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HrtBrker991

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I am looking for a new bunny. preferably a Holland lop baby female. maybe 5 weeks or so.I amhaving trouble finding anything in the southern California area (rancho cucamonga). does anyone have any ideas on how to go about looking for one. or any breeders with this kind of rabbit would be great to hear from. thanks! (im new by the way i hope im posting this in the right place)
 
I'm going to move this to the rabbitry, but I want to tell you that 5 weeks is WAY too young to get a bunny from it's mother.
 
Check out petfinder.com maybe you can find a rescue that has a bunny you are looking for. there are so many bunnies on there.
mandy
 
Thanx for all the help. i decided to mate my girlfriends holland lop with a brown and black rabbit from a bunny farm. and im going to take a baby from that litter. :) there gonna be so cute!
 
What kind of rabbit is the brown and black one?

Five weeks is not as safe age, btw, to get a rabbit. For a Holland you want to wean them at six weeks and take them home at 8 weeks. Earlier than that could cause digestive issues that could lead to death and we wouldn't want you to lose your brand new baby.
 
rabbits are not weaned until at least 8 weeks,.so i must ask what are your qualifications??i think we need a competentcy test for children and pets,.. james waller
 
Well James, I happen to be a breeder of Hollands, Mini Lops, Lionheads, and American Fuzzy Lops. My experience is that I'm not doing this as a backyard hobby to breed any bunny that comes along. I raise show quality animals that are competitive on the table. It is my passion.

I am also not a child. I am a high school teacher, I hold three separate degrees at this time (going for the fourth in my spare time), and I've had rabbits since I can remember. Prior to breeding I researched and spent time with breeders that are well respected in mystate for the quality of show stock that they are producing. So, it's not something I jumped into without thinking about fora LONG time. I am doing it to better the show stock in my geographic area, which was lacking due to the fact we only had "backyard breeders" around.

Are those acceptable qualifications? By the way, you'd not likely pass the test on breeding as most breeders separate the kits from their moms by the sixth week in the smaller breeds (such as the Holland lop the poster inquired about). We give them two weeks on their own with their littermates to digest solids before they are safe to go out to new homes. Here in PA the legal age to sell a rabbit is 8 weeks. In my opinion, that is great. States where there is no set age are those that are seeing more little bunnies being sold at Easter that are far too young to even be off of mom's milk.
 
james waller wrote:
rabbits are not weaned until at least 8 weeks,.so i must ask what are your qualifications??i think we need a competentcy test for children and pets,.. james waller

I agree with your method.I wait until around 8 weeks to wean and then don't sell them until at least 10 weeks, if this option is at all available to me (cage space, feed, etc.)

8 weeks is the MINIMUM saleable age in PA. In my opinion, that means they should be at least that old to leave, older is better. I have had better success weaning my rabbits a bit later and have had no digestive issues at all following this. In fact, small litters I may leave with their mom as late as 10 weeks.:)
 
HrtBrker991 wrote:
Thanx for all the help. i decided to mate my girlfriends holland lop with a brown and black rabbit from a bunny farm. and im going to take a baby from that litter. :) there gonna be so cute!

What will happen to the others?

Please reconsider mix breeding. It is irresponsible and only adds onto the ever-growing population of unwanted, mixed breed rabbits.:(Instead, consider adopting a rabbit like this who is already looking for a way out of a shelter near you. Or contact a reputable breeder in your area.:)

Beyond that, how old is the doe? Has she been bred before? Is she in breeding shape? There is a lot more to learn about breeding to ensure the safety and health of both the parents and the babies. Unless you're planning on researching all of this information,I definitely do not suggest diving headfirst into this endeavor.
 
This is nearly 4 months old, chances are things have changed since then; the deed may have already been done.
 
flashy is correct. but i agree 5 weeks is way to young.. weather there is qualifications or not
 
By six weeks my smaller breeds are no longer nursing. In the mini lops, there are some that nurse as long as you'd let them, but I haven't found that to be the case with my Holland, Lions, or AFLs. My moms have pretty much cut off nursing by close to the fifth week.

I do keep my showables that I'm considering keeping until the 10th week, to see how they will develop. I'm doing that, however, for me and not for their health. However, if it is a rabbit that I know will be moving on to another person's home, 8 weeks is old enough to let them have it. It has already had two weeks on its own on solids only. It's safe at this point...how many 8 week olds have you lost compared to 10 week olds? Most people would rather have thier bunny at 8 weeks rather than 10...there's a lot of growing that goes on in those two weeks. If it is not going to harm the bunny and you know you're not going to be keeping it for yourself, why keep it two more weeks?

I will also add that I've NEVER had a problem taking a six week old from its mother. If the rabbit is the runt of the litter, I keep it with mom until the 7th or 8th week, but that is the exception. Healthy bunnies do wellleaving mom by the sixth week.
 
murph72 wrote:
By six weeks my smaller breeds are no longer nursing.
This is not always true. I raise Hollands and they continue to nurse until I separate them.;)

My point was not based only on nursing though. It is better for them to be in their stable environment with their mother as long as possible, in my opinion. My Hollands tend to be very well adjusted and socialized by keeping them in longer. Since there are no adverse affects to keeping them in longer (but there are for keeping them in shorter), this is just my preference.:)
 
OakRidgeRabbits wrote:
HrtBrker991 wrote:
Thanx for all the help. i decided to mate my girlfriends holland lop with a brown and black rabbit from a bunny farm. and im going to take a baby from that litter. :) there gonna be so cute!

What will happen to the others?

Please reconsider mix breeding. It is irresponsible and only adds onto the ever-growing population of unwanted, mixed breed rabbits.:(Instead, consider adopting a rabbit like this who is already looking for a way out of a shelter near you. Or contact a reputable breeder in your area.:)

Beyond that, how old is the doe? Has she been bred before? Is she in breeding shape? There is a lot more to learn about breeding to ensure the safety and health of both the parents and the babies. Unless you're planning on researching all of this information,I definitely do not suggest diving headfirst into this endeavor.

I ditto all of this. There are PLENTY of mix breedrabbits in Southern California rescues already - believe me, I know, I live in Southern California as well; please don't add to the sky high numbers.

-----

Annie :bunny19
 
I have had no problems with separating them from their mother at six weeks. I think keeping them with their siblings is the important part. Separating them from each other would be far more stress than I think they could handle. As long as they have each other, the transition of being without mom is not a hard one. I've never had any problems with my babies being separated at this age.

My buns are nursing very little if at all by the sixth week...including my Hollands. I have one mini lop that will sit herself on top of babies to force them to nurse, but she is the oddity in my herd. She'd have them nursing until they were ready to have their own kids if it were up to her. :)

The only reason I keep them longer than 8 weeks is to see potential show bunnies mature. The others I'd rather make sure they found themselves a good home. It is far easier to find a bunny a home at 8 weeks than it is when it is older. The only people the want older bunnies are the breeders and those who show. Even the 4H kids would prefer a younger bunny to one that is only a few weeks older. All of my bunnies find homes. When they no longer easily find homes, I will no longer breed them. However, as breeders of show bunnies we must realize they are all not "show" potential. I want to make sure the non-showable ones also find good homes. I have never had an issue with an 8 week old having problems adjusting or having any health issues. If I did I might change my mind, but past practice has told me this is a pretty safe age as long as they are used to being handled. My bunnies are handled daily, so that is not an issue. They just have to get used to new people at that age. It has yet to be a problem.

I actually feel that the ones I keep longer have a harder time adjusting. They're far too attached to me at that point and take longer to adjust to a new owner handling them. I have also found that with bunnies I've acquired. At ten weeks or greater I've found that some bunnies (mostly does) take longer to get used to their new environment.
 
Well...then my findings are totally opposite. Oh well. lol I will still continue to do what works for me, and know many breeders who choose to do the same. I don't have any problems finding homes for rabbits at any age, whether they're babies or adults. :)
 
I think there are several safe ways to raise rabbits. I wouldn't think of asking you to change what is working for you and I'd hope you'd not expect me to change what is working well for me. I don't think there is necessarily a wrong way and a right way. We do what we think is best for our bunnies. Obviously we are all people who love bunnies or we wouldn't be devoting so much of our time to them.

To be honest, I have some real issues with this statement: "so i must ask what are your qualifications??i think we need a competentcy test for children and pets,.. james waller" How can someone come into a breeders forum and question how a breeder is raising their kits? To question a breeder's qualifications just because they don't wean kits the way you would? That seems rather arrogant to me. Then to suggest that a competency test needs to be given? Oy! A competency test for children and pets? Does that mean that children can't be successful at raising rabbits? I know many great youth breeders that would prove they alldo notneed such a test. I'd rather give a test to prospective parents, I see more poor parents than I do rabbit owners. I actually wish more new rabbit owners would go through competent breeders to get their bunnies. As breeders we ensure that we are passing our little ones along to great homes and we help educate new bunny owners. Unfortunately that doesn't always happen when someone grabs a new bunny out of the pet store or even picks one up at the shelter because it was cute.

I guess I felt attacked by Mr. Waller's post. Sorry Oak Ridge if you thought I was attacking the way you raise your rabbits. I was just defending mine.

 
Ah, I see what you mean! I wasn't trying to imply that you were incompetant or were doing things wrong, exactly. I was just trying to explain that in my experience, "the older the better" works for me. I just agree with his 8 week rule was all. I apologize for any misunderstandings as well!
 
No problem. I actually looked at your website not too long ago. I like to peruse the PA ones from time to time. :) That Sable pt buck you are selling is really nice. Why did you decide to sell him? He seems to have nice type for a sable point. Usually you see them with skinnier heads, longer faces,and longer ears. Yours was impressive compared to the norm.
 

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