Lionheads

[SukiBun]

 Hey everyone! Hope you’re all well 

 

Just a quick question, as struggled to really find anything of the net apart from details on showing lionheads and the breed/colour info, searched the forums and found a post about single/double manes and google images to help me determine it, but it’s just a question about Suki’s mane.

I’m obviously thinking she’s a single mane, and she’s just turned 21 weeks this weekend (gosh where has the time gone since having her at 9 weeks!!!), and her mane has considerably thinned out, which I was kind of expecting, just not this much? And where it is full it’s clumping despite my grooming her daily or every other day. So it looks quite seperated from her other fur…if that makes sense.

Maybe she’s just outgrown it and i’m being silly! I don’t half worry a lot! But can anyone tell me, if this is her first molt, if it will grow back quite full again? It doesn’t matter either way, as she’s still my beautiful bun, I just wanted to post and make sure I had nothing to be concerned about… 

 

Reading back through this, it’s kind of a silly post…but…..never mind hehe!  

 

 

[Elrohwen]

I believe that some lionheads, especially the single maned ones, can shed their mane and never grow it back. Mirbear’s Hershey is one of these un-maned lionheads, I think.

Is her main crimpy? Or straight? I’ve read that the ones with crimpy hair as babies usually keep their manes, but those with the super straight hair often shed them out and never grow them back.

Definitely nothing to be concerned about though! It’s fairly common for them to lose their manes after their first big molt. Lionheads aren’t as standardized as most of the other breeds, so there’s a lot of variation in mane texture and appearance from one bun to the next.

[TARM]

My lionhead boys never lost their manes, even when they molt. But, I’ve seen lots of girl lionheads with no mane. Maybe it’s like real lions and only the boys get the pretty hair?

[Monkeybun]

Tell that to Ruby, BT’s pretty girl

[MirBear]

yes your right. my Hershey has no mane, her sister and brother both had manes but she does not. shes a pure bred, and has never had a mane. not even when she was little. i’ll e-mail her breeder and ask for a pic of her sister and brother, just for some comparason. its funny, hershey was 1 of 3 in her litter ( a very small litter ) and her brother has a double mane her sister has a single and hershey is un-maned

EDIT: just remembered something. one of the members on here posted quite awhile ago, she was concerned because her lionheads mane (if i remember correctly) either shed out and didnt return, or it thinned out quite a bit, either way. we descovered that it was EXTREAMLY rare to have somthing like that happen…… if you would like i can send my breeder your post and see if she can give you some info… i wont do it untill i have your ok tho.

 

 

 

 

 

 

a pic of my hershey… just so you can seee.

 

[Elrohwen]

Really? I’ve heard it’s fairly common for them to shed out their mane almost completely.

[Karla]

This is sort of weird. Karl is a single-mane lionhead and his mane was not that obvious when I got him. I actually did not know that he was a lionhead. But as he turned 1 year, he suddenly started growing a rather big single mane, which just keeps growing. And his mane hair is straight (and grey, the rest of him is black) and not crimpy.

[Karla]

We should make a poll! And see if we can come to some sort of understanding of males vs. females – straight vs crimpy – unmaned – vs maned

[Elrohwen]

Karla, I think if they have straight hair as an adult, it stays, but the little babies that have straight manes often lose them, if that makes sense. So in babies you want to see a crimpy mane because it means they’ll keep it, but it can molt out and grow back straight later.

[Beka27]

Hmm… I have no clue! I don’t know much of anything about lionheads.

[corpathina]

this might sound silly, but what age do you mean by baby? MJ had a straight mane at 2 months old when i got him and he still has his now. or by baby do you mean just a few weeks old?

[Elrohwen]

I think baby is just before the first molt, so 2 months old is probably still a baby. Not that all straight manes grow out and never return – I’ve just read that sometimes they do and sometimes they grow in much reduced.

I think of MM’s Pip – she has the cute mane on her head, but she doesn’t have the full mane lionheads are supposed to have. I think a lot look like her when their manes molt out and don’t fully grow back. Personally I think they’re cutest with the little straight mohawk style hair. Lol

[Karla]

What an lionhead expert, you are, Elrohwen!

I wonder if it is a flaw in regard to show rabbits, if the lionhead loses its mane?

[Elrohwen]

Ehh, being unemployed I have a lot of time to read about rabbits online! Just quoting back with other people have said, so it may or may not be right.

I do know that it’s a flaw in show rabbits to not have the perfect mane (can’t have too much mane or too little) so it’s important to figure out as a baby whether they’ll keep a good mane or not. But there’s a huge variety in lionheads out there – they all look different from each other – so it’s hard to tell what you’re going to get, i think.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Kahlua can lose a great deal of hair to the point where it’s just mane and skirt, but it comes back. Single maned really just have a mane after they mature and like others said can lose it all together.

It’s a new breed-and really I think the only distinction between double and single is the amount of fur-and that’s not a perfect science. I’ve read breeders shave their doubles/imperfects for shows as ideally they should only have a mane. The colors come from outbreeding to lots of other breeds-almost all colors exist in lionheads.

So in my humble opinion-they are the labradoodle or the cockapoo of the bunny world-a cross or designer breed that’s new and variable

[SukiBun]

 Wow thanks people! 

 

She still has quite a large-ish mane under her chin and on her chops.. she’s lying down now sleeping and it’s all puffed out, but it is indeed quite crinkly and fuzzy!! But just short and stumpy….lol

I’m not sure if she has started to molt large amounts yet… but this is certainly an interesting topic I have created haha! 

 

Mirbear, you’re most welcome to forward this on.  Hershey is such a cutie! x

[SukiBun]

OH! And I’m forgetting that she is of course crossed with a nethie….so…it might be she has more nethie her than lionhead lol

 

Shleeping..you can kind of see the fuzzyness 

 

[Elrohwen]

Wow, I looove her color! Nothing better than a harli with Vienna marking. *swoon* I love the little white face markings.

[SukiBun]

 And she wears little white socks too  

[MirBear]

hershey is very poofy on her chest area even though she has no mane (not a dewlap just very poofy fur) so it could be a lionhead thing. the fluffyness

[Bougatsa]

 

This is my bunny when she was around 3 months old. She is obviously part lionhead..is she a mix? With what?? I’ve seen some lionhead pictures but all of them were really hairy …she’s got more her only around her face..!!

 

 

 

 

[Karla]

My bet is half guinea pig  She’s got the size and the colouring!

Sorry, I’m really no good when it comes to different breeds. But she does like a bit like Karl did when he was young. He didn’t look like a real lionhead until he was 7 months or so.

[Bougatsa]

Haha I can see the similarity!! When I first got her (3 months old) everyone used to call her “mouse” cause she looked more like a mouse than a bunny..now she is bigger, got rid of the baby face but still I havent found any picture that looks like her.

[SukiBun]

She is gorgeous, I love her stripe. Well Suki is a Netherland Dwarf X Lionhead… from your profile pic that’s what I’d have said she is..? how big is she?

[Bougatsa]

 This photo was taken in March…she looks fat here but she’s not. She weights 1 kilo and 10 grams.  I hope you can tell how big she is. oh and she’s around 7 months old now…teenage and CRAP

[Bougatsa]

Οh I just took a peek at your Suki’s photos!!! She is beautiful! And they do look a lot alike but Suki has more hair around her neck plus she is not as skinny as mine is…how much does Suki weight?

[Elrohwen]

She looks like a purebred lionhead to me. They’re only supposed to have a “mane” of fur around the face and bum, so her only having the fluffy fur around her head is normal. The super fluffy ones are called “teddy” lionheads and aren’t showable because they actually have too much hair.

It’s always possible she’s a mix, of course. I’m not sure if the lionhead mane is dominant or recessive – if it’s dominant, then she could be mixed with any small bunny. If it’s recessive, both of her parents must have had a mane, which would mean she’s probably reasonably purebred.

[SukiBun]

 Bougatsa!!  Is that one dark leg and one white leg!!!!??? How adorable!!!  She really is very special!!! I thnk she and Suki would get on very well! And thank you very much, I lover her so much Although she’s moody, even after spaying hehe! 

Elrohwen– Suki has a mane around her head and near her bum, but she is too small for a purebred I would think? That’s why I would have thought Bougatsa’s bun was a nethie x lionhead too….however that’s not to say she isn’t,  I was just always under the impression a purebred Lionhead would get a lot bigger, but looking at this site they do look very familiar (lionheadrabbit.net/gen%20gallery%20oldies.htm) , even Suki does…..especially her colouring… just doesn’t have so much fur!!! 

Although I can’t imagine the pet store ( I would adopt but we don’t have a lot of shelters around here ) getting it wrong about Suki… but the more i look at her the more i think she’s pure… just has a single mane gene. 

 

(OMG I love looking at them, they are all so adorable!!!!!! lionheadrabbit.net/genwinners2005.htm  )

 

 

I don’t yet know how much she weighs…. I can’t remember what the vet last said, plus I can’t get her on the scales at the moment haha….  I’ll let you know

[Bougatsa]

Yeap her left foot is the only white part of her body and the right one is black and continues on a stripe around the body! They are her socks!! haha!

[SukiBun]

Right… she’s still only 0.821 kg / 1.8lbs…. Oh dear… is that bad????? She doesn’t seem underweight and eats like a pig. She is still only a baby in my eyes at almost 6 months old….but I guess maybe not… ? I’m a bit worried now! I’m in the early stages of weaning her onto pellets… Help.

[SukiBun]

 She really is beautiful! Lovely markings  Suki has little white socks

 

Oh dear looks like she needs a clip! 

 

[Bougatsa]

Mine was 0,825 kg when she was 5,5 months and now she is 7 and weights 1 kilo and 10 grams…I wouldnt worry it sounds ok! right?

[SukiBun]

Ah lovely, puts my mind at rest thanks! I guess that’s relative seeing yours is a couple months older!

[Elrohwen]

I really don’t know enough about lionhead sizes to know if that’s too small or not. Though I do know that lionhead type varies widely, so I’m assuming their weight can vary quite a bit as well. Or she could just be mxed with a nethie to get the smaller size.

[SukiBun]

 Yeah, a few websites I’ve been on talk about mini lionheads…. so I guess maybe she is x nethie.

 

I found a ok-ish UK based site that mentions weight details for breeds,, referring them to a ‘mini lionhead’ apposed to a ‘normal’ lionhead or lionlop, but mentions nothing about where the breed originates from whether it’s with a dwarf. I’ll just take the pet store’s word for it! So Bougatsa, I’m not sure about your bun’s breed! 

[MirBear]

hershey’s parent were HUGE! like 5 lbs each… and just size wise.. big!
meanwhile hershey is so tiny she is smaller than the dwarf i had… ??? i have no idea whats up with the sizes… alot of breeders ive seen are size wise.. big! and the pet lionheads are so small.. oh and hershey has thick fur on her butt too… well all the buns ive had have had thick fur bumms.

[Rippy]

One of the interesting things with Lionheads is that the mane itself is a dominant genetic trait. That means that you can combine a Lionhead with pretty much any other breed and still get baby Lionhead wabbits and this is why you can have small to very large Lionheads.

[bunnytowne]

The only true way to tell a double mane from single mane is from birth.    However either single or double mane can shed out and never grow back in.  I know that from a breeder I know. She had a good double mane for show and he shed out at 4 months and the beautiful mane never came back in.  HE is unshowable.  STill cute n loveable though

An adult single mane looks like a sunflower. LOng   Hair all around the head but not on the face. A double mane can look like that too.

If the mane doesn’t grow in by 1 1/2 years it isn’t going to come in.    There is a site out there that shows pics of baby double manes and single manes to help you tell the difference.

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