Recommend a blower?

I'm fairly new to angoras and am looking for an inexpensive blower. I only have 3 of them but they are very wooly with practically no guard hairs and I'm having trouble keeping their coats matt-free even with grooming a few times a week. I was told they are a cross between English and American angora (never heard of American angora and can't find any info on such a breed ). They are fully covered in wool from their ear tips to their tails like English. I'm not afraid to shave them down but I'd really like to try to keep their coats on them for plucking. Can anyone recommend a blower that won't require a 2nd mortgage and a reliable company to order from?

The question first: a vacuum cleaner that allows you to put the hose into the "goes out" part. Probably an OLD one would have that, or us a small shopvac. If you have a good will or similar near you, you can probably find something suitable for quite cheap. They're higher pitched and louder than a regular coat blower, but you can put a sleeve of sound barrier of some sort (paper filter, cardboard box, etc.) around them (don't overheat the motor tho) OR with a small shopvac, you can get a really long hose and put the motor part outside the room. (although I've discovered the rabbits don't seem to mind the noise from them)

You can occasionally find a used horse vaccuum, too. It's the same as a blower, just the hose is attached at the sucking end of the fan. Just take it off the suck end and put it on the blowing end.

The reason the blowers are SO expensive (other than selling to hobby people and show people who manufacturers think have money) is that they have multiple muffler type things in/on them so that they can run a longish time, without making motor overheat, or making a lot of sound.

Now...about angoras that are crosses. They can resemble either parent. Mine happen to be french/english crosses. My buck looks more English..fewer guard hairs, and very mat prone. 2 of my does are inbetween, and 1 doe is VERY french looking. The offspring from the inbetween does all have very fine wool...much more english looking. The offspring from the french looking doe usually are QUITE french looking...even more than she is. Rarely ear tufts, smooth faces, quite a bit of guard hair.

American...I wonder if it's a Giant Angora they meant. Or possibly a Satin? Are the hairs shiney? that would indicate satin in the background. Any chance of pictures of yours, or did you see the parents at all?

No. They were auction bunnies. No shine, no guard hairs. The only hair that isn't long, fluffy wool is the area of the eyes and mouth and the actual whiskers themselves. There isn't even any weight to the hair. It just floats straight up. The seller took about 5 minutes after I got them to tell me the cross and to try to sell me more. He thought I bid high on one of them because it was being sold as blue-eyed. It is sort of blue-eyed but has a beautiful, pointed, creamy coat. I was bidding on the coat and never even noticed the eyes except that they were bright and clear under the hair. Eye color isn't something I'm really interested in. Funny, the very next auction was just packed with all kinds of rabbits with "blue eyes" written on their boxes. I haven't seen shop vacs selling for less than $100 and never see any used ones around. I'd also be concerned about blowing something undesireable onto my rabbits. I don't think you can ever truly get those flex hoses clean. I was looking at a few grooming dryers online that might work. I think one that looked good was called air force mini-cadet or something like that and it's in my price range but I don't know how well it would work. It's advertised mainly for dogs from what I read.

I have used 2 horsepower shop vacuum with blower feature from the hardware store, cost is about $40 compared to $140 for a force air blower. Check the big box stores like Home Depot or Lowes.

We used the shop-vacs only for blowing rabbits, not for vacuuming. The theory is that anything that goes up the hose can come out again.

I recently saw small 1.5 HP shop vac/blower for $19.99 at Home Depot.

Because of the relatively short hose, we would hang it under the grooming table with bungee cord.

One advantage of shop vacs is the plastic bodies are usually (not always) able to survive being knocked around better than a force air blower. We dropped a force air dryer and it sounded like the turbine on a jet plane.

We did find a force air dryer that was so powerful that it could dry our car.

Have a good day!
Franco Rios<br /><br />__________ Fri Jul 23, 2010 5:02 pm __________<br /><br />

arachyd":3195p3pn said:

I was told they are a cross between English and American angora (never heard of American angora and can't find any info on such a breed ).

Click to expand...

There is no recognized breed known as American angora. That does not stop somebody from inventing an American angora. I think you may be on cutting of angora evolution and you did not even know it.

Just kidding. No such recognized breed. I would not support a new breed since there are plenty of great angoras around already. No need to invent a new one.

Have a good day!
Franco Rios

rabbitgeek":yhff3kv7 said:

Just kidding. No such recognized breed. I would not support a new breed since there are plenty of great angoras around already. No need to invent a new one.

Have a good day!
Franco Rios

Click to expand...

Oh...I dunno. How about an angora that had the fiber of a satin, on the body of a giant...without the matting? :mrgreen: AND that had crimp and memory!

Anntann":2ettf0y1 said:

Oh...I dunno. How about an angora that had the fiber of a satin, on the body of a giant...without the matting? :mrgreen: AND that had crimp and memory!

Click to expand...

A giant satin angora?!! Can you say big diva with big appetite?

I love the Germans and Giants, but if you satinize the wool you lose the coat structure that makes big angoras such a great wool growing machine.

Have a good day!