Texan Tales (& Tails) - by TinysMom

[TinysMom]

Another update -but no pics right now.

I just got done working with Cyrano for a bit. He felt a bit feverish and his privates are a bit swollen - and his tummy was really really full. I am really praying he makes it to (and through) weaning - but to be honest with you - everytime I see him with the others - I ask myself, "What are you thinking? You know you're gonna lose him". I just gave him some gas meds - a teeny tiny bit of Baytril cause it looked like he might have an infection - and some pedialyte (bubble gum flavor) and water mixed together. He's eating solids - drinking from the water bottle - but its the fact that his tummy was so swollen (maybe he'd just eaten though) and that his privates are a bit swollen. About ten minutes after I worked with him - I noticed he was eating some hay in the cage and then snuggled up next to other bunnies. When I felt him - it felt like his temp had gone down noticeably.

The other babies are growing so fast...I was telling Ali tonight that I'd almost put one of them beside Theresa for size comparison....it may not weigh as much as Theresa but I bet its close to her size.

Other than that - things are going somewhat ok.

I'll share more later - but I have other stuff I need to/want to do right now.

 

[SweetSassy]

ray: I'm saying a prayer for Cyrano. I hope he makes it.



Are the babies almost a month now? They are just :adorable:

 

[TinysMom]

The oldest litter was three weeks old on Thursday or Friday....and the youngest litter was 3 weeks old yesterday or today if I remember right.

I can't believe how big they're growing - at least the bigger ones.

I have more to share later and get input on....in a bit - maybe later tonight/early am - maybe later on...not sure yet.

 

[paul2641]

Oh god they are getting older very fast soon they'll be off to there new homes, Do you have any of them rehomed yet?

 

[TinysMom]

paul2641 wrote:

Oh god they are getting older very fast soon they'll be off to there new homes, Do you have any of them rehomed yet?

Not only are they NOT rehomed yet - I haven't even tried to rehome them.

For one thing - we're still 5 weeks away from weaning....minimum. The smaller ones will stay with mama longer if she will keep nursing them.

In addition - while I have my eye on certain ones and am thinking they might be "showable" or even worth breeding from...I really won't know for sure until they're about 4-6 months old.

I can tell you that the smaller ones most likely will be rehomed around 10-12 weeks of age but probably not any sooner than that. In fact, I have to look at the list of shows to figure out when I'll be willing to take them to shows to find them homes that way.

You have to understand - where I live - the mentality is "big rabbit = meat rabbit = supper".

I understand that mindset - and I don't get mad at people for what they eat - it just won't be MY rabbits that they eat.

So I will mainly be looking for my rabbits to be rehomed with people at bunny shows who already know about bunnies or people who are specifically looking for flemish giants that come across my website (when I have it up).

In other words....no big hurry right now.

You've seen how we've gone from 17 to 12 - and not even at the weaning process yet. The loss of that buck last week was a major shocker as he'd been one of the healthiest ones - so I'm not counting on anything for sure until everyone is at least 12 weeks old or has been away from mama for at least 2-3 weeks.

Imagine how you would feel if you bought a rabbit from me - and it had only been away from mama for maybe 2 days...and it died 2 days later because it wasn't through with the whole weaning process/being away from mama (even if it was 8 weeks old). You'd be heartbroken - I'd be heartbroken...and it would be the loss of a bunny that MAYBE I could have saved.

With that said - I KNOW that I'm keeping Cyrano if he makes it and it looks like I'll be keeping the little girl who got nestbox eye because I got to see her eye today - and she'd definitely blind on that side.

I know many breeders who would have put her down for that - because you can't really sell it as a pet bunny - you don't want to sell it as a pedigreed bunny because you don't want your name attached to a defective bunny.

Instead - I will just love on her and let her live out her life here (unless someone (like Amy) who has a gift for working with blind bunnies) were to come along and want her and I saw that she liked them. But even then - I'd probably have to really think about it - because remember - my goal isn't to get them a bunny - it is to find the RIGHT home for my bunnies.

I do have some decisions to make that I'm going to post in the next post and I would really appreciate everyone's input on....if I can bring myself to figure out how to write it so it makes sense.

 

[TinysMom]

I want to share some things with y'all and get some good feedback. I appreciate your honesty and love of my bunnies and interest in our lives...and I've been talking to others too but I just need to think this through.

I am hoping to not hear "oh just keep them all" or "how can you rehome them?" etc. etc. etc. I need to remember that saying "yes" to one bunny now - might mean saying "no" to another bunny further on down the road.

So - right now I have five rabbits in my "herd". Athena will be bred one more time (and I'm still struggling on that breeding - who to breed her to) - and Sophia is retiring. Nyx will be bred when Athena is bred and the new girl is bred....so I'll have three litters later this spring.

In addition to the five I currently have - I'm currently planning on getting the light grey girl from Juan - and hopefully Penelope - who is a white doe. That will give me 7 adults...plus any babies I keep for breeding purposes.

When I decided to start breeding - I wanted to work on light greys. We'd already decided (but hadn't told the forum) that we were getting Nyx - so I knew I'd have a black doe. When we went to see Jack - he had told me he had four rabbits I could choose from that would be good for interbreeding due to coloring AND strengths and weaknesses. He didn't have Hermes pedigree in front of him - but he was thinking he carried black - which would work well with Nyx coming and so we thought, "We'll breed for black and light grey".

When I got Hermes' pedigree - I saw he didn't carry black - he carried steel. I was a bit concerned about this because from what I've been told - steel can be a hard color to work with - it can take a while to see if you have the color right when the babies are young.

So now I face the decision - do I work on steel also? What about white? Black?

Of the offspring I have right now - there are a few that look promising. Two of them are steel from Hermes/Sophia. They are steel but from my understanding - that means that they carry light grey and white (after their parents). I could keep them and breed the daughter back to Hermes and get whites - and breed the son to Penelope when she's old enough and get whites - and not get the white coat that is not as great when you breed two whites together (its like it has a different texture)?

But I also really like two of the ones from Mercury/Athena - and it gives me hope that Mercury is going to produce offspring like his father (Jack Langely's BEST buck) does. While there are a couple of smaller ones in that litter...this litter is turning out really nice.

The issue isn't nearly as much about money - I can afford the cages and I can afford the food. Its about the breeding decisions I will face (like who to breed with who) and the quality of life the animals can have - PARTICULARLY the bucks. I'm tempted to keep Mercury's son for sure - because you never know when you're going to lose a buck and his son is VERY VERY nice so far. But do I keep a doe too?

I think its important for me to remember that these steels and the one light grey in that litter - are my last opportunity to keep anything from Sophia (who is also from Mercury's father). And Athena is only going to have one more litter before she moves on.

Any input?

 

[Hazel-Mom]

Hi Peg, no input on your last question (maybe later), I'm just catching up on the last pages of your blog.
Wow, the babies are so big now, and so much has been going on with you!
I'm sorry to hear people are giving you a hard time about any messes, and your hands in particular. I'm like the person wo said she had to look back to see what that was about.. I too never noticed your hands.
Please don't get shy with us, most of us here understand about "mess" (I certainly have lots of pictures of my house in a state I really don't want to show), and "working people's hands". (Dirt on your hands should be a badge of pride, you're working hard!).
Also sorry to hear you lost some of the babies. They are all so cute! Poor little Cyrano, I hope he makes it alright. He's gone through so much already.

Love the pictures, especially the little one kissing the wall made me LOL. The video was fun to watch too.
I love how much you work with those babies, they are so loving and social already!
Please do keep us updated with more pictures and videos.

 

[TinysMom]

Thanks Hilde for your comments - I'm staying up all night (hence the late/early posting) but I've been thinking about sharing some things I've been noticing about the babies. I hope you enjoy my observations so far.

First of all - Cyrano. Man - I keep hoping he'll make it - but I keep looking at him and the littermates and going, "There is no way you'll ever make it." I will be surprised not only IF he makes it - but if he gets larger than a lionhead (I halfway expect him to be a netherland dwarf sized flemish giant if he makes it). He is so funny though - he knows his name and he knows our voices and he'll come towards us when he smells formula or hears his name. He LOVES his formula and eats it up really good - but he drizzles it on him and even though I wipe him off - his littermates "help" him to clean up by grooming him - to the point where he has several bald spots on his neck, etc.

He loves being held and cooed at and he loves pets. Sometimes when he's awake - he runs and binkies and doesn't seem to notice that he's less than 1/6 the size of his littermates - he's just happy to be himself.

I was praising him tonight for having a couple of really good poops because I'd been worried about him a bit.

I really hope he makes it - but if he doesn't - I'm going to have a lot of fond memories of the time I've spent with him and it will be worth every moment of feeding him formula, etc. I need to get more pictures of him and maybe a video of me feeding him to have (just in case).

Next I'll share about the biggest buck in Athena's litter. WOW...I swear he doubled in size in the last couple of days. He is such a sweetheart. He loves to be tranced while laying on his back and if I pet his ears he'll give me tooth purrs. He will move his lips like he's dreaming of nursing and he's just so precious. It is gonna sound strange - but so often he gives me the same look/facial expressions of Mercury - it is so cute. I am really amazed at what a little love-bug he is because it did take me a bit of time to socialize his parents.

His sister who is about the same size is a "second mother" to the litter. She goes around frequently and grooms everyone - especially the runts and Cyrano and the little girl with the eye problems. I think she is the one Robin used to call "Licky" because she licks the others so much. She loves to run and play also - but whenever the bunnies are all settling down - she will start licking them till they go to sleep. A couple of times Cyrano has seen her coming and run away from her - I suspect she is part of the reason he's missing some fur. Other times - he seems to seek her out and sleep right beside her.

One of the two other little runty ones is such a sweetheart - talk about giving kisses and loving people. She/he (I forget which sex it is) - sits at the corner of the nest box and waits for me to bring the syringe of formula over and then laps the formula from the syringe and waits for me to come over again. I can hold him/her and feed them - but they prefer to eat it that way - and they'll take 10 or so cc's at a time. Then I'll get kisses of thanks if I hold my fingers out - and then the rabbit starts to eat or groom itself or maybe just go to sleep - depending upon how full the tummy is.

One of the medium sized girls is hilarious - she binkies and falls over - a lot. I think she's the one that binkied head first into the coke box (into the closed side) and made the box move with the force of her binky when she leapt into it. She is still not used to her size and how she's growing - she's healthy and can run just fine - but try to binky and she's a klutz.

Finally - the little girl who is blind in one eye. Oh what a character she is. She's gonna be a real DIVA bun - let me tell you. Pick her up and she fights like crazy - she hates having the ointment on her eye (even though its obvious it makes her better). Try to offer her formula from the syringe and she fights you and won't open her mouth and twists and turns. Then she eats a bit and guzzles down the rest of the syringe and licks her lips - but when you bring another syringe over - she fights you all over again. When you finally give into her and put her down - she flicks you off for AT LEAST the first three hops - and then turns around to look at you and make sure you saw her.

Anyway - that is a description of some of the babies. It really is amazing how even at this age you can pick out the more sociable ones and the diva ones and stuff...

 

[hartleybun]

TinysMom wrote:

So I will mainly be looking for my rabbits to be rehomed with people at bunny shows who already know about bunnies or people who are specifically looking for flemish giants that come across my website (when I have it up).

In other words....no big hurry right now.

You've seen how we've gone from 17 to 12 - and not even at the weaning process yet. The loss of that buck last week was a major shocker as he'd been one of the healthiest ones - so I'm not counting on anything for sure until everyone is at least 12 weeks old or has been away from mama for at least 2-3 weeks.

Imagine how you would feel if you bought a rabbit from me - and it had only been away from mama for maybe 2 days...and it died 2 days later because it wasn't through with the whole weaning process/being away from mama (even if it was 8 weeks old). You'd be heartbroken - I'd be heartbroken...and it would be the loss of a bunny that MAYBE I could have saved.

With that said - I KNOW that I'm keeping Cyrano if he makes it and it looks like I'll be keeping the little girl who got nestbox eye because I got to see her eye today - and she'd definitely blind on that side.

I know many breeders who would have put her down for that - because you can't really sell it as a pet bunny - you don't want to sell it as a pedigreed bunny because you don't want your name attached to a defective bunny.

Instead - I will just love on her and let her live out her life here (unless someone (like Amy) who has a gift for working with blind bunnies) were to come along and want her and I saw that she liked them. But even then - I'd probably have to really think about it - because remember - my goal isn't to get them a bunny - it is to find the RIGHT home for my bunnies.

i know im selectively quoting but these bits really struck me. it is most heartwarming to read of a breeder who cares so deeply about the animals she breeds. your care and concern for these bunnies shines thru your blog and that truly is a wonderful thing.:hug:

 

[TinysMom]

First of all Donna - thanks for your comments. They really do mean a lot to me and I do care for my animals a lot and often call them "the kids". Then again - I notice many other folks on the forum do this too...

Secondly - I don't suppose that there is anyone here who would be willing to make me a new avatar is there? I have tried but I just can't seem to do it (I tried over a year ago though). I just realized that other than Zeus - everyone in my avatar is either gone (George got rehomed) - or dead. I need something that shows the living....

Now to share some other things I've been wanting to share.

*IF* we decide to breed for steel - I'd mentioned we were thinking of names of Norse gods, etc - but the more we talked about the idea...we didn't like it. We talked about going with Wild West legends and heroes instead (Pecos Bill,Judge Roy Bean (who lived not far from here), Lilly Langtree (I may have misspelled her name) - who the Judge was fascinated by, etc. etc. We mentioned names like Sam Houston and oh...I forget who all else. But since the name of the rabbitry will include "Texas legends"...we thought maybe Wild West characters.

Then Robin mentioned I could go with "gun" names...like "Remington" Steel for the buck (yep - a play on the tv show) - or "Beretta" for the girl.

We tossed around names of actors/actresses who starred in Wild West movies - like John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, etc. etc. (Or I could go with character names from their movies - with each litter based on a different movie).

I will also need a "theme" if I breed the whites...because I want to stick to Greek & Roman gods/goddesses for the light grey. And yes - Hermes and Penelope will still keep their names.

So I'd like to hear ideas about themes...if you want to share.

 

[TinysMom]

I came across some photos from a month ago that I took - the last bunch is for Paul...but the first ones are of Hermes sleeping the way he loves to - dead bunny flop with his mouth twitching as he sleeps.

Enjoy....and yeah...I know the tiles were filthy at the time - they've since been cleaned (again).

(Paul - yours will be in the next post).

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[hartleybun]

if you go down the jersey lily route (lily langtry) theres a wealth of names to be had for the young bucks in that doe's life.the old west seems a great source of inspiration given your location - tho it's the james gang and the clanton gang that keep springing to mind perhaps not the best examples for young bunnies!

in keeping with the greek pantheon, there's always the roman one.

 

[TinysMom]

Last month shortly before a major cage cleaning day - I heard a rattling around in a cage. I peeked in the rabbitry and Peaches had her oatmeal container stuck on top of her head and was wandering around her cage trying to get it off.

Of course I couldn't help laughing as I went to grab the camera....unfortunately - she figured out how to get the oatmeal container off her head before I got the camera in there....so here is her reaction to my laughter about her antics...

As you can tell - she'd been sneezing. We were having weird weather and several of the rabbits started sneezing as the temps dipped down low...plus we'd brought in a new bale of hay and I think that set some of them off too for it seemed dusty (Art & I had problems with it also).

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[TinysMom]

I am so hesitant to post this pictures I just posted - but please understand that several bunnies - including Peaches - were in a molt....and when you have a lot of bunnies - that fur can build up pretty fast.

I think from now on I'm only taking pictures AFTER cage cleaning.....

 

[TinysMom]

I forgot to add Wolfman Jack lived in this area and had a radio show down here....we could go with radio personalities!

 

[Fancy77]

WOW Peg u have a lot on your mind. which is cool to read how u process all this information b4 u jump into anything. U just dont do anything willy-nilly u take the time to mull over it all and all the possibilities.

I didnt realize all the different possibilities there were for what ever color or type of bunny u would like to produce.

I have no idea about breeding b4 I started reading your blogs. it is wonderful to read and thx so much for sharing

 

[TinysMom]

There is SO much to think about when you get into breeding. When I started out - I made the mistake that many newbies made (I bred lionheads first) - and that is I focused on COLOR first. I also didn't know what I was doing in getting rabbits - except I knew I was getting rabbits with good type (judges always commented that my rabbits had nice "type").

But when you're breeding for show - you need to think about the "standard of perfection" which states what the ideal rabbit for that breed should look like. You need to learn what the faults are - what the disqualifications are - and how to tell a "good" animal from a bad one (as far as breeding goes).

Then you have to consider color - which you might think you'd place at the top of the list - and you do need to know some color genetics - but it is better (in my humble opinion) to breed together two well-typed animals that have a decent chance of giving you the color you want (or a color that can work with the color you want) - than it is to focus on color and produce animals of poor body type.

In lionheads - people are working on something like 16 or so colors - and the genetics behind them is fascinating. With flemish giants - there are 7 colors approved by ARBA for showing - that makes it much easier.

You also need to put your most money/attention (thought?) on your herd buck. I am VERY pleased with Mercury - even though I am also wanting a buck from Juan if the breeding he's doing this spring gives a good litter.

Once you have that herd buck though - you have to see - can he produce as well or better than himself?

I'm fortunate in the fact that Jack Langely's best buck seems to produce fairly predictable litters - at least with one particular doe. Mercury is very much like his father and older brother from an earlier breeding - and even as I look at the #1 buck in this litter - I can see where I think he's going to follow in his father's ability to produce nice litters. (Can you tell I'm psyched?)

So then it comes down to....what am I going to do in case I lose my buck? Anything can go through a herd at any time - you need to have a backup buck if possible. This is one of the reasons I'm watching Mercury's son so much...and considering - "should I keep him?"

You see - Hermes is a nice buck too - BUT - he carries steel - and he has different faults and strengths.

I need to look at each doe - and each buck - and try to figure out what they bring to the breeding as far as strengths and weaknesses.

Have I lost you yet?

:shock:

My next questions that I'm dealing with now are....who will I breed Athena to next time?

I only want to breed her one more time and then I want to send her to Ali so she can live her life as a pampered pet. After having 11 babies in her first litter and trying to keep 17 alive total...she deserves to live a life of rest.

But do I breed Athena with Mercury again because I know they do well together? Do I breed her to Hermes (since I know I want to breed Mercury to Nyx) to see what they can produce? Will their strengths and weaknesses work together to produce show babies - or just cute babies?

I don't have the answer to that yet - which is ok since I'm not breeding for a few months.

But it is stuff like this I have to think about...especially when it comes to deciding whether or not to keep babies.

I know I"m losing Sophia from my breeding program - but she is a NICE does - do I keep a daughter from her even if it is steel? Do I keep her son that is steel? Or do I just let her genetics go?

So much to consider...and pray about - and ponder.

Then you add into that the fact that I have to consider their personalities too. I would never want to breed two stand-offish rabbits together (not that my flemish are that way).

But I do keep temperament in mind when breeding - which is part of why I bred Athena to Mercury - because at that time - Athena and Hermes were both a bit ... well...not the friendliest. I mean - they're sweethearts. But I wanted babies that would be loving...and so far - a good portion of them are (but that one girl who flicks me off...she's gonna be a challenge).

Yeah - there is a LOT to breeding....but I don't regret it.

 

[TinysMom]

I forgot to add that I have a couple of goals I'm thinking about and praying about.

I'd like to be confident enough in my own lines of flemish that I'm developing - that I will show next year in Lebanon, PA in February (2011) and at the Ohio State Convention in May of 2011.

That is sort of my "first" goal as far as building my own lines because right now - they're mostly Jack Langely's lines that I've happened to put together.

Nyx's babies will be the first time I bring in another line...

 

[Fancy77]

lol u didnt loose me but gave me more insight to your thoughts. I know when I was looking into Flemish I had breeders tell me either they breed for show type or for personality...it never seemed to me that they did both. But that is just in the little experience I had.

I am looking forward to the show here in MN...I think in March I hope to see a lot of ppl from RO and of course a lot of flemish

 

[SweetSassy]

Peg....I hopeI can meet you when you come to Ohio in 2011.

Also.....I see nothing wrong with the pic's you posted. Peaches is a doll Lionheads are one of my favorite breeds.

Wow....You have alot on your mind. With Athena. Do you want the same kinda babies againif you breed her to Mercury again? Even though they make beautiful babies. Or would you rather breed her to someone else and see what you get?



What color is Hermes eyes? :inlove: I'm curious.