Our first French Angora!!

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LBMBarbalooski

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We brought home our first French Angora today and are so excited about starting our road to raising angoras for their fiber. Dijonaise is a chocolate tort doe and is about 1 1/2 year old. She has already had one little of very pretty kits. We got to see two of them with their first adult coats on. Pretty colors.

Dijonaise wasn't too sure about roaming around our tiled kitchen. She pretty much roamed from corner to corner until we finished getting her cage and area set up in the garage. Our two cats either ignored her or took a wide arch around her making sure to keep their distance. Our scottie was beside himself with excitement and had to be locked in a different room. He eventually calmed down. Once she was in her cage her ears went up and she started eating and drinking. I think she felt much better in there. She doesn't seem to really want anyone to touch her much now that she is in her cage so we left her alone the rest of the evening which was tough as we were so excited to have a rabbit a week earlier than we originally planned. We still will be going to Noblesville next weekend to pick up our tort buck.

My husband didn't think she would be as big as she is but I keep wondering how much larger she will look when she needs to be plucked next, in about 4-5 weeks. Until then, I will have to be content to just spending time getting to know our beautiful rabbit. I also hope to have a fodder system started in the next week.

Can a rabbit this age be taught how to use a litter box in the cage or is that too much of a challenge? The corner box I bought at the Tractor supply center looks way too small for her. Thoughts?
:bunnyhop:

(I tried to post a picture for you all to see our girl but it must just be too late for me to figure it out.) Another time.
 
CONGRATS!

I remember bringing home my first Frenchie, Sage. He was only 12 weeks old and already twice the size of my old rabbit thanks to all of the fluff, I was so smitten with him it caused a chain reaction, and within a year I was breeding. :p

Rabbits can very easily be trained to use a litter corner. I would wait to see what corner your doe prefers as her potty corner, and then stick the litter corner in there when she has that established. Very soon, she will become accustomed to the fact that that is where she 'goes', and you can move the corner wherever you want it then.

Do you have a solid bottomed cage or is it a wire cage? Might I suggest wire in the long run if you are intending to breed? It allows the urine and feces to drop through, and the drop trays are much easier to clean and will keep your wool cleaner and prevent it from matting as quickly as it does on a solid floor. Most angoras have so much fluff on the bottoms of their feet that the wire typically causes no threat for hock sores, and if you are concerned you can purchase or create a resting mat or area that they are off the floor for comfort. (my cages are all equiped with them.)
 
Her cage has a wire bottom and I do have a resting pad for her. She is on it quite often. She and I had a heck of a time with this corner littler pan. I would put it in the corner and she would pull it out. I would put it back and she would flip it over. I was cracking up at her seeming to set me straight on how she wanted her cage to be decorated. She did jump in it a few times but them jumped out and dragged it out of the corner. Funny this is, this is the corner where she is doing her business anyways but obviously does not like this pan in her cage. It is now outside the cage holding bunny things to put in the cage later and she has another corner to stretch out in when she wants to do that. She is a feisty and funny rabbit. I am looking forward to getting our boy next week.<br /><br />__________ Sun Nov 03, 2013 9:08 pm __________<br /><br />
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Here she is!
 
Aww, what a cutie!

I had a doe that would thrown her litter corner too. She eventually gave up and decided to use it, but then also decided to lay in it after she used it, and ruined her wool, so then I gave up. It can be a vicious cycle sometimes. :)
 
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