Anything under three pounds is absolutely a Chihuahua at heart
Teeny-Tiny syndrome, yup!!! And Standard Rex are Shar Pei, lol!
Yes standard rex was my first ever rabbit breed and they were definitely 50/50 temperamentally. Mostly the pretty ones who were bred for fur ended up being nice while the rex bred for size could be really mean. Overall I think rex are predisposed to being nicer than something like a Californian.
Never met a purebred Californian, but would love to get my hands on a red NZ!! But yeah, most of my herd, if not super friendly, are at least tolerant. Those that aren't will be phased out. I've got a harlequinized chocolate tan buck that my friend said she couldn't handle, but is fine with me. Then again, I don't take them out every day and try to pose them continuously!
I'll be breeding him to my little blue harli mutt to find what recessives are carried. So many plans, both with my mutts and my purebreds!
My friend has the worst luck when it comes to her Tans and Hares. Tan babies keep dying on her for one reason or another (I think it's one of the reasons the breed is so rare, something about them screams "I wanna die!") and she can't seem to keep Belgian Hare bucks. She got one at auction and he promptly escaped and broke his back. She managed to breed him before this and of the seven kits, only one was male. They escaped and she found all of them *except* the little buck. Then she went 50/50 with someone on a $100 buck, but he developed breathing issues with discharge during quarantine and had to be culled.
Right now, I own one of the Hares, and had her breed her to her Tan buck. My doe had nine kits, three of which died, and only one of them being a buckling. Keeping our fingers crossed we can use him to fortify the Hare line!
I love tris and reds! My male is a very poorly colored dilute mini tri but I'm hoping to get some good babies out of him, so far he's thrown all show quality rabbits so I'm thrilled. He was a type purchase, he's got the most lovely round body and short thick ears, at only $40 I couldn't be mad about his color and I lucked out with his personality, he's a very good buck.
Back in the day I used to have a lot of castor and red standard rex but I eventually got out of standards because they don't do well in the Texas heat.
Oh my goodness it's so fat
I love that coloring!
Oh, nice purchase! Once you have type down, it's a heck of a lot easier to work on colour! I'm trying to do both at once, lol! Which is frustrating when I get good colour but not type.
I managed to snag a 1 year old Standard castor doe at the show last Fall for $50 Canadian, proven and very good type. But that's far from the reds and tris I want, ha!
That kit and his four siblings are the *fattest* things! Mom is taking really good care of them. Even though her type is not great, she gets to stay because she's such a good mom. Especially for a first-timer. Her sister, on the other hand, is flaky and went and ate her whole day-old litter. We're trying to re-breed her and will foster her kits and give her mutts to raise.
It's too bad they can't take your heat. I worry constantly about the heat here in summer, and lost a doe and two of her five week old kits when we had a bad heat-wave last year to it. They were meat mutts though, so more fur. I worry more with the rex about the cold in winter, but they did fine here, even when it went down to -30 Celcius, although when it gets that bad I cover cages to avoid drafts as much as possible.
Nail trimming a prey animal has to be one of the worst things a person can do, I'd rather trim dogs or cats any day
HA! Most agreed! I am *not* looking forward to it. Or cleaning up the frozen mess that will soon be a pile of sludge under their cages.
It's worth it in the long run, my favorite rabbits were always the sweet tempered ones. With the extra tiny rabbits it doesn't matter quite as much but anything over four pounds should ideally be mellow and easy to handle. It's always sad to cull something pretty though.
I fear the little ones! Getting bit by an angry psychotic rabbit is no fun, no matter the size, but those littles are *fast*! Worst bite I ever got was from a deranged lionhead doe. She was culled right after. I was scared each time I had to feed and water her, and that was the last straw.
Yes I don't even bother trying to figure out chicken genetics! Rabbits and goats feel very simple to me and I like the occasional surprise that I find in the nest boxes.
I *tried* with chickens. It was just too much! I have Muscovie genetics down pat, and most of regular quacker duck genetics. Back in the day I bred lovebirds and did well with theirs. Rabbits are more complicated than scovies but I'm getting there! It's all the different naming conventions for the same phenotype depending on breed that gets me.
Oh that's so cool! What game is it?
It's called Leporidae. So much you can do, too! Here's the website if you wanted to check it out. My user name there is Wind.
https://www.leporidae.org/
They also have a Discord server, and that's where most of the support for the game is. I usually hang out in the irl-animals thread.
Let me know if you try it, I'll toss you some stuff!
Saw a BP at a show last Fall that was up on her hind legs in attack position on the judging table, daring the judge to come closer.
