Fred is..... part lop?

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This topic has 20sd replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 11 months ago by Toni.

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- 05/08/2015 at 10:01 AM
  Toni
  Participant
  68 posts
  We’ve just noticed something in the last few weeks…… we think Fred might be part lop. His ears have been normally erect since we found him… but just in the last few weeks, we keep seeing this one ear hang lower and lower whenever he’s very comfortable or at rest…. it seems “too” low to me to be a normal ear position. He looks like he’s gettin’ ready to direct airplane traffic via semaphore. With this in mind.. I’m thinking he might be a cross between a mini-lop and perhaps a chinchilla or similar breed.
  
  What do you all think? Do you think this ear position looks lopish, or do your buns with regular ears sometimes hang low like this too? It seems to always be just his right ear. Now I can’t stop singing that kids song “Do your ears hang low?” in my head! *sighs*
- 05/08/2015 at 10:51 AM
  Deleted User
  Participant
  22064 posts
  I am no bunny expert (ask anyone on BB, ha ha ha….) but your Fred isn’t part lop – not that I think anyway. I think Fred just has a floppy ear the way some lop’s have an uppy (helicopter) ear. After looking at my Henry’s face everyday for the last 2 years, he has a particular lop face along with his ears being shaped differently than your Fred. I get that some bunny’s are mixed breeds, but I ‘personally’ can’t see any lop in him.
  
  BTW – I would do anything for my Henry to have an uppy (helicopter) ear – but then again, I’d give any thing for him to be a well behaved bunny! NOT going to happen! Ha ha ha ha ha……
  
  And I adore Fred, serious…. how gorgeous is he! And adore that floppy ear – I WOULD!!! Lol!
- 05/08/2015 at 11:07 AM
  Toni
  Participant
  68 posts
  Thanks for your thoughts AH! I came upon the thought possibility because when I went to the Wiki page about mini-lops ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini_Lop ) the example rabbit on that page looks just like Fred with low ears. I was thinking that maybe a cross between a lop parent and a non-lop parent might give you a variation of uppy/not uppy ears, and I thought perhaps like a “half-mast” type of ear is possible as well. I keep seeing many buns on the forum who have one ear up, one ear down, and many variations in-between…. so thought this might perhaps be why. Dunno though…. I have so little experience with lops! Not that it matters, I love him no matter what he looks like- but I’m just the curious type .
- 05/08/2015 at 11:27 AM
  Deleted User
  Participant
  22064 posts
  And don’t take my word for it Toni – I am the worst bunny person ever (again, ask anyone on BB!), ha ha ha! I was only posting based on me knowing ‘my’ bunny. Lets hope someone who actually knows what they are talking about comes along soon and corrects me, lol!
  Oh, and I didn’t for one minute think that you would love your guy any less – gosh, look at me! I love my Henry to bits, but I don’t always like him, ha ha ha ha – cheeky bunny!
  
  PS – I’m the curious type toooo! I just like to know ‘why?’….. Lol!
- 05/08/2015 at 2:35 PM
  Eepster
  Participant
  1236 posts
  I don’t think half lop, but probably quarter lop. Like one grandparent was a full lop, and the other three grandparents were uppy.
- 05/08/2015 at 2:48 PM
  kirstyol
  Participant
  580 posts
  How old is Fred? When we got Bramble at six weeks he had stand up ears. I noticed after a few weeks that one of them was starting to hang down a little just like in your picture of Fred. I always wondered if he was going to go full lop but Bramble now has helicopter ears, sort of. He often has them both up and can sometimes have one down (more often his left but sometimes his right) he mostly has one almost all the way up and the other half way down. I know Bramble to be half lop as I had the opportunity to see photographs of his parents when we adopted him. I was sure I had a photo on here of him doing his one up one down pose but I cant seem to find it – if he lets me I will take another one when I see him doing it next.
- 05/08/2015 at 4:45 PM
  Little Lion Head
  Participant
  1706 posts
  He definitely looks like there’s some chinchilla in him! He’s so cute! I love the one up/one down look!! The bunny we were actually looking at adopting when Shamrock won our hearts had that ear thing going on. I think hubby was afraid I was going to want to bring them both home and he has a hard time telling me no, lol! Maybe our next bun…..
- 05/08/2015 at 8:30 PM
  Toni
  Participant
  68 posts
  Ha AH…. Yeah, I sound like a two year old sometimes… why…… but why…… BUT WHYYYY? The naughty buns make life so exciting tho, no? Fred IS so well-behaved…. well, except for the runnin’ up to me and peeing on me at times. *sighs* They make some of them super-cute for a reason yaknow (it’s nature’s way of protecting them…….so you don’t kill them).
  
  Kirstyol, he’s bout a year we think. Everything is speculation with him as we’ve no history because we found him on the side of the road… so it’s like learning all kinds of fun little surprises about him as he matures. Thanks for the info… it’s interesting to know that a true half-lop might have just the helicopter ears…. that’s a lot like his ear is.
  
  LLH, I LOVE the one up/one down look too… it just adds to his adorableness. And especially the way the really floppy one looks like a bird wing when he’s prancing! It sounds like your hubby has you figured out, lol! You do know that most men secretly love our rabbits just as much as we do, right?
  
  Thanks everyone for your thoughts!
- 05/08/2015 at 10:17 PM
  LBJ10
  Moderator
  17240 posts
  With mixed breeds, there’s no telling what’s all in there. I agree though, probably not half lop but there are likely some lop genes in there somewhere.
- 05/08/2015 at 10:32 PM
  JackRabbit
  Participant
  5451 posts
  I love helicopter ears! Fred is so adorable anyway, and the ear thing just makes him even cuter.
- 05/09/2015 at 6:48 PM
  Megabunny
  Participant
  2041 posts
  My giant chinchilla was upright then helicopter ears but gradually became more of a lop. I do not think his breeder would be happy to know that. I don’t know if he’s considered fully looped. They stick out a bit.
- 05/10/2015 at 8:08 PM
  Toni
  Participant
  68 posts
  I was mostly just surprised that his ears had changed so late in his development….. never saw that before. Thanks all for your insight!
- 05/11/2015 at 12:20 AM
  Bam
  Moderator
  17033 posts
  During my failute to bond Yohio and Bam, one of Yohio’s ears dropped. At the time I thought Yohio was developing into a one up one down-eared bunny, he has very big ears and he was young (like 7 months max). Then several weeks later, the ear stood up again and it’s been up ever since. I decided to think that it was due to their fights in the car during bonding sessions. Needless to say there were no outward wounds and Yohio seemed perfectly fine, not tender when I palpated the area around the droopy ear or anything.
  
  So I don’t know what to think about this, if it was an injury or some sort of youthful stage his ears were going through.
- 05/11/2015 at 5:42 AM
  Little Lion Head
  Participant
  1706 posts
  Maybe Yohio’s way of communicating that he was disapproving?? That is so odd bam!
- 05/11/2015 at 8:11 PM
  Toni
  Participant
  68 posts
  Bam, we’ll have to make a new ear type category just for Yohio called “Elevator Ears”
- 05/12/2015 at 1:05 PM
  kirstyol
  Participant
  580 posts
  Here is the best photo I could get of Bramble doing his one up one down ear. I had to zoom in from across the room to stop him from moving! That’s just one of his many ear positions.
- 05/12/2015 at 2:20 PM
  Bam
  Moderator
  17033 posts
  Yohio had the same ear down all the time. Here’s a pic:
  
  It was 22062013
  
  He hated the bonding-efforts. He may have been constantly disapproving during that time. I was worried, I even started a thread about the phenomena!
  
  And then it just disappEARed.
- 05/13/2015 at 12:09 AM
  LongEaredLions
  Participant
  4482 posts
  I love helicopter ears! One of my bunnies had a temporary floppy ear at about a year old, it went away a few weeks later.
  Fred is so precious!
- 05/13/2015 at 7:55 PM
  Beka27
  Participant
  16016 posts
  I think a sudden lopped ear can indicate an issue with the ear, either an infection or mites… I’m pretty sure we had a discussion on BB about this in the past… Just something to be aware of…
  
  In this case tho, he does seem to have loppy tendencies. I agree that there may have been some lop somewhere in his lineage.
- 05/13/2015 at 8:59 PM
  Megabunny
  Participant
  2041 posts
  That’s how Gus first started when he had an infection but I was afraid to say anything because sometimes I think I am too paranoid about ear infections. He was perfectly fine. Vet found it as an aside to a different concern
- 05/14/2015 at 11:24 AM
  Toni
  Participant
  68 posts
  I double checked to be sure, never even thought of that as I’ve never had one of the rabbits in my care get an ear infection. His ear is clean and healthy.. and he got a clean bill of heath from the vet prior to his neuter, so I think it is just genetics. I LOVE the 1/2 loppy bunny photos, thank you! As if rabbits aren’t cute enough as it is, these funny ear positions just make them even more irresistible. Bramble’s ears looks just like Fred’s does when he’s at rest. I can’t believe just how low Yohio’s ear was… it looks like it is in full on lop mode! What an amazing thing that it was this floppy, but “disappEARed” (LOVE it!) .
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