Astrex coated meat mutt project

[KimitsuKouseki]

They're adorable ^^ I'm sorry to say I'm not good at colors yet and I have a few kits with that exact coloring to identify myself XD

Btw, Mei, my little astrex girl, wasn't doing too well yesterday, but I think she just hadn't figured out how to drink from the bottle yet so I brought her inside and gave her a bowl and she's a lot better today. She feels more like a poodle to the touch then anything else it's weird XD

 

[Nymphadora]

:mbounce:
:congratulations:

:happy2:
Wowza, Crazy, how did you get so lucky?! I showed your latest pictures to DH and he asked if he should've brought his medic bag home. :lol:

Really though, Bravo is super photogenic! :in_love:
And his littermates are the cutest little pudge-pies ever! Thank you so much for sharing this whole project with us!

 

[2CrazyFools]

Mei, my little astrex girl, wasn't doing too well yesterday, but I think she just hadn't figured out how to drink from the bottle yet so I brought her inside and gave her a bowl and she's a lot better today. She feels more like a poodle to the touch then anything else it's weird XD

Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear something was up with her! I had the same thing happen when I tried to switch from bottles to a gravity water system and three of my bun refused to drink from it even with something sweet on the nipple. I eventually just went back to water bottles. Glad she's feeling better! And yeah, I love how Alice feels like a cotton ball, lol.

Wowza, Crazy, how did you get so lucky?! I showed your latest pictures to DH and he asked if he should've brought his medic bag home.

Really though, Bravo is super photogenic!
And his littermates are the cutest little pudge-pies ever! Thank you so much for sharing this whole project with us!

Thanks guys! To be honest, the one I'm really liking a good bit isn't one of the Astrex but their littermate, Alpha. He got the top name because from the very beginning he was the biggest and he's not stopped growing! Look at this beef cake! If he is a buck I will probably keep him to replace his father if he keeps this growth rate up. I just weighed him and he's 8.3oz at 10 days old! This guy is the largest I've ever had a kit at this age. He's the same size as the bottle babies were at 5 weeks of age, and about the same size as my other litters were at 2-4 weeks! This is definitely the direction I want my meat mutts to go, and if he carries the astrex gene too? Perfect. I guess I won't know if he's a carrier until he produces his first litter and that's quite a long way off :lol:


Oh, and I only have two REW kits, the rest have either brown or blue eyes, it's still hard to tell. This is such a fun litter!

 

[KimitsuKouseki]

Mei is back to full health so it rly was the water, the kits outside are doing well too since I gave em bowls. Also I think I got lucky with the litter I needed to keep a kit from. I "think" one of Beckett's double manes is a female, but how right can I be at sexing 1 week old kits XD

Alpha is a nice looking boy, hope he keeps it up for you. Maybe his astrex gene decided to say "you know what? insted of curly fur, let's give size X4 to this guy" Lol
Randomness is so much fun isnt it? ^^

 

[Nymphadora]

To be honest, the one I'm really liking a good bit isn't one of the Astrex but their littermate, Alpha. He got the top name because from the very beginning he was the biggest and he's not stopped growing! Look at this beef cake!

He's a hunk! :mrgreen:

I wonder if Alpha's size will be as heritable as we hope... You know how people say hybrid vigor dies off after however many crosses? Or that hybrid vigor doesn't breed true? I sure hope that's not the case, because it sounds like he'll be a chunky buck. And really, if he keeps up that growth, it would certainly seem worthwhile to keep him around and give it a whirl in any case! Please give my compliments to Poker Alice, clearly she's a very good mama.

 

[2CrazyFools]

I "think" one of Beckett's double manes is a female, but how right can I be at sexing 1 week old kits XD

Man, I keep trying and go, "I have no idea what I'm looking at..." and lightly pressing doesn't seem to help at this age either! I guess I really do need to wait until they are 3 weeks old to find out, lol.

I wonder if Alpha's size will be as heritable as we hope... You know how people say hybrid vigor dies off after however many crosses? Or that hybrid vigor doesn't breed true? I sure hope that's not the case, because it sounds like he'll be a chunky buck. And really, if he keeps up that growth, it would certainly seem worthwhile to keep him around and give it a whirl in any case!

I thought the hybrid vigor died after the first cross, like you cross an A&M to a New Zealand and you get big 'ol kits, but crossing those kits to similar crossed kits won't produce the hybrid vigor? Which is actually pretty close to what I've experienced with Bill, as he is a 50/50 A&M NZ and while he is pretty large himself (he was a big junior when I got him, compared to the pure A&M of the same age I was choosing between) but when paired to Alice's mother those kits weren't anything special as far as weight goes. However when paired to Alice (who has half his genes) this litter has a great growth rate! So I'm not sure about that hybrid vigor and how it applies to this litter and to Alpha.

By the way, he's now 9.6oz and they aren't even 2 weeks old yet! The next largest kits (they are tied for second place) are the two astrex! So this is good for both my meat mutt direction and my astrex direction. Oh, and most of them have blue eyes with only two REWs. The white (now known to be ermine) astrex is starting to look an awfully lot like her dad with her ears becoming darker tipped and her blue eyes.

And since I cannot seem to comment without sharing pictures..... lol. Look! Even Bravo's belly is nearly symmetrical :lol:



Little Foxtrot with her dusty ears.


Chunky monkey next to Bravo. Granted, Bravo does have the astrex coat which makes him look a LOT smaller than Alpha...


Look at those perdy baby blues :in_love:

Please give my compliments to Poker Alice, clearly she's a very good mama.

I think she's been doing such a wonderful job! Definitely only feeds them in the morning, I keep taking them out there in the evening hoping she'll decide to feed them twice a day and she just stares at me from the top of her box like, "Good luck buddy..." and when I pull them back out a few hours later their tummies are the same as before I put them in there, lol. But okay, it's not like they are underfed and seem to be thriving on the once a day feeding. When I take them out in the morning she'll be chilling in her nestbox waiting on me like, "I prefer to feed them at 3am, where have you been?!" My bad Alice, my bad...

 

[KimitsuKouseki]

I "think" one of Beckett's double manes is a female, but how right can I be at sexing 1 week old kits XD

Man, I keep trying and go, "I have no idea what I'm looking at..." and lightly pressing doesn't seem to help at this age either! I guess I really do need to wait until they are 3 weeks old to find out, lol.

From what I noticed when comparing the kits to each other, the double I mentionned does seem to have a slit that ends closer to her anus. I noticed this in a few other kits too, but those that don't look like that end higher up and the hole is barelly visible and seems more like a dot then a slit.... That's without pressing, just moving it to the light and I'm talking in mesures of less then 1mm.
Again though, I'll have to wait a bit to be completly certain.

Bravo's belly is so cute, I wanna gobble him up "inserts baby talk"

 

[Nymphadora]

I thought the hybrid vigor died after the first cross, like you cross an A&M to a New Zealand and you get big 'ol kits, but crossing those kits to similar crossed kits won't produce the hybrid vigor? Which is actually pretty close to what I've experienced with Bill, as he is a 50/50 A&M NZ and while he is pretty large himself (he was a big junior when I got him, compared to the pure A&M of the same age I was choosing between) but when paired to Alice's mother those kits weren't anything special as far as weight goes. However when paired to Alice (who has half his genes) this litter has a great growth rate!

Hurrah for a good cross! I've gotta say, if I wasn't so in love with rex fur, I'd be darn tempted to make a whole ton of crosses for fun, just to see what happens between different characteristics in rabbits. That said, I do love that plush, dense fur, and I just dream about making cozy hats and blankets and whatnot with homegrown bunnies too much.
But I'm glad to see you're having a fair bit of success with these guys, and they're so cute!

By the way, he's now 9.6oz and they aren't even 2 weeks old yet! The next largest kits (they are tied for second place) are the two astrex! So this is good for both my meat mutt direction and my astrex direction.

Little Foxtrot with her dusty ears.

I just love that picture of Foxtrot!!! Such a sweet-looking little gal! :in_love:

 

[KimitsuKouseki]

Yesterday I gave new hay to the bunnies, from a new bale and I gave too much of it by mistake T.T
Mei, my astrex girl, had diahrrea this morning I had to cancel work cause I'm out of medication and had to go see the vet. 108$ later and now she looks better, I have to give her medicine for a week now. Bad kimi! :wall:

Btw I don't have a pic yet but I think I have another astrex lionhead. In Eva and Trésor's batch, one of em has had odd fur growth and texture. I don't remember Mei feeling that way at that age, but looking at newborn pics that potential axtrex looked like a chocolate when it's now a chestnut. It also has slightly curly whiskers, not as curly as Mei but they aren't straight at all. I'm still unsure if it'll turn out astrex of not cause it feels weird, almost like suede?
Btw Mei's dad was Trésor's brother, so it makes sense.

 

[2CrazyFools]

Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear that Kimitsu! I'm glad she's better but WOW is that a whopper of a vet bill!

Another astrex lionhead? How neat! You'll definitely have to share pictures of it!

Here's a few preview pictures of the astrex coated buns, I'm going to get better pictures either this evening or tomorrow but man are they getting so big!! I'm really liking Foxtrot with those blue eyes contrasting so sharply with her white fur, it's like someone duplicated her momma but recolored the eyes. (I'll probably sex them today too just to get a general idea)


__________ Thu Jun 15, 2017 3:43 pm __________

I put the kits in their own cage for the daytime, they were driving Alice nuts. She couldn't even eat from her feeder without being mobbed.

Okay, wilting ears is adorable. It makes Foxtrot look like a jester!


Bravo isn't jazzed about this hot weather, we're in the upper 90s today.



Thankfully most of the kits seem to be doing really well with the heat, really not phased too much.


Haha, Foxtrot almost fell off her box!

 

[Sagebrush]

Crazy, they are just adorable! Very striking for the eyes too. Though I must say that Bravo is my favorite.

 

[2CrazyFools]

Thank you Sagebrush! I'm also just loving these blue eyes, this litter definitely turned out better than expected. Bravo is also my sister's favorite and she begged me not to eat him :lol: Luckily for her I'm going to horde all the astrex I get for awhile so Bravo is safe! I wish he had a better personality though, he REALLY takes after his dad. Sort of bumbly, inquisitive until you try to touch him then he shies away like your torturing him, "Ah. No. Please. Make it stop. I beg of you." and tries to press himself into the floor. :roll: I guess it's better than being a Diva like his mom. The other kits are quite fine with being petted, courtesy of shelving them when they were young.

 

[KimitsuKouseki]

Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear that Kimitsu! I'm glad she's better but WOW is that a whopper of a vet bill!

Another astrex lionhead? How neat! You'll definitely have to share pictures of it!

This has been a tough week for me. The rest of the babies in the cage almost all fell hill the day after. I gave em the new medicine but none survived. I used to have injected borgal before but this vet wanted me to try oral, but he wasn't sure about borgal on kits that young. I know for a fact injected would've made a difference for the best insted of the worse like what happened so I'm thinking oral is too strong at the dosage he gave me at that age. I will have to discuss this over the phone with him when I have time.
My "friend" used to supply me in medication, but latelly she has started abusing my kindness and is now trying to start a "medication coop". I'm just gonna give you the short version : She makes people share the price of the medecine but she keeps the whole stock for herself and will give only a few dose of it when you need it. She's starting to prove to be a fraud in my eyes -_- I have no intention of dealing with her junk anymore. So vet fees it is for me now and you guys know how much I've pointed out the fees are ridiculous here! And 108 was just the start. He wants me to do a droppings test for parasites and he wanted me to try the oral borgal so he only gave me a little of it. The parasite test I dont need I think but I will just to gain his trust, that'll be another 80$ out the window sigh. We have an agreement he'll sell me more medicine after I've tested it so that'll be in the future too.

Mei is doing fine enough, she's eating drinking, pooping, but she looks uncomfy. Other then her I only have 4 surviving kits out of my 15 or so a couple weeks ago, but Mei is the only kit from Onyx I have left, if she dies, I've lost her genes since I culled the mom :/ . I dunno what's up with this batch they are dropping like flies while none of my other bunnies are having any issue when they are in the same cage or around...

My new batch of babies are doing great, not a single death other then that 1 kit of BigMama's on day 1, all healthy, all doing well.... The "potential" new astrex is starting to show curls? I dunno it's not coming the same as with Mei. Mei is basically a poodle at this point while this new kit is more...... I dunno... you know those plants that have a velvety touch to them, but it's not velvet and a bit sticky? kinda like that? I dunno yet, he's weird. Also that double mane from Beckett's litter I though was female... I was right, so fingers crossed no freak show happens to her and I'll be keeping her. With my luck right now I'm gonna need all the help in the world x.x

As you probly guessed I'm super drained from what's hapened and I've barelly slept at all. So no new pics yet, and I have to work tomorrow since I skipped tuesday.


Awesome pictures btw, I'm jealous of the blue eyes!

 

[2CrazyFools]

I'm terribly sorry to hear about all this bad luck you've fallen into Kimi! When it rains it bloody pours doesn't it? Praying things start turning up for your herd!

 

[Nymphadora]

So Crazy, I know you have a Wild West theme going for your breeders, and I'm guessing you'll rename your keepers if they make it...

I was kinda thinking Bravo would make a great Apache Kid (get it? Since he's a broken?)... :mrgreen: :lol:

 

[2CrazyFools]

Ah!! I love it Nymph! I think she'd made a great "patchy" kid :lol: I'm going to horde all the astrex from Alice's next three litters and see what happens, so they may end up being named but they may end up being culled due to the issue I'm dealing with. Hence the hoarding, lol. Hopefully she makes it though! I'd hate to cull these curly Q's. :in_love:



__________ Sat Aug 05, 2017 2:28 pm __________

These kits have excellent growth rates! Foxtrot and Bravo both are exactly 1 pound heavier than their mother was at this age! They just turned 10 weeks old today.






Big boy Alpha looking freaking *amazing*


__________ Sat Aug 05, 2017 2:36 pm __________

Aaaaaaand more pictures :lol:

Weirdos. Must have been an awfully special spot...





So something interesting with these guys is that they NEVER MOLTED. They went through a "crinkly" stage where their fur felt.... crispy(?) to the touch, and then a few weeks later and they have softened back up and are now very fluffy and soft. Not sure what that was about. I was really hoping for some silly bald kit pictures like their mother :lol:

 

[shazza]

oh gosh, the broken astrex (im sorry i forgot which one is named what lol, bravo maybe?) is GORGEOUS. i'm so jealous.

 

[2CrazyFools]

You're right, it is Bravo! Bravo Shazza! (Haha, see what I did there? ) She's such a sweet little girl too, I was worried they'd have their momma's diva attitudes but so far they are much more laid back.

Here's the litter average at 10 weeks old today, this will be my first litter to actually reach 5 pounds by 11-12 weeks!
AVG: 64oz (4lbs, 1814.37g)
AVG 3 Keeper Kits: 4lb 4.25oz (1934.855g)

I've been using this chart to sort of monitor how my mutts stack up to pure NZ, pure Cali, and the cross and they are right there! Average never looked so good until you're used to under achievement :lol:

 

[KimitsuKouseki]

Im so happy your bunnies grew up so well. ^^
My lionhead astrex never molted either.
It's hard to tell on the pictures, did Bravo lose his curls?

 

[2CrazyFools]

Nope, they are both still curly. I think Bravo's coat is deceptive because of the tipping, it starts to look like it's just a fuzzy rex coat or something but each individual hair is wavy. It's more noticeable on her forehead where it's thicker. I think it's at that stage where it's thickening up so we should see some better and more obvious curls here in a few weeks.