the bunnies their supper, the cold is mostly forgotten.
I run out with "my plan" to get them fed and get back in the house as soon as possible. But.... that isn't "their plan". Their plan is to get my attention and hang onto it as long as possible. Stretching out as far as possible to get a head rub or reach out with paws plopped on my shoulder. A couple of the does score a small bit of bread and run circles with it held aloft as if someone will steal their "prize". A few bunnies are vocal and hum to me. So many different personalities and each enjoyed. A few of the late summer kids are blooming. In particular is a Wyeth son named "Raisin Cain". He is a broken tort like his dad with the same rascal-y attitude. Even though the rabbits are in a heated building they seem to know when a snowstorm is approaching. Their appetites pick up and they are more antsy. You can't fool Mother Nature! Another five days and we'll be gaining sunlight. It can't come soon enough! On an earlier blog post I gave an incorrect show date. The Cumberland Fair show is Sunday, Sept. 27th.
The longer you are in rabbits, the more things you find or other folks buy for you that has rabbits on it. They multiply much faster than Holland Lops do! I found this wooden sled that someone had painted a bunny snowglobe on, what a nice job they did. Unfortunately I didn't get the artistic painting gene. Maybe this will give some of you talented people an idea though?
Each year I no problem finding Christmas cards with rabbits on them, but those seem to be getting scarce. The past few years I've made some on Shutterfly using my own rabbits photos. They go out to rabbit friends and everyone else gets the standard store greeting cards. I know my rabbit friends won't make fun of "our kids"! Thanks to those who have gone onto eBay and bought some of the rabbit things I have up. I've listed a bunch more stuff, mostly bunny Christmas figurines but other stuff too. Have a look see under my seller name: Debvbbf
Things have been pretty quiet in the rabbitry. Several Maine clubs are having their Christmas parties this weekend. No doubt next year show plans will begin. I have the show dates for the Cumberland County Club's shows, they are: Sat. Feb. 14; Sat. nighttime show June 27th and the Cumberland Fair show Sept. 27th. Mark your calendars now! There is a holiday movies called, "The Christmas Bunny" that is on the UPHD cable station. I bought the DVD a couple of years ago. Quite the free-for-all type of rabbitry is shown. I much prefer the Christmas Watership Down movie. It hasn't been on TV that I know of but you can buy the DVD. |
AuthorHoping to share the rabbitry happenings & thoughts. Also HINTS that I hope will help you and your rabbits.
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