Please help me choose a Holland Lop

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This topic has 13sd replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 1 month ago by littlemissflip.

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- 03/06/2011 at 7:29 PM
  Knabbel Did It
  Participant
  82 posts
  Newbie here – getting back into the house bunny love after about 12 years. I have tons of questions, but I’ll start with the choosing of our house bunny first. I’ve done a lot of web research and have narrowed it down to the very small buns, my favorite being the Holland Lops. I found a 4H family that has two one year old un-nuetered bucks, one show quality and the other pedigree only. She also has three week-old babies in the nest that we would have to wait for, not a problem because I don’t want to rush into anything this important. From our phone call, it sounds like the one year olds are not litter trained, and I totally forgot to ask if they are indoor or outdoor rabbits.
  
  If they are outdoor buns, not litter trained and not nuetered, how hard do you think it will be to transition them inside and litter box train one?
  
  Is it too late to nueter at this point?
  
  Would we be better off waiting for one of the babies and be able to start them out the way they would be accustomed to living?
  
  Are bucks usually calmer than does?
  
  TIA!
- 03/06/2011 at 7:32 PM
  Monkeybun
  Participant
  10479 posts
  I would go for one of the older ones, they are well established in personality, and don’t have to wait to go through puberty. You can still get them neutered, don’t worry
  
  Should be easy enough to transition them indoors.
- 03/06/2011 at 7:53 PM
  LoveChaCha
  Participant
  6634 posts
  I second what Monkeybun said. I have had my bun from the time she was a little bunny, it was very hard being a first time house rabbit owner. With an older bun, their personality has already developed. With a baby, you don’t know what you are going to get and it is hard to tell.
  
  Bunnies can be transitioned into the indoors easily. You may or may not get some attitude, but don’t take it personally. They will adjust : )
  
  I can’t judge boy and girl rabbits based on their gender. Both are equally sweet and genuinely adorable. A lot of the members have does.
- 03/06/2011 at 8:34 PM
  littlemissflip
  Participant
  154 posts
  We adopted our first male Holland Lop at a year old, and our second at 7 months old. Neither one was neutered at the time, and neither one was very formally litter box trained, but they both did just fine with litter box usage (AFTER we had them neutered!)
- 03/07/2011 at 3:29 AM
  Beka27
  Participant
  16016 posts
  Absolutely go older. The teenage months are a real pain the rear, you’ll be happy you skipped all that!
- 03/07/2011 at 7:54 AM
  Knabbel Did It
  Participant
  82 posts
  Thanks everyone! My daughter and I were thinking about the pros and cons of an older bun vs. a baby bun. We were thinking it would be fun to watch him develop from being a baby, but now I wonder if we really DO want to skip that part.
  
  What kind of behavior does a baby go through that would be a pain to deal with? I don’t remember my previous bunnies going through obvious stages, but then again, that was a long time ago, and I didn’t know much about bunnies other than a few books we read.
  
  So if we go with one of the older bunnies, what would we want to look for as far as personality goes? Just the obvious stuff like their reaction to their owner and us, the unknown stranger? How would a bad temperment show itself?
  
  Thanks again : )
- 03/07/2011 at 9:51 AM
  Molzy
  Participant
  161 posts
  I highly recommend going with an older bun! I got mine as a baby, and while it was fun watching him age (face it, baby buns are adorable!), he tried my patience all the time. He is finally calming down now at 4 years, but until he was two I felt like I was constantly running after him, or watching my home be destroyed (he went through a terrible carpet chewing phase, baseboard chewing phase, etc). He also went through a phase of being cage aggressive, which has calmed down somewhat.
  
  If I had to do it over, I would get an adult next time around. While fun to have a baby, I just don’t have the patience!
- 03/07/2011 at 12:40 PM
  Elrohwen
  Participant
  7318 posts
  I would recommend older bun, though babies are very cute! Baby buns can go through a bad teenager stage with there are surly and make a mess everywhere (sounds like human teenagers :-P) Litter habits can go out the window for a little while. Not all buns go through this though.
  
  If you decide to go for the older guys, which I think is a great idea, just hang around them and observe their personality. You want a bunny who isn’t terrified of you – a bit shy is normal, but if one comes right up to the front of the cage while the other cowers in the corner, that’s a pretty clear sign. Also, see what happens when you put your hand in the cage – some rabbits are territorial of their space and while that’s not the end of the world, it’s something you can look for and see if one of them is friendlier than the other. I’d also let them out of the cage and let them run around on the floor – does one seem more curious and active? The curious and active ones can be loads of fun, but they can also get into trouble, so it’s give and take. I have a very laid back boy who never gets into trouble and is very sweet, but then he’s not nearly as entertaining as his hyperactive bondmate. Finally, see if they enjoy pets. Some bunnies never do, and some instinctively love it, so see if they enjoy it (they might be nervous about you, but should accept pets from their current owners if they’re pet-loving bunnies)
- 03/07/2011 at 1:01 PM
  Huckleberry
  Participant
  972 posts
  Do you guys think the older ones will spray? Even after neutering? Will Knabbel have to worry about that?
- 03/07/2011 at 4:32 PM
  Knabbel Did It
  Participant
  82 posts
  I’m so happy to have found this forum! You are all so very helpful; I really do appreciate it! We’re really looking forward to visiting the two little lops tomorrow. It’s looking like we will most likely get one of the older bunnies, assuming that at least one of them likes us enough to let us take him home. The sad part is that our bunny bungalow won’t be here until later in the week, maybe even early next week. I couldn’t find anything I liked at the pet stores here, so I had to order one. Waiting is SOOOO hard!
  
  P.S. Knabbel is not our bunny. He’s a little lop that lives in Belgium. I found his photo on Flickr when I was looking for photos of sleeping animals for a yearbook ad. I absolutely fell in love with him over the course of about a week. So…it’s Knabbel that is the cause of us finally deciding that we really DO have room for a sweet little house rabbit. Knabbel did it!
- 03/07/2011 at 5:32 PM
  Elrohwen
  Participant
  7318 posts
  livingonfaith, some unfixed bunnies do spray, but that usually goes away with neutering. In my experience, bunnies spray far more often when there are other bunnies in the house. A single bunny is less likely to spray. Plus, if she neuters her bun soon after getting him, the spraying won’t be any more of a problem than it would be with an unfixed teenage bunny.
- 03/07/2011 at 5:45 PM
  bunnyjames
  Participant
  252 posts
  I’ve been wanting to get a lop eared bunny too!!!!! but right now im just going to wait until after my pregnancy *sigh* Knabbel hope u dont mind me posting a question on your post but I was wondering if lop ear bunnies are more prone to ear ‘problems’ then perky ear bunnies?? Ive always only had perky ear bunnies and iv’e never had to deal with any ear problems. Just wondering if there are EXTRA measures lop ear owners take with their bunnies ears?
- 03/07/2011 at 5:52 PM
  Elrohwen
  Participant
  7318 posts
  Moz, I have two lops and neither of them have had any ear problems. I’ve heard of more teeth problems in hollands due to the face shape (shared with nethies) but my holland has been 100% healthy and only my mini lop has had teeth problems. Her face is very long and un-lop-like, so mine have gone against any health problems that are “typical” for lops.
- 03/07/2011 at 6:33 PM
  littlemissflip
  Participant
  154 posts
  Neither of our lops had/have had ear problems either (knock on wood). My favorite thing about Holland Lops is when they run across the house at top speed with their loppy floppy ears flopping up and down. Cracks me up every time
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