Is it just me... or are these two different buns?

[MelissaPenguin]

I picked a Chinchilla Holland Lop doe out of a breeders litter from photos on the internet. I waited until she was old enough to leave her mother, and now have her. The more I look are her, verse the photos I was given at 4-5 weeks old, the more I think she looks like a different bun, of the same breed.

This is the photo I was given of 'Skype' at 4-5 weeks old.
Here her body looks very round, and her ears short and lopped.

These I took today, she's about 3.5 months.
I understand her body may be changing, but aren't Holland Lops ears supposed to stay lopped? And to me, it's looks like her ears are quite a bit longer now in proportion to her body, than in the original photos.

These were from my mothers phone, so not the best of quality...
Please excuse the dirtiness of her and the kennel. I was in the middle of cleaning, and the bunnies were having fun playing in the mud.

Please correct me if I'm wrong? This is my first Holland Lop, and I might just be plain wrong.

 

[Yield]

[align=center]I have heard of lop eared bunnies turning into non-lopped bunnies over time... a couple people on the forum have experienced it.

Or maybe her ears are indecisive right now?

Honestly, I have no idea if those are the same bunnies.

Someone else will come in and probably tell you what they think.

I wish you luck =)

 

[pamnock]

Her crown in the first photo appears very tight, so it would not be a surprise that the ears popped back up. She also appears to be right at that very young "cute" age in Hollands - they can change a lot after that phase.

 

[MelissaPenguin]

If her ears (or just the one ear) stick up, instead of lopping, is this something genetic? I would assume so, but should I worry about this appearing in kits if I breed her in the future? And is it something 'bad' to have in a line of Holland Lops?

 

[pamnock]

Everything is genetic, but tight crowns are one of the easier things to correct in a Holland line by adding rabbits withwide, well developedcrowns.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

we've gone back and looked at older pictures of some of our buns and they look very different than when they were babies.

 

[farmerchick]

i was told by a breeder that when lops get cold their ears go up. when i was in this breeders barn she was breeding all different kinds of lops, and their ears were half or all the way up. she took one into the warmth and their ears started to come back down...

i've seen this for my own eyes, its really strange! at first i didn't believe the breeder when she told me they were lops

 

[pamnock]

Yes, cold temperature and variable temperatures can encourage ears to pop up.

 

[MelissaPenguin]

That is very interesting! Thanks for the strange fact that I may have NEVER figured out on my own! lol My brood was just moved to an outside enclosure, so I'll keep an eye on her. It may just be her being a bit cold and adjusting to the new temperatures. Maybe her one persistent ear will go back down with warmer weather

 

[tamsin]

Rabbits use blood flow to their ears to regulate their temperature because ears have thin fur and a large surface area. When they are hot more blood flows through the ears (making them heavier) and cooling them down. When they are cold, less blood flow to the ears makes the ears lighter and reduces heat loss.

Obviously that's only going to make an obvious difference on a bun that has ears that hoover on the up/down border. Really lopped ears aren't going to start floating up in cold weather lol.

 

[MiniLopHop]

LOL I can picture the floating ears. My bun is a lop, but I have noticed that the right ear is stronger, if that is the correct term, than the left. Sometimes if she is cleaning or tilts her head a certain way the right ear will stay up for several seconds, but the left never does. It's cute to watch.

 

[MelissaPenguin]

I think my bun has the same kind of issue. She has the one year that sticks STRAIGHT up 99% of the time, and the other that never sticks up at all.