Angoras matted need some help.

I know this has been discussed before on this board,
but I think I just need a place to vent.

I had a rabbit promised to a couple the first of this month. I was
waiting till the bunny was old enough to leave mom.
So nothing out of the ordinary. Last night, they called and asked
if I would be comfortable taking some angoras even up for the
purebred they were picking up today. So okay, not a problem, I
have some outside cages empty. So a quarantine area ready to go.

So the bunnies show up. 3 female and 1 male. I am not sure of age
or anything. Not sure if purebreds. They appear healthy, their eyes, etc.
Each one is in a separate cage. I did notice matting.
Bad enough that I want to take the clippers to them.
Some scissoring might work. Maybe.
The one is bad enough, I have to do something with her today.
No ands or ifs or buts.
I don't plan on keeping them. I will sell them after I get them looking
better. I like angoras but they are high maintenance.
These are brownish looking with gray.

So do I just shear the really bad spots and try to comb the
rest of the rabbit ? I have a good pair of dog clippers. Wahl.

I did send them home with a additional mixed rabbit for
no charge. A extra male that I did not need. They did.

These people only had the anorgas about a week.
A friend of theirs gave them to them. So they rescued them.
I get to save them.

oh, sounds like a lot of work!
I bet the buns appreciate it though
If I was just a bit closer I'd offer to come help clean em up. I do love angoras.

I will get some pics of these animals in another day or so.
Looks like tri colors. Some wild brown color, black around the face.
Body has some white and black spots.

Maybe 6 pounds each.

The worst doe I finally found her tail and got the poop off her hind feet.
Horrible conditions they must have been living in.
She got me with her hind feet real bad. Tore up my left hand.
I can't blame her. She finally settled down though.
I am not finished with her yet, but probably later tomorrow will go at it again.

I believe they are full angoras.
If and when I sell them, I bet I ask the new owners to be, LOTS of questions.
No sense , letting someone have them who won't maintain them.
I don't need more rabbits and angoras would be the last of my choices.
BUT...for whatever reasons, they have landed here and I need to take care of them.

They sure are soft

ZASS....I wish you lived closer. I sure would appreciate the help

English angoras are 5 to 7.5 lbs according to this site: http://rabbitbreeders.us/english-angora-rabbits

That type tend to mat the worst.

Also, around here they sell between $75 and $150+ depending on their showability.



By your description of the matting, I think they are at least pure angora.
A 1/2 angora will not have a wool coat. So it takes several generations to make wooly mutts.

Sometimes people cross varieties for wool though, like English and French angora crosses. Those would usually be larger than 6 lbs. Even crosses are still considered valuable for wool production, even if they aren't showable.

I am pretty sure they are pure.
Besides the mats, they need some groceries.
Not real bad shape considering what they been through.

Under the mats, so far the skin is looking good.
At least, on the first one. I was worried there.

Three of them are 4 colors... brown, black, gray and white.
One is gray. It has been raining here today and I just have not
had the time to invest in them. Later tomorrow though.

I got the worst one started on and I am pleased so far.
It's hard doing them by yourself. I know the hubby would not
help me. No sense even asking.

I will have to change the blades in the clippers.
That soft coat underneath is going to be a bear.

The colors on angoras can be tricky, opcorn:

I am new to Angoras and have a trio of French Angoras. I'm finally reaching the point that I can keep their coats under control. Mine develop bad mats really quickly. I was brushing them regularly but wasn't paying attention to the areas of the body where the legs are. I felt like crap and having been working each night for a week to get them in good shape. Here are the tools that I use.
A smaller pair of scissors
An afro metal pick (1.25 at dollar general)
A plastic comb
I have other tools but those three have been getting the job done.

My buck was the worst and I decide to just clip him. I still have had to spend several hours on the mats. The does I decided to not clip. The key to breaking the big mats (mine were clean fur no soiling) for me seems to be that you need to break it into smaller sections. Imagine if you put the mat through an egg slicer. To do that I either cautiously cut notches in it or I take the metal pick tines and work a line in the mat. Once you have done that you can work each section. I use the pick and comb and my fingers to pull the mat apart. Usually I'm left with a bunch of balls at the end of the shaft. They seem to pull out easily on mine and if not I cut them with the scissors.

I've been working on each rabbit for 20-30 minutes and then I brush them with the pick then the bigger teeth of the comb for about 10 minutes. I'm about 90% done. Once they are mat free, I am going to try a shop vac and blow their coats. This may not work for me as the rabbits are inside my house and blowing fur around isn't going to happen. Taking them outside may be too much work. Likely I will be using the pick on them every couple of days and if any small mats happen cutting those off.

My other problem is their back feet. They are in wire cages but get pee feet. One in particular has badly stained and matted somewhat feet. This is staining way beyond anything normal.

Mine are only 4 months old and I understand the first coat is the worst. Also I had cheap clippers that I tried and that was a huge joke lol

Don't have a lot to offer in advice but I've heard seam rippers are a big help and it sounds like it might help with the part where you divide into sections.

Maybe I could use the seam rippers and practice on the male ?

Does matted angora fur make good nest box material ? <br /><br /> -- Mon May 05, 2014 8:28 am -- <br /><br /> Well I guess no one caught my attempt at humor.....

I have more than doubled my angora numbers in less than 48 hours.

Guess I need to figure out names.

I not selling any adults for at least 30 days.

I need to make a HUGE sign and hang it up on the wall.

Any female rabbits that come here get a nest box ASAP.

I think I am a rabbit magnet........

If you use matted angora wool for nesting material, snip it into 1/2 inch or less bits, as the damp kits can get single hairs wound around them and cut off blood circulation (non-matted hair needs to be snipped even more so in nest box)

:congratulations: You have angora popples? Oh how lucky!

Thanks, I will have to go and pull out the matted sections.
Only a few small ones, but no sense asking for trouble.
( so am I supposed to snip the regular fur also that she pulled ?? )

YUP......
babies......5 of them......the solid gray female.
I think there are 2 light colors, 1 gray like mom, and maybe
1 dark gray and 1 black. Maybe. I just did a fast peek
so mom did not get upset with me.
She has barely been here with me 48 hours and I don't
know her personality yet.

I am so glad I caught her pulling fur yesterday afternoon.
If she had waited till night to do it, I might have missed.
It's still not the warmest here yet for weather, especially at night. <br /><br /> -- Mon May 05, 2014 8:51 pm -- <br /><br /> Well I did pull out the few pieces of matted fur, this afternoon.
Mommy bunny set on shelf on the nest box peering down at the kits.
I thought I arranged the fur nicely over them.
Mommy bunny got in the nest box and fixed it to her liking, after I
got done. She is a good mommy

I think angoras are usually some of the sweetest and most docile rabbits to work with.

I suppose they would have to be, not many people would want to keep ones that were hard to groom.

So...when do we get pics ???

Maybe tomorrow ?

Today our well water decided to stop.
Have to get a well company here tomorrow to fix it.
Guess is, it might be the well pump.
System is like 24 years old. Maybe time for new parts.
I guess I have had a few other priorities......

-- Tue May 06, 2014 10:46 am --

First pic is the 5 babies. Mommy is medium gray.
Solids look light gray, medium gray, dark gray or black,
and 2 of them look like they will be 2 colors.

Second pic the buck. Two of the does look like him.

I took the baby pics inside the building.

-- Thu May 15, 2014 6:07 am --

----------------------------------

I finally got them all cleaned up.
I was using tiny tweezers to pull some mats out.
I had to put new blades in the clippers and finally shave them.

The mommy rabbit had a horrible size matt on her hindquarters
near her tail. Think like a coat glued to her. No way could I get
scissors to cut strips in it. No pulling any of it loose.
I ended up by taking it off in layers. It was all felted.
I was able to use scissors and get some of it off that way.
I used the clippers to shave off tiny shavings. It was slow going.
Finally got her done.
The babies are doing well. I had to remove the fur from the
nest box. I also gave them a nest box with a screen bottom
instead of solid wood.

Congrats.
If I was closer or at least had a vehicle I'd get the whole lot from you.
They don't look english. But they are way too small to be french. From the picture the buck looks like a steel.

Well the little buggers are growing on me.
I suppose if I could figure out how to groom them,
I might consider keeping them. Maybe

I am guessing French.
I will have to get them on a scale and take more pics.
Another lady who used to raise angoras looked at them.
Her guess was French. And she thought what I thought.
A mom and 3 younguns.
The other 2 females maybe pregnant. I am finding some
fur in the nest boxes. Each has their own cage.
I hope to get more pics up soon.

Yeah. If they are younguns, then the worst grooming will soon be behind you. I often shear my young woolers, but don't do much grooming to the older ones in between clippings.

TwoAcreDream":1xdjkpdf said:

Maybe tomorrow ?

Today our well water decided to stop.
Have to get a well company here tomorrow to fix it.
Guess is, it might be the well pump.
System is like 24 years old. Maybe time for new parts.
I guess I have had a few other priorities......

-- Tue May 06, 2014 10:46 am --

First pic is the 5 babies. Mommy is medium gray.
Solids look light gray, medium gray, dark gray or black,
and 2 of them look like they will be 2 colors.

Second pic the buck. Two of the does look like him.

I took the baby pics inside the building.

-- Thu May 15, 2014 6:07 am --

----------------------------------

I finally got them all cleaned up.
I was using tiny tweezers to pull some mats out.
I had to put new blades in the clippers and finally shave them.

The mommy rabbit had a horrible size matt on her hindquarters
near her tail. Think like a coat glued to her. No way could I get
scissors to cut strips in it. No pulling any of it loose.
I ended up by taking it off in layers. It was all felted.
I was able to use scissors and get some of it off that way.
I used the clippers to shave off tiny shavings. It was slow going.
Finally got her done.
The babies are doing well. I had to remove the fur from the
nest box. I also gave them a nest box with a screen bottom
instead of solid wood.

Click to expand...

They are definately not English Angoras. That looks like a French Angora mix to be honest. Angoras don't come in the color that you have pictures on the one senior unless they are mixed with something else. But it's a good thing you got them cleaned up!

~SDR

I did some research on the different angora breeds.
I found this page.
http://www.threelittleladiesrabbitry.com/breedindex.php
If I go to the English Angora page
http://www.threelittleladiesrabbitry.co ... angora.php
these rabbits are fitting that weight range.
I swear the more I read, the more I get confused.

Whatever they are, they sure are soft and fluffy and very
warm when you hold them.

I am not sure how old these rabbits are.
The mom would be a senior. She is a solid medium gray.
The other 3 could all be juniors, which is the brownish
color rabbit in the picture.
The babies are doing good and showing their colors.
I will try to get a updated pic of them soon.

SilverDesertRabbitry":bgdq941x said:

They are definately not English Angoras. That looks like a French Angora mix to be honest. Angoras don't come in the color that you have pictures on the one senior unless they are mixed with something else. But it's a good thing you got them cleaned up!

~SDR

Click to expand...

Actually, Angoras are showable in Steel, and 36 other varieties. http://fmicrofarm.com/french-angora-colors/

However, being an unaccepted color doesn't mean the rabbit is not that breed, I have chocolate chins pop out of my Rex all the time, and they are most definitely Rex. They were simply breed with a chocolate Rex at some point and the color stayed in the line.

I have blue SF which currently aren't accepted, some people get white ones from time to time.

If you breed incompatible colors, you get unaccepted colors.

What bothers me is the weight. They don't have the right facial or ear furnishings for an English, looks like no wool below the hock, but they are too small and compact for a French. They may just be a French/English cross, which has a smaller body type but a clean face.