Rabbit Identification

[BiggTexx]

Hi All,

I seem to have come into a set of rabbits a bit quicker than I thought I would...

We ended up adopting 3 young rabbits and while I am sure they are not purebreds, I would like to get some input from the members here on their possible backgrounds.

I know these are not the greatest photos for this, but the poor things are very skittish right now, so any help is appreciated!

 

[Dood]

Since New Zealand's are quite popular and come in chestnut and gold tipped steel I vote for NZ cross

I would expect Flemish to have bigger ears and Californians to have a finer face that isnt as blocky

 

[OneAcreFarm]

Since New Zealand's are quite popular and come in chestnut and gold tipped steel I vote for NZ cross

I would expect Flemish to have bigger ears and Californians to have a finer face that isnt as blocky

Yep, likely NZ crosses....pretty little things!

 

[BiggTexx]

Dood - OneAcreFarm,

Thanks! The two does are finally starting to warm up to me and it may be easier to get better pictures now if needed. The little buck is another story! I would say he looks similar to the does, except his face is much thinner, and he is black with a white collar and a bit if white on his face. I am still working with him, but I will try and get a picture soon.

If you have any suggestions for angles/positions, I will do my best!

Thanks again!

 

[akane]

Set them on something with a little traction that you can take a pic even with them. Line the back feet up with the hip bone and lay the front feet down to the "elbows". From that position you can tell the length and shape of important bones in commercial (NZ) type rabbits or mandolin(flemish) type rabbits. Although many good meat lines of commercial breeds have longer shoulders making a more mandolin shape than the show version of such breeds so it can be hard to tell. Not just flemish will give large ears either. I've gotten massive ears just by crossing medium compact type breeds to large commercial type breeds with no giant blood present. My mini rex x american sable doe was called "floppy ear" all her life for a reason.

 

[Dood]

Do you know the age of the rabbits and do you have a kitchen scale to weight them on?

The colouring of the buck sounds like he has the Vienna or Dutch genes, both of which are more common in small breeds so they might not get past 6 pounds as adults. If they are around 16 weeks in age you need to worry about the buck getting the girls pregnant and separate cages might be a good idea.