Rabbits

[Ronnie53]

This was clearly NOT the among the brightest things I've done. 

I went to my first small animal swap meet this past Saturday.  GREAT fun there.  Loved it.  So I bring home a nice new hen that is half Rhode Island Red and half White Plymouth Rock  and is really beautiful (eggs + feather for art stuff) but she's being picked on BIG time by the original four.  Poor baby.

So I'm looking the rabbits over and was stunned at how expensive they were.  Then saw this one person who was parked off away from the group.  They had arrived late and didn't get on the main drag.  She had several nice young rabbits.  I loved them all but the Lion Head and the English Spotted had my main attention.  She sold me both for only $7!!  Others there wanted up to $50 for a Lion Head rabbit!  EGADS.  The hen is in my crate already so the rabbits get the back seat all to themselves.  And home we go.

These rabbits haven't been handled much so they hate me.   I'm still not ready to do the rabbits for meat thing and I have so very little space for much of anything here that I have to take great care in my planning.  So basically these rabbits are for poop.   And entertainment for me. 

Cramming about rabbits has been interesting.  I'm poking as much info in my head as I can.  Anyone who has anything to share PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DO SO.
The Lion Head makes noises quite similar to a guinnea pig.  Both are does....or so I was told.  The LH is not very nice to the English Spot at all.  But staying warm at night is nice so it is making concessions. 

HELP ME.

So far this has been enlightening:  http://bunniez.hubpages.com/hub/Yes--Your-Rabbit-Hates-You-How-To-Be-Friends-With-Your-Bunny

[Cedar]

She had several nice young rabbits.  I loved them all but the Lion Head and the English Spotted had my main attention.  She sold me both for only $7!!  Others there wanted up to $50 for a Lion Head rabbit!  EGADS. 
The Lion Head makes noises quite similar to a guinnea pig.  Both are does....or so I was told.  The LH is not very nice to the English Spot at all.  But staying warm at night is nice so it is making concessions. 

Both the Lion Head and the English Spot are 'Fancy Breeds' and although you can eat them, they are not meat animals. The Lion Heads top weight is around 3 pounds full grown. In comparasin my meat animals are about 4.5-5 pounds at 8 weeks. You probably got them at such a low price as they are mismarked or have poor conformation and she is needing cage room and did not want to take them back home and either did not care to, or did not want to bother butchering them out.

The Lion Head is making noises as she probably is either bred or is warning you before she thinks about possibly taking a chunk out of you. Be careful. I actually had a doe snag me yesterday and that does not happen to me often (one of Z's does). With her snorting at you, she is probably mature and of breeding age. 6 months or older is my guess. Although usually I find that does don't start those kind of shananigans until they are over a year of age.

I would not keep the two animals together. Rabbits do not tend to get along too well and I am afraid the 'snorty' doe will eventually take a chunk out of the other animal.

English Spots come in 7 varieties last time I looked into it (been out of showing and being a 4-H rabbit leader for a couple years) and they have to have certain markings or they are only good for pet stock. I was going to try to make you a read on patterns but this person did a ok job.
http://www.geocities.ws/englishspotlover/markings.html

The Lionhead is not a recognized breed by the American Rabbit Breeders Association. As far as I know, they are still in "Certificate of Development" status and breeders have been working since 2004 to get them recognized. I have seen them, but not judged them much so I do not know alot about them other than I am guessing they should be pretty nice bunnies for pets. I know their wool is probably too short for working with. I am not sure if they matt easier than than other wooled breeds or not.

Good luck and have fun with them.

Cedar

[Cedar]

Others there wanted up to $50 for a Lion Head rabbit!  EGADS.

For a pedigreed show quality rabbit these days, that is probably not bad. Want to faint? My friend sells her German Angoras for $200 and up.

Cedar

[Ronnie53]

Thanks for such valuable info! 

I knew these were not meat rabbits.  I am a long way from being able to even think about that.  My yard space here is drastically small so I have to carefully plan out what to do plus I'm just out of a surgical boot and still a long way from getting in a shoe.  The boot and I will be together off and on for a while yet as the foot continues to heal....makes for a very frustrated foot owner.  It has set me back a ways on my 13 in 13 goals, that's for sure.

Basically, I got the rabbits for the manure.  I will put something together and get them separated for sure.  I appreciate that info.

As for the German Angora, if the wool is top quality and the animals are bred to be prolific producers it would be well worth the $200 to purchase one.  I have always been fascinated with spinning and would love to try it out one day.  Years ago I had Bashkir Curly horses and their hair is almost identical to angora and can be harvested for spinning.  The once per year harvest isn't the best deal however.  It would take a lot of horses to come up with enough wool to make anything.  Their milk is also used for human consumption.  If anyone is looking into horses...this breed is superior in every single way over any other horse breed.  Kind of got off the rabbits there, didn't I?

Q>good luck and have fun with them<Q     hahahaaaaaaaaaaaaa.....ok, I'll try!!!!!  I'll take that luck for sure.  Not having much fun so far, tho!

[caverdude]

I like mini-rex's they are so soft and fun to pet lol.