This is a breeder you took your Rabbit to? I’m confused.

I don’t know, I still say, based on the pics I have seen of your bun, that she isn’t a rex. Her fur is all wrong. Unless I am looking at the wrong pics.

Also, she knows nothing about how to feed a bunny. A breeding rabbit, sure. feed that many pellets and no veggies. But not a loved pet. Lettuce, other than iceberg, is awesome for bunnies. 1 to 1 1/4 cups of pellets is far too much.

Yeah… that lady is odd. Be weary of her.

sounds very much like this “breeder” you are talking to is a backyard breeder at best. it this the same one who told you how rare rexes are, and how they are used for meat and fur? she’s obviously not breeding for the betterment of the breed.

Can you take flash photos of your bunny? 

Also, after goggling “rex bunny”, I’ve only found one site, which was a rabbitry, that speaks of the “rareness” and using the rabbits for food. Many many others do not.

Ditto on her food recommendations being wrong, any rabbit knowledgeable vet, books, or website dedicated to house rabbits will tell you otherwise. Breeders feed their rabbits like that because a) it’s cheaper b) rabbits used for breeding and those who are kept outside where it’s cold require more calories to maintain body fat and heat unlike undoor bunnies and c) the rabbit’s life expentency is a secondary concern. And her attitude towards vets is problematic. Yes, it is difficult to find a vet experienced in rabbits but that means that you work hard to find one not wait until your rabbit is having seizures or something equally life threatening. You really need to have a good relationship with your vet and you need a vet familiar with your bunny. Yes, vet trips are stressful and you don’t want to be going on a weekly basis unless you have to, but a little stress once a year to make sure you have a good relationship with your vet and that your bunny isn’t hiding any injuries is worth the stress. Only a vet can diagnose and give you meds for an illness or tell if a hurt bunny just has a sprain or a break and can give you pain pills for any such injury. So yeah, you need a vet even if you have to travel a bit.

Castor Rex-

http://nationalrexrc.org/castor.htm

Also, a closer look at this one shows long straight whiskers, which isn’t something Rexes have.-

S

Yeah the fur looks all wrong for a rex

It also concerns me that she apparently won’t sell a rabbit unless it can be shown… I don’t even want to know what happens to those she decides don’t make the show quality cut. Speaking as someone with muttly/not breed standard bunnies I’ll take my cute little doofuses anyday!

As for what breed your bunny is, I have no idea myself!  The cute twitchy nosed bunny type.  lol, I’ll leave that to the others here who seem like they know what they’re talking about on that one.

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It doesn’t matter that it’s an adult, the fur wouldn’t change. The whiskers wouldn’t either.

It really is not important what breed she is. If you think she is a rex, then by all means, she can be a rex. She’s a beautiful rabbit. I don’t think it’s an important issue to argue about.

the pic just posted is defiently not a rex at all!!! i have a purebred rex and you can tell just by the way her fur looks as it looks like the pic of the rex (she is a mini and a broken grey and white) , that rabbit in the pic, not at all a rex! not at all

Hey Ladies, could Dandela be a Palomino mix? She looks similar to the bun here, and that could explain why she looks bigger for a 7 week old-
https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/87811/Default.aspx , RachelF’s post

It’s definitely possible

She’s a beautiful gal, I understand wanting to know what she is, even if it has no bearing on anything

She doesn’t really look like a flemmy to me, but I’m not sure how big Dandela is.

new1bunny, please do not trust the breeder anymore. A Flemish Giant is one of the largest breeds of rabbits and they generally weigh about 20ish lbs. This would be an unfortunate confusion if you were expecting a bunny that would only be 5-6 lbs as an adult.
The fact that the breeder doesn’t know what Dandela is, is frightening. For your own knowledge and Dandela’s wellbeing, please do not trust this person.
Continue what you are doing with her and hopefully the vet will have some advice for you as to what breed she is or at least what her expected size will be.

dandela IS NOT a flemmie! look at my pictures of nut puppet, a sandy flemmish giant, and you will see that aside from color, they look nothing alike. check out dandela’s ears and compair them to puppet’s. dandela has SMALL ears, flemish giants have huge ears! and if this breeder who has been telling you dandela is a rex, is suddenly telling you she is a flemmie, she very obviously has no idea what she is talking about. a rex coat is very distinctive and can not be mistaken for the coat of any other breed of rabbit, certainly not the coat of a flemish giant!

mini rex….Ginju is roughly 4 months old in this pic.
 
 

<a href="http://s134.photobucket.com/albums/…IM8653.jpg” target=”_blank”><img src="http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/…IM8653.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”Photobucket”>

flemish giant/new zealand cross, he is about 4 months old also in this picture>>>

flemish giant cross next to mini rex>>>taken in december 2010>>>

9 week old purebred flemish giant>>

i agree with tait, i would not be conversing with this person no longer and nor but the sounds of it should they be breeding.

I also agree that that person has no idea what they are talking about, nor should they be breeding.
But I love Gin’s photos!!! <3 the size comparison photo!

as of right now, atticus, the flemmie mix is about 15lbs, ginju is about 3 and badger, the pure flemmie, is about 3 at only 9 weeks!! his father was about 25 and his mother about 20

Geez that’s huge. Where are you, I want to come visit!

thanks 123! i not too sure of the first pic, of atticus’ age, it was sent to me by the girl i got him from but i think she said he was about 4 months….hmmm…oh well lol he is still a handsome boy!

Yes, but we are ruling out Rex. You would be able to tell today with his fur, see how it lays down and has a “flow” to it? Rexes do not have that. They also do not have straight whiskers. It is the Rex gene that gave them curly whiskers, and fur, incidentally, but their fur due to breeding doesn’t grow long enough to show the curl.

Why do you ask us if you don’t care about our input?

see, that is what you are not understanding. you don’t have to wait a few weeks. you can be certain of a rex from day one. their fur is completly different! it grows in differently! it doesn’t just magically change length and texture at nine weeks. their whiskers don’t suddenly curl. they are that way from the very start!

It’s possible that the breeder believes Dandela to be a rex mix. While she does not share certain characteristics such as coat density or whisker “curliness”, she may grow to be the approximate size of a rex and even inherit health issues common in rexes. I would assume that because a rex’s coat is so unique to the breed, it’s a recessive gene and when bred with other breeds of rabbits, the coat will not be inherited by future offspring.
I know my one bunny, Velvateen, is part Netherland dwarf, although he did not inherit one major characteristic of the breed- his ears. Yet, he is a weight characteristic of a dwarf bunny, around 1.9-2.1 lbs (yes, he has fat days ).
new1bunny, I think you ARE right. She COULD be a rex. But she is probably not a full rex. I think you have familiarized yourself with the breed enough, although I would keep on researching rex-related characteristics.
I stand by what I said before, that you should not trust this breeder. She does make a good point about finding a rabbit savvy vet, but she threw out two completely different breeds of rabbits. I would be highly weary of someone that claims to be a breeder but DOESN’T keep track of the lineage of their rabbits.

 I also ditto that it is important to find a rabbit-savvy vet.   The reason that some vets don’t seerabbits is because vets actually need extra schooling for it.  Believe it or not, rabbits are put into the “exotic” category of veterinary medicine because of the way rabbits deal with certain meds, how they respond to anethesia, and their unique digestive system,  etc. So rabbit-savvy vets have to get additional education.  

I know you really took the time though to finally find a vet that sees rabbits, and found one 40 miles away (according to your other post) so that’s a great start.  Here’s a link to some questions you can ask your vet. http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/vet.html (scroll down to the screening questions)  And actually that whole page has some great info on how to find a good vet…I think there is a vet list which includes the state of Georgia. (don’t know how close any of them are to you.) 

Here’s the direct link to the House Rabbit Society Georgia -vets list http://www.houserabbitga.org/vets/vets.html

Also, check out Georgia’s House Rabbit Society’s webpage–rabbit carehttp://www.houserabbitga.com/?page_id=705 

This way, you can get in touch with other Georgians who can offer helpful advice.  It sounds like you have sort of gotten the runaround (whether it was intentional or not). 

The GA HRS really care about bunnies.  They do rescue them after all and keep them until a forever home is found. All Non-profit.  Which is true dedication to the welfare of rabbits.  It’s just another “somewhat” local resource (at least in the same state) so you are not so isolated with information just in your local area. 

I don’t know about your bunny being a Rex or Flemmie.  (a mix though possibly).   Either way, Dandela is beautiful and she now has you to love her and take care of her. 

I know you are torn between two different ways of thinking about rabbit care, rabbit breeds, etc –and that can be difficult to weed through at times.    And it’s good you are bringing information here for us to help you with so you get to the bottom of all this confusing stuff. You obviously care about your bunny enough to ask questions, and get  her on a better diet, find her a good vet, etc.     

the fur is most telltale sign of a rex, and the pics of your bun doesn’t seem like it is. still VERY cute though!

I’m a bit worried about this breeder’s responses too, and I would also advice not to trust them/take their advice, as it seems they do not know how to properly take care of a rabbit. yes, she makes a point that you should find a rabbit savvy vet, but it also seems that shes saying avoid the vet as much as possible. rabbits have much more delicate health than I thought, and regular check ups with the vet are key to their survival and health. her input on diet is all wrong too.

It made me sick to read what that breeder replied about “not selling any rabbit that cannot be shown- pet or not”. I can guarantee that does not mean that she keeps them all as pets for herself. And of course she is not going to take her rabbit for wellcare to a vet- how could someone afford to take a whole rabbitry to the vet? And it as not as if she is ever going to spay, neuter, let them live full time in her house or even expect them to live as long a life as some house rabbits are able to.
If you want a house rabbit- I would seek house rabbit advice from those that keep house bunnies. If you want an outside hutch bunny- then the breeder would probably have plenty of advice and numerous things to recommend so that you don’t have to take your $5 (or whatever amount) bunny to the vet and pay 10 times that for care. That is how livestock people think and what they tend to do.
I suppose it is possible that Dandela could be a full rex if someone bred the most least characteristic rexes for years to result in a bunny without the velvety rex fur and curly whiskers. But that would still even questionably not make a rex rabbit- as a rex rabbit is the characteristics as much as lineage.
Her advice about breed is obviously questionable- and she mentioned vets will check rabbits for heartworm. That is insane and ignorance at its finest- there is no test for heartworm in rabbits. She is trying to justify to herself and others why not to take bunnies to the vet.

Posted By KatnipCrzy on 05/03/2011 10:23 PM
It made me sick to read what that breeder replied about “not selling any rabbit that cannot be shown- pet or not”. I can guarantee that does not mean that she keeps them all as pets for herself.  And of course she is not going to take her rabbit for wellcare to a vet- how could someone afford to take a whole rabbitry to the vet? And it as not as if she is ever going to spay, neuter, let them live full time in her house or even expect them to live as long a life as some house rabbits are able to.
If you want a house rabbit- I would seek house rabbit advice from those that keep house bunnies. If you want an outside hutch bunny- then the breeder would probably have plenty of advice and numerous things to recommend so that you don’t have to take your $5 (or whatever amount) bunny to the vet and pay 10 times that for care. That is how livestock people think and what they tend to do.
I suppose it is possible that Dandela could be a full rex if someone bred the most least characteristic rexes for years to result in a bunny without the velvety rex fur and curly whiskers. But that would still even questionably not make a rex rabbit- as a rex rabbit is the characteristics as much as lineage.
Her advice about breed is obviously questionable- and she mentioned vets will check rabbits for heartworm. That is insane and ignorance at its finest- there is no test for heartworm in rabbits. She is trying to justify to herself and others why not to take bunnies to the vet.

I hope that you will find out what type of rabbit that you have.

I have a Netherland Dwarf, but she does not have any dwarf traits. Rabbit genetics can be quite tricky sometimes.

There are variations within breed as far as size. RabbitPam (one of the forum leaders) had a “mini rex” who got to be over 8 pounds! So even with purebred buns, there is a high end and a low end of the weight standard. Weight does not always tell the whole story. Rabbits can be heavier due to diet and lack of exercise time also.

She should reach her full body “frame” at about 6-8 months, but will likely continue to gain a little bit of weight (possibly measurable in ounces) until she’s about 1 to 1.5 years old.

You are so right about “defects”. They do exist. Oftentimes, those “defective” rabbits get sold off for a cheaper price as pets, or if the breeder doesn’t want to deal with them, they will sell the whole bunch for a flat fee to a local pet store. Fortunately, since we do not breed our rabbits, it doesn’t matter if they are the right breed, weight, color, have the perfect ears or body shape… we love them, “imperfections” and all.

The plush fur and crinkled whiskers are a tell tale sign of the rex breed but it’s entirley possible Dandela is a rex cross of some sort. A member here (Andi)  fostered a litter of angora / mini rex crosses and the rabbits carried neither the angora or the rexed fur. So we can’t really tell by looks alone.

This is her 2 long term foster rabbits (petfinder pictures  – they’re younger in these)

Spencer                                                                                                                                             Suzy-Q

I’ve tried to guess at the breed mix of my rabbits on and of in the past. Still do sometimes. I might get an idea from their adult weight an shape but never know for sure.

new1bunny, for what it’s worth I’d say there’s a 95% chance Dandela is a mix breed. One thing that I’m 100% sure on is that she’s Lovely!

I am no geneticist (shocking, I know!) but you are very right Jersey. I would see those buns and never guess they were part angora or rex.

People have to just make their best guess and leave it at that. If a breed is obvious, it’s obvious. Even mixed breeds may have one obvious part that is visible. If you have a rabbit who is part lop/part whatever, you’re going to say “lop-mix”. If you have a German Shepard/Chihuahua mix who is tan and black and weighs 120 pounds, in a description you are going to say “Shepard mix”… NOT Chihuahua-mix!

Rabbit breeding is not as regulated as dog breeding. Even “purebred” rabbits can have a different breed of rabbit in their lineage, maybe even a couple generations back. Sometimes a breeder might have 7 buns who look just like mama, and the 8th one is completely different… maybe the “mailman”… lol?

It seems to me that you are choosing breeds for her based on her coloring. As I said in one of your previous posts, her color is an agouti – specifically chestnut. There are many many many breeds of bunnies (and mixes) that come in that color. Castor is actually the same color, just what it’s called in rexes, and she is not a rex, therefore not a castor. She may very well be a rex mix though.

Also, the breeder was completely wrong in saying that your bunny has genetic color defects. She’s absolutely a perfect chestnut agouti! Nothing wrong with her in the slightest. Her color does not look castor because she’s not a rex and doesn’t have the rex fur, but that’s doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with her color.

Just wanted to add that breeders advice will differ alot from house rabbit owners and the needs of the rabbits are different. But I don’t think the advice was entirely bad. I hope I don’t come across as being the defender of the breeder. It’s just I was not overly surprised at what she wrote.

Yes, give Dandela free-feed pellets while she is growing. Yes, reduce this as she becomes an adult. The reduced amount the breeder suggested does seem high to us because our house rabbits don’t nearly need this much. Rabbits in rabbitries are not commonly housed in air conditioned environment and may require protein in their diets. Also, pellets may be the chief source of food since hay is not always given. Using hay when maintaining many habitats in a rabbitry is not always practical and can compromise the hygiene so pellets were devised for the breeding industry for the convenience.  Some breeders do feed and recommend hay in the diet by the way.
 

Treats like carrots I’ll give on holidays =) only a couple baby carrots though. Any green veggies keep away like lettuce, celery or cabbage

I read this to mean I don’t give treats like carrots often. Feed any green but not lettuce, celery or cabbage.

I have come across this suggestion to avoid lettuce before. I’m not sure why it is said. Maybe because lettuce can spoil easily, is not overly nutritional or can cause runny poop with some rabbits. Again, somthing one with a large numbers of rabbits is going to want to avoid!

The thing agree with the most from the letter was the importance of finding a rabbit-savvy vet. And being wary of just any vet because they can unknowingly make your rabbit worse. A member here had a vet prescribe a dosage of an antibiotic 10 times the required amount. Then when she went to another vet, he did not clean an infected wound and nearly gave a medication that would have likely killed her in her already compromised state.

I think she was wise in advising that it’s all about prevention. This is what most of us here do by feeding a high fibre diet modified for house rabbits, providing them exercise, maintaining routines and an environment that doesn’t overly stress them, closely observing our bunnies for if anything doesn’t seem right.

Her advice about breed is obviously questionable- and she mentioned vets will check rabbits for heartworm. That is insane and ignorance at its finest- there is no test for heartworm in rabbits. She is trying to justify to herself and others why not to take bunnies to the vet.

Katnip, I read this differently. I thought this was her example of testing the vet, seeing how much they know. And she mentions they’d examine the rabbit like they would a dog which was inappropriate. (???)

Posted By jerseygirl on 05/04/2011 06:44 AM

I hope I don’t come across as being the defender of the breeder. 

 

 

No, not at all.  I see you as just looking at the information as is and making some good points.  

 I don’t want BB to have a focus of anti-breeder, but just be “care aware”.  (The main reason why discussion of breeding, as a main subject, is not allowed is because it is so controversial and it would create a heated forum). 

There are many members here  that got their bunny from a breeder, and so I don’t want our environment to scare members away because of that.  Though I think it is very important to call out inhumane practices, when noticed, as part of the education process, I also appreciate finding areas that we can agree and expand on.  And I think you did that very well, Jersey

I also understand new1bunny wanting to know the breed.  I remember wondering what Jack might be mixed with as he has some very light gray unique markings within his white fur.  Made no difference as far as how much I loved him, and though yes, certain breeds can be suspectable to particular medical issues, it really was just more of a curiosity for me.

That is great you’ve found a vet and can get her seen. I sometimes have to write qu down before I visit because I forget otherwise. Vets can’t answer all questions but can make their best educated guess. They’ll certainly should be able to tell you her weight, sex, condition of teeth and make an estimate of her age. Hope it goes well.

For what it’s worth, Otto was 2lbs at 8 weeks and he came out to 4lbs. Sounds like she’ll be in the 4-6lb range when she grows up

my flemmie badger who is 9weeks is about 3lbs….but should be, judging from him parents who are tattooed purebreds, anywhere from 20-25lbs but buns of the larger size dont stop growing for a longer period then those of the small breeds.

new1>>>hope the vet can give you some guesses as to what she might be. too bad there isnt a dna testing for buns that they can do on dogs to determine not only what breeds they are but how much of each breed they are. its pretty neat!

good luck at the vet and hope all goes great for your pretty girl!

my 7 week old holland lop is just over 1lb, he’s gonna stay little