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Mini lops

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Oscar

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Ok so I wasn't getting much answers on my last "poll" so I decided to make a new one. As some of you may know one of my rabbits previously died and I decided I was going to get some more rabbits of the mini lop breed. I still have some questions about it though. My buck is very friendly, and we haven't had any health or medical problems with him. But I was still wondering what else is possible for mini lops? I already know about mastics in does, anything specific to bucks? And what colors should I add, here's a pick of my buck <br /><br /> __________ Sun Jan 24, 2016 9:25 pm __________ <br /><br /> Hello? :(
 

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In my country there is not much literature about rabbits so when I found this site I just started reading. Before I register I read all of the posts/topics from housing, feeding, health and breeding. Even now when I do have a problem or a question I look up previous topics about that issue and then ask for help. I reccomend you to to the same, since all of the things you are asking about are already answered
 
I can't think of any breed specific health issues with the mini lop - about all I can say is at times SOME can keep watery eyes which has to do with their head structure - getting blocked tear ducts and they'll probably have teeth issues too. BUT you can find plenty of well bred mini lops who never ever have that issue. Choose good type over color in mini lops - once you have good type then you can work on the colors you prefer.
 
He does have eye burgers but I think most animals do and his his teeth are nice. And I have read everything about rabbits on this site. But one thing I don't think I saw was are mini lops hard to breed? Are mini lops hard to keep in shape?
 
Mine have always been rather easy to breed - a bit harder to get bred in the late fall/winter but not enough to make me concerned. If the doe was serviced by the buck I have babies in 31-32 days, I haven't had one miss yet... most of my does have been good mothers as well. They have never been hard keepers and do well with me feeding a measured amount of food each day. On average they eat 1/2 to 2/3 cup of pellets and as much hay (or in my case hay cubes) as they want. I may top dress the feed with extras if I'm trying to finish them for showing. I keep them in 2 foot by 3 foot cages mostly and they're in good condition.
 
I have posted a picture above, what color does should I get to get nice babies, how many doe should I get? I get my rabbits from murdochs most of the time and have limited access to rabbits let alone mini lops. :( But they are soooooo sweet! :roll: and for now I am not interested in any other breeds. Is there anything I need to look out for in the baby's as far as temperament, I always want to get a rabbit that will like me!?
 
I don't see any problem with getting rabbits from a farm/ranch store if that's where you can purchase them. Realize that those rabbits are probably being bred by someone who just breeds for pet quality animals OR a breeder who is selling their culls (again pet quality animals) - so would they be great for showing ? probably not great show potential. If this is what you have to work with in the beginning then I personally would not buy a bunch of does. ONE maybe two would give you enough to learn the ropes and not get overwhelmed quickly. each doe has the potential of having 8 kits or better. so it's better to not fill your cages with adults before you even have babies. Mini Lops tend to be very docile and tolerant rabbits overall. Don't keep or buy anything that's overly shy or is aggressive. Get your hands on the Standard of Perfection for Mini Lops - you can either buy the SOP book from ARBA or do some web searching - I'm sure it's out there.
 
Thanks for the help wheels, I don't think he was a cull because he was also with a litter in his cage, and pretty small so not an adult. And I don't mind if they were pred for pet quality I will work twards show quality. What mini lop color is your favorite?
 
I really like the broken orange, if I got a solid orange I have a broken black buck, would I get broken black, or broken orange, or another color? If my buck came out of a litter of (I know this isn't crorrect terminology but still) blonde litter and I'm pretty sure that there was 6 in his litter, but don't know who his parents are.
 
I'm not as knowledgeable as others on colors you'll get, I just wanted to say Mini Lops are what we are raising. I have found them to have one of the best temperaments and have had no health issues with them to speak of.
One of my favorite colors is the broken black.

If you have not seen this site, it might be helpful to you as far as breeding different colors: http://www.amysrabbitranch.com/Color&Genetics/ColorBreedingChart.pdf
 
Thanks, what color should I breed with him to get good kits for breeding stock? <br /><br /> __________ Sat Jan 30, 2016 6:07 pm __________ <br /><br /> Hello?
 
Your broken buck will throw more brokens if bred to either another broken or a full color rabbit, so you can follow the rules for breeding a black as it pertains to mixing any of the other colors with a black rabbit, then consider if you want only broken offspring or if you also want full color. You also need to consider what you will do with the offspring, as there is a potential for unshowable colors.

A true broken carries one copy of the dominant broken gene (En) and one recessive copy (en) to give it the geneotype Enen.

If you breed true broken to true broken (Enen x Enen), you will get Charlies (EnEn - very lightly marked brokens), brokens (Enen), and full color (enen) kits. Brokens with too little color are not showable, but can possible be used in a breeding program. You just want to make sure that you are using a true Charlie that has good patterns behind it. There are such things as "False Charlies" which are genetically true brokens (Enen) but have too light of a pattern to be desirable. You want to avoid breeding with False Charlies and perpetuating poor patterns. The problem is it is not always possible to tell by looking if the animal is a False Charlie or a true Charlie, so the understanding of genetics and test breeding is very helpful.

I would also recommend if your desire is ever to try and breed show quality animals that you try and purchase true show quality stock from a reputable breeder that is focused on breeding to the Standard. Breeding up to show quality from animals that just don't have the genetics to begin with is really not probable. I won't say it's impossible, because theoretically you could do it, but it isn't likely and would be much easier to start with quality stock to begin with. You don't have to spend a ton of money either. One of the best things we have done is purchase some quality brood does from breeders that have used them and gotten offspring that are better to keep themselves, but are still good breeders.
 
I am planing on building a rabbit shed when the ground dries this spring, I am wondering what would be the best size cage for does and the best size for bucks, and I would need to make a grow out pen and I would enjoy my rabbit shed being a 10 by 8 foot shed and maybe a two story with the quarantine pens and grow out pens, I also need space for a window and a door and storage, the storage would also go upstairs. <br /><br /> __________ Wed Feb 03, 2016 3:09 pm __________ <br /><br /> I don't have all of the room in the world to build but one of the pen would be a 1 foot by 1 1/2 of a foot or double that.
 
ARBA recommends a cage with at least 3 sq. ft. of floor space for mini lops. We have a couple of junior MLs in 18"x24" (3 sq. ft.) cages and that seems small to me. Our seniors are in 24"x24" cages. I wouldn't want to go any smaller.
 
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