Flemish Giant ears...

[SarahFair]

My females ears sometimes the tops seem a little limp, yet sometimes they are straight up.
I know with flemishes if their ears are bent it is considered a fault.
The parents did not have bent ears.


Will she grow out of this or will it only become worse?
Should I call the breeder and ask for an exchange?

 

[Bunnylady]

Can't say about Flemish, but I have seen this sometimes with my Harlies. Usually it's the really young ones (8 -10 weeks), and usually on rather warm days. I don't think it's dehydration, exactly, but it seems like the tissue may not be quite turgid enough to hold its shape?

We have had temps in the 80's during the last week, have you, too?

It's always tricky breeding big-eared breeds during warm weather. For many years, I have heard breeders say that the ears of rabbits that grew during hot weather are longer and thinner than the ones from the same breeding that grew during cool months. They even have a term for it, "summer ears." I can verify that the ears of my warm-weather litters do seem to get larger faster than those that are raised during cooler weather, but whether they end up larger, I really can't say. I have had young Harlies that had ears that fell over because of the heat, and spent the rest of their lives pretending to be lop crosses!

 

[SarahFair]

Hmm yes, we have had rather warm days.

Ive been keeping a few ice cubes in her water dish to make sure it doesnt get too hot. I was wondering if the heat didnt have something to do with it.