can anyone ID this bunny?

[II Arrows]

The other day I was driving to work and I seen what appeared to be a rabbit on the edge of the road. I didn't have an opportunity to stop to see if I was seeing things or not so I called my wife And asked her to check. So my wife and my youngest daughter went to check. We posted the rabbit we found on a few local web sights and knocked on a few doors but nobody claimed or wanted to claim him, so we adopted him. He is really nice and super friendly. He eats and drinks well with no signs of ear mites or fur mites. My wife let's him hop around the backyard all day ( with supervision of course ) he just hops around bothering my chickens and playing with our pomeranian guard dog He goes around underneath the buck hutch peeing.....or spraying, digging little holes and rubbing his chin on everything he can. I'm still a newbie at raising rabbits and I just wanted to know what kind of lop he is or what he could possibly be. Also would him spraying mean he isn't fixed? Or possibly looking to mate? He hasn't had any contact with any of my other rabbits as of yet. I would really appreciate any and all suggestions. He is black with rusty colored bowl patches on his sides and rear If that helps any. Thanx

 

[Dood]

He looks to be a hefty fellow

The largest lop breed is the French Lop, weighing over 8 pounds, the next biggest are Mini Lops which range from 4 to 6 pounds. English lops are also pretty big but he doesn't have their long pendulous ears

His colour is black and the rusting is sun bleaching and should shed out

Even neutered males will spray and chin mark but more likely he is intact

It's good he doesn't seem to have mites but you should check his teeth alignment and that his reproductive organs are normal - "vent disease" is contagious with nose to nose contact as well as sexually transmitted.

 

[II Arrows]

Thanks Dood I do appreciate it. His teeth are fine from what I can tell. His vent area is good too. I see no signs of blisters, scabbing, or anything else out of the norm. I will try and get a better picture of his whole body So you can see the blotchy colors. So he could possibly be a french lop / french lop mix? All of my does are either working mama's or expecting right now So no playtime for him. He's been with us close to a month now. Should I give him a little more quarantine time? <br /><br /> __________ Thu Apr 09, 2015 4:38 pm __________ <br /><br />

 

[katiebear]

Good looking bunn..nice find! :mrgreen:

 

[Susie570]

He looks huge!

 

[JenerationX]

That is a big bunny!

 

[Dood]

Most quarantine for 30 days so he should be good to go.

However since he has been free ranging he may not take kindly to living in a cage and that stress might trigger an infection, so if you want to confine him I would do it for at least another couple weeks in a quarantined area just to be sure

 

[II Arrows]

Ok, sooo my wife wants to continue letting him roam freely around the yard. She wants to build...or should I say she wants me to build a simple ramp up to his cage so he can come and go as he pleases. I personally don't think it would be a good idea. I told her one day he's going to disappear. Would he even know where his cage/home is? I have a hutch for him but it's temporarily being occupied. When we go to feed him or want to let him out he bites the cage door and paws at it. None of my other rabbits do this. What should I do? Who knows how long he was out in the wild. He seems very comfortable hopping around the yard bothering the chickens.

 

[Dood]

Lol

Rabbits have excellent homing instincts and with a bunch of ladies around he will likely will stick close by

I would keep hay and some pellets in his cage and not feed him anything when he isn't in his cage. Teach him that if he wants goodies he must go in there

You could try training him to go in at night by luring him into his cage with high reward foods like carrots or banana chips and let him out in the morning

Pretty soon he run into his cage as soon as he sees you and you'd better have a treat for him

 

[FourRingCircus]

I know this is an older thread, but it brought back good memories. My first rabbit growing up was a large lop that we found hopping down the side of the road as well :lol: . He was brown and white (that's all I remember). I also had a small black and white female around that same time (no idea where she came from). I guess my parents didn't know much about rabbits b/c they housed them together. Unfortunately to this day I have the memory of finding the dead, half eaten kits . Kind of traumatic for a young child (my mom said it was a bit for her, too, and she grew up around animals!). Anyway, he was a sweetheart of a rabbit. When we were in AZ Mikey and Amy (creative names, huh?) shared a fenced in area of the garden and had a good burrow dug (she did end up having a successful litter of kits, unbeknownst to us until the day they came hopping out!). When we moved to VA we brought him with us, but it was too hot and I guess he died. My parents tried to tell me he ran away, but then they fessed up.