should i shave my angora??

[wigglynoses]

ok i have a few questions about my two angoras. so i have two angoras, a little blond boy named Cashew and another grey boy named Floki. Floki’s wool is very dense and almost always tangle free he rarely has knots and the hay doesnt stick to him as much. on the other hand, theres cashew i dont think his wool is as dense and hes smaller than floki. could he be the runt?(they are brothers)i always spend the most time on him grooming and cutting out knots. its like a never ending battle with his wool. i want to know why maybe his wool isnt as good quality? he always has so much hay stuck on his bottom. his fur also just comes out when i brush him. should i just shave him and start over? i like the color of his wool best and i want it to be long and flowing like floki’s. also if i do shear him, what kind of clippers recomend? thanks any tips help

[Megabunny]

Wow Two angoras. They’re my favorite! But that’s gotta keep you REALLY busy. Sorry Don’t know what to tell you about shaving. Hope someone responds. Moxie Meadows has an angora, and I think there’s someone simply called “Angora” or something like that who posted recently.

[Megabunny]

Oops. I guess her name’s Heather and she had an angora question down from your posting

[Sr. Melangell]

I had a Cashmere lop and just brushed her really well, I never shaved her.

[MoxieMeadows]

What type of angoras do you have? They look like English in your profile picture.

It really depends on each bun, because they will all very slightly one the amount of fiber they produce ect. And if you have English they don’t have the gaurd hairs like French’s do to prevent matting, so one might just be “rougher” with his coat and not groom as much so he mats more.
If Cashew’s fiber is a poorer quality, he might have just inherited a bad gene for fiber, it really is hard to say and I don’t think anybody could tell you for sure. My rabbit (Moxie, who is also an angora) tends to have hay stick to her bum and behind her back legs. That is because she normally has loose fur there and loose wool attracts more hay than regular fur that is intact.

Shaving your angora can be difficult, and if it isn’t long enough you probably won’t be able to use it for knitting. (but maybe crafting things like felted animals would work) I cut off Moxie’s wool last year because I didn’t have an AC and she was very hot. I just used scissors.

Don’t know if this helped, but if you have any other questions I would be happy to do my best to answer them!

[Roberta]

Piglet, my french angora, gets a bit matted from being in his bonded family group. Every bunny wants to groom Piglet but I can’t get near him with a brush or Pepper attacks, pulls it out of my hand and thumps at me. I now get a groomer in to give him a shave several times a year. Peta doesn’t shave him bare but leaves the fur about a centimeter in length. He loves it and Pepper always checks out the latest hair cut and gives her approval.

[wigglynoses]

yes they are both english angoras. i knit and crochet, thats why i got them for their wool, and my boyfriend wanted bunnies so it worked out for the both of us. after having them for a while, im realizing why angora wool is so expensive…the amount of time and effort that goes with keeping them in tip top shape is crazy. i think im going to just cut the wool on his whole underside, maybe ill let if grow out if i can keep up with it. i could talk about my bunnies all day! lol

[LBJ10]

Are you able to look at the texture? Sometimes you can see differences that give some indication as to the quality of the wool. Like Moxie said, English angoras lack guard hairs so they are more prone to matting in general. You can use the wool for knitting, but from what I understand, preparing it is quite a bit different than sheep wool. I’ve seen videos of people spinning angora wool into yarn. You should check them out on youtube. There’s one lady who just has her bunny sitting in her lap while spinning and she simply pucks some more wool off as she goes. It’s pretty funny.

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