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And who said I was going to call them pure Lion Heads? You need to get your story straight before you jump down my throat about "misleading". Apparently I was mislead. And I'm just going to sell them as pets. There is alot of wanted adds about pet rabbits.
I didn't say anything about "pure." Rabbit people do outcrosses all the time for various reasons, so the very idea of "pure" when it comes to rabbit breeds is pretty much meaningless. I'm talking about the breed standard (in the case of Lionheads, the working breed standard, since they aren't an accepted breed). Most people expect an animal that is said to be a certain breed to fall within certain parameters that have been set forth for the breed. If I showed you a 3-pound REW adult rabbit, you might believe it was a Netherland Dwarf, but there'd be no way I could convince you that it was a New Zealand. If it had lop ears, you'd know it couldn't be a Dwarf, wouldn't you? That's because you know what Dwarfs are supposed to look like, and they don't have lop ears! By all means, if you want to breed obvious crossbreds, go to it, but please be honest enough with your potential customers to let them know what the rabbits are. I don't know about your area, but around here, most of the people who are advertising for a pet rabbit really want one for free, and wouldn't be willing to go higher than maybe $10 for a mixed breed.
So many people are so eager to jump onto the Lionhead bandwagon, but they don't even know what a Lionhead is supposed to look like. erijn5 breeds Lionheads, and doesn't even know how big they are supposed to be. I have seen 10 pound rabbits with a few wisps of longer hair that were sold as Lionheads. Is the mane the only criterion that determines what is or is not a Lionhead? Yes, you were misled, and you fell for it because you didn't educate yourself first on what you should be looking for. Most people looking for a pet aren't going to educate themselves either, but they usually want a "pet rabbit" that will be 4 pounds or less when it grows up. They often get very confused or maybe pretty angry when their "Netherland Dwarf" exceeds 6 pounds. Since most people looking for a Lionhead for a pet at least know that it is supposed to be a small breed, they may not be happy when their rabbit gets so big it can barely turn around in the dwarf-sized cage they bought for it.
MrsFordTN, the math is very interesting, but in the real world of genetics, anything past half-blood is a mere guess. Because of the way chromosomes behave (even assuming that the chromosomes stay intact), unless the chromosome count of the species is divisible by 4, or 8, or 16, you can't have an animal that is exactly 3/4, or 7/8, or 15/16. And because chromosomes swap material around in unpredictable ways, the animal that your pedigree says is 3/4 ND and 1/4 JW, may actually be something like 57% ND and 43% JW!
Ok I understand that fractions weren't the best way to explain things, but the point is no rabbit or anything else is all the way pure, I am not a dumbie, I was give the OP a heads up that they could still be F1 LHs, and that the seller might of not lied to them. If you are selling for pets and they are priced as pets, then people should think they are winning rabbits on the ARBA circuit.
As far as breeding, I would love for every breeder that gets started to start with show/brood/pedigreed stock, but in realitic views, it doesn't happen. People want to know they are going to be able and enjoy something before dropping $200 plus on a show rabbit of a higher standard.
And who said I was going to call them pure Lion Heads? You need to get your story straight before you jump down my throat about "misleading". Apparently I was mislead. And I'm just going to sell them as pets. There is alot of wanted adds about pet rabbits.
I didn't say anything about "pure." Rabbit people do outcrosses all the time for various reasons, so the very idea of "pure" when it comes to rabbit breeds is pretty much meaningless. I'm talking about the breed standard (in the case of Lionheads, the working breed standard, since they aren't an accepted breed). Most people expect an animal that is said to be a certain breed to fall within certain parameters that have been set forth for the breed. If I showed you a 3-pound REW adult rabbit, you might believe it was a Netherland Dwarf, but there'd be no way I could convince you that it was a New Zealand. If it had lop ears, you'd know it couldn't be a Dwarf, wouldn't you? That's because you know what Dwarfs are supposed to look like, and they don't have lop ears! By all means, if you want to breed obvious crossbreds, go to it, but please be honest enough with your potential customers to let them know what the rabbits are. I don't know about your area, but around here, most of the people who are advertising for a pet rabbit really want one for free, and wouldn't be willing to go higher than maybe $10 for a mixed breed.
So many people are so eager to jump onto the Lionhead bandwagon, but they don't even know what a Lionhead is supposed to look like. erijn5 breeds Lionheads, and doesn't even know how big they are supposed to be. I have seen 10 pound rabbits with a few wisps of longer hair that were sold as Lionheads. Is the mane the only criterion that determines what is or is not a Lionhead? Yes, you were misled, and you fell for it because you didn't educate yourself first on what you should be looking for. Most people looking for a pet aren't going to educate themselves either, but they usually want a "pet rabbit" that will be 4 pounds or less when it grows up. They often get very confused or maybe pretty angry when their "Netherland Dwarf" exceeds 6 pounds. Since most people looking for a Lionhead for a pet at least know that it is supposed to be a small breed, they may not be happy when their rabbit gets so big it can barely turn around in the dwarf-sized cage they bought for it.
MrsFordTN, the math is very interesting, but in the real world of genetics, anything past half-blood is a mere guess. Because of the way chromosomes behave (even assuming that the chromosomes stay intact), unless the chromosome count of the species is divisible by 4, or 8, or 16, you can't have an animal that is exactly 3/4, or 7/8, or 15/16. And because chromosomes swap material around in unpredictable ways, the animal that your pedigree says is 3/4 ND and 1/4 JW, may actually be something like 57% ND and 43% JW!
Ok I understand that fractions weren't the best way to explain things, but the point is no rabbit or anything else is all the way pure, I am not a dumbie, I was give the OP a heads up that they could still be F1 LHs, and that the seller might of not lied to them. If you are selling for pets and they are priced as pets, then people should think they are winning rabbits on the ARBA circuit.
As far as breeding, I would love for every breeder that gets started to start with show/brood/pedigreed stock, but in realitic views, it doesn't happen. People want to know they are going to be able and enjoy something before dropping $200 plus on a show rabbit of a higher standard.
