Meet Floppy (aka the real chungus)

jaxmarblebuns · Oct 14, 2022

Within the last three years I have been a lot stricter in my selective breeding and have almost perfected the type/shape in my stalk. Unfortunately, the rabbits that I have picked to breed for type have all been lacking in the size department and with each gen have gotten smaller. So, I asked a friend (Who I sold rabbits to in the past/has my lines) if she had any larger does that she was able to sell. She kept talking about floppy and how massive she was, which sounded perfect for what I needed. I wasn’t expecting too much/big because she did come from our lines, but I new she would at least be a little bigger than what I have. Well, they dropped her off on Monday (10/10/22) which was the first time I was able to see her and she is M A S S I V E. She is a pure bred Californian and weighs roughly 13 POUNDS.

She feels like hugging a 13 pound pillow wrapped in fur.

She is a large rabbit as is, but on top of that she is also over weight. I have started a diet (half a cup 16% pellets and unlimited orchard hay.) and am letting her out in the pen for the entire day. I am still researching diets/how to help weight loss, but for now I’m going to stick with this so I don’t shock her system.

RabbitsOfTheCreek · Oct 14, 2022

That's one CHUNKY guy!

Robochelle · Oct 15, 2022

She's so adorable! I've noticed that overweight does have a much harder time conceiving, so definitely a good idea to slim her down. Does she eat her cecotropes? I've found that mine stopped eating cecotropes when they got big.

If you notice she doesn't eat her cecotropes even at that diet, I'd say give her even less. I've had a couple that got super fat after grazing on fresh stuff and still getting 1/4 cup as they always have. In order to get them back to size I reduced until they ate all of their cecotropes- just over 1/8 cup, and only dry hay. I've put them on my angoras' schedule of hay-only weekends as well. The doe lost weight faster than the buck, so hopefully floppy does as well.

Keag · Oct 15, 2022

Interesting! What are the weights of your lines & will this Doe be within that weight when she loses her excess body fat?

jaxmarblebuns · Oct 15, 2022

Robochelle said:
If you notice she doesn't eat her cecotropes even at that diet, I'd say give her even less. I've had a couple that got super fat after grazing on fresh stuff and still getting 1/4 cup as they always have.

She is still being monitored so I can see what her habits are. I have not noticed and cecotropes left in her cage, but I haven’t had her long enough to be 100% sure of anything. The day we got her I gave her a full scoop which she had finished by the next morning, the next day she stayed in the pen and I gave her a half and free choice hay and she didn't eat much of ether, same with the day after that, and yesterday. I suspect it is stress from the new environment and routine, but only time will tell. I don’t like making final decisions on any thing, especially health/diet wise, until I’ve had them for at least two weeks. One thing is for sure though she need a spa day lol

jaxmarblebuns · Nov 10, 2022

I am pleased to say that Floppy has gotten her weight down and is now 11.5 pounds. This also means that I am able to breed her, which i plan on doing today after school. I wanted to breed her to Keith, which I tried yesterday, but he was both too small to get a good mount and didn't have much energy (he is getting up there in age) so I think I'm going to try her with ether Shiro, UFDP5, or Koi. This litter is just to make sure she can conceive, so they will all be meat.