mini lop and holland lop

my male mini lop is 12-13 weeks old and i’ve just bought a female holland lip at 8 weeks old … 1. can i breed them together and 2. when can i breed them and what do i do once they’ve bread

faye mcadam said:

my male mini lop is 12-13 weeks old and i’ve just bought a female holland lip at 8 weeks old … 1. can i breed them together and 2. when can i breed them and what do i do once they’ve bread

Click to expand...

You can breed any male and female rabbit. Whether you want to do that depends on what you're hoping to accomplish.

IMO, all bunnies are cute, and any breed or breed combination can be a great pet. But if the two rabbits are purebreds, some people would not want to create indeterminate mutt bunnies. Mini Lops and Holland Lops have pretty distinct body types and sizes, and these features are what appeal to people when they're looking for a particular breed. Mixing the two will usually result in bunnies that are neither one nor the other (though they'll still have the darling floppy ears).

Also, Hollands are a dwarf breed, meaning they carry one copy of what's called a "lethal recessive." It is this gene that makes them so small and gives them their distinctively short head, ears, and legs. When a rabbit inherits two copies of this gene, it is fatal, producing what's called a peanut. Most purebred Holland litters will have one or more peanuts, which are born dead or die very soon after birth. Mini Lops are not a dwarf breed, so they do not produce peanuts. If you breed a Mini x Holland, you most likely will not get any peanuts, which is good. But about half of the bunnies in a Mini x Holland cross will inherit one copy from the Holland parent. You may not be able to tell which is which, and they may not be any smaller than a regular Mini Lop; that depends on some other factors. But this can result in peanuts down the road if they're bred with another dwarf rabbit.

If you do decide to breed them, it would be wise to wait until the doe is at least 5-6 months old. Take the doe to the buck's cage, not the other way around since does are territorial, and your doe might attack the buck if you put him in her cage. Once you've seen them mating (the buck will usually grunt, then fall off to the side or back), separate them again and wait for 28 days. On day 28, give the doe a nest box with with some sort of bedding; white wood shavings, hay and/or straw will work. She'll most likely kindle (give birth) on day 30-31. though that can vary by up to a week or more.

faye mcadam said:

my male mini lop is 12-13 weeks old and i’ve just bought a female holland lip at 8 weeks old … 1. can i breed them together and 2. when can i breed them and what do i do once they’ve bread

Click to expand...

OK - I see you're in the UK. I am too, and here we don't have Holland Lops, our equivalent is the Mini Lop. It is not the same breed as the American Mini Lop.
Unfortunately I have seen people advertising Holland Lops here - they have probably been reading American websites and not realised we have different breeds in the UK. It's extremely unlikely anyone has imported Holland Lops to the UK from the USA, it would cost around £1K per rabbit to do so, and we already have our Mini Lops which are the same.

Here is a useful chart defining the various Lop breeds:

I normally wait to breed my mini lops until they're at least 6-7 months old. The bucks can usually breed a little sooner than the does.