Please do not take my pictures or any other information from this website without my permission. Thank you - Rebecca
| Rebecca's Rabbitry FAQs about Rabbits and my Rabbitry! Any questions? Feel free to contact me! Email me: rebeccasrabbitry@gmail.com |
| Questions I get asked frequently: |
| What kind of rabbit food do I use? I am currently using X-Cel brand 18% protein rabbit pellets for all my breeds of rabbits raised. I like to buy my feed by the pallet (a pallet is 40 bags or one whole ton). There is a discount for buying by the ton. It takes me anywhere from 2 to 3 months to use up a whole pallet. Where do I get my rabbit feed? I buy from Lael's Landscape in Centralia, Washington. A 50# bag of the 18% rabbit feed is around $13.15. I have been very pleased with the service at Lael's and highly recommend buying from them! Do I supplement my rabbit feed? I have a "Secret Recipe" treat mix that I feed the big guys at my rabbitry (French & English Lops). Here's the current formula for the "Secret Recipe"! 6 parts COB (Corn, Oats, Barley; found mostly on the west coast as a horse and cattle feed) 4 parts Rolled Oats (or use Oatmeal for humans) 3 parts Calf Manna, Vigor Plus, MVP Gold (name varies by location and brand) 2 parts Black Oil Sunflower Seeds My French & English Lops eat about 1/2 Cup of "treats" per serving. They get "treats" about 4 times a week. You can give it to them daily if you feel like it. Just make sure they are eating their regular pellets too and not just waiting for the treats to arrive. The "Secret Recipe" is a supplement, not a substitute for regular rabbit feed! Does your Rabbit need a salt lick? Many years ago it was a good idea to supplement your rabbit feed with a special rabbit salt/mineral spool. Nowadays, rabbit feed is a complete feed and there is no need to supplement with these salt licks. Rabbits like to play with them, but I've found that the salt in the lick rusts the cage floor and walls out very badly. Will your Rabbit play with toys? YES! Your rabbit of any breed will enjoy playing with toys!!! Even if they don't enjoy contact with humans, the rabbit still gets bored and will enjoy playing with their toys when they think no one is looking! English and French Lops will purposely throw their toys around in their cage during feeding time. I think they are trying to show off and get our attention so they can have some petting, outdoor playtime and/or treats! Rabbit Toys are very expensive at pet stores. Go to your local Goodwill, Salvation Army, Visiting Nurses or any Thrift Store and buy a bag of sturdy hard plastic baby toys! You can get a dozen baby toys for around $4 to $6, where you'll be spending just that much on ONE toy at the pet store! Does your Rabbit need a sitting mat? Yes, almost all rabbits will benefit from a plastic or wood sitting mat. Heavy rabbits will especially need a mat to sit on to protect their hocks (bottoms of their back feet) from getting sore. Scraps of wood work, but need to be kept dry and clean. If your rabbit doesn't keep his wood mat clean and dry, try using a plastic slotted mat. These are SUPER easy to clean and stay drier than wood. Just throw the plastic mats in a bucket of water with a dab of bleach. Let them sit for a day and then hose them down and they look like brand new. I use the plastic slotted sitting mats. Some rabbits are ALWAYS messy and pile up rabbit droppings on their mats. For these guys, you can either clean their mat every day, or just give up and let them live on the wire. Dirty feet will give them sore hocks too, so it is sometimes better to just not give them a mat if it is going to make a mess in the cage all the time. Where I bought my Sitting Mats? I bought my mats from K.D. Cage Co in Indiana. They had the best price around. I have now used them for years, I am SOO happy with the quality and durability of them. Here's the K.D. Cage site: http://www.kdcage.net What is the best kind of rabbit for a small child? Something big and indestructible that will put up with all kinds of treatment without resorting to biting and scratching! The English Lop is the most fun-loving, people-loving rabbit I have every met. They LOVE coming out to play, LOVE being petted, LOVE being handled and LOVE going places to visit! They are perfect pets for even very small children. English Lops range in size from 9 pounds to maybe 12 pounds. They do great on a harness and leash or being packed around under your arm!!! They beg at the cage door to be petted and come out and play with you. If you're looking for something very tiny for your child, do NOT pick a Netherland Dwarf. Dwarfs are a show rabbit and don't seem to make very loving pets. Dwarfs are ADORABLE and tiny, but they are very unpredictable in nature. If they get tired of being picked up or get tired of being chased down to be put back in the cage, they will bite and scratch when you pick them up. Or, they will attack your hand when you reach in the cage to get them out because they know you're just reaching in the cage to handle them again and they didn't feel like being handled at the moment! Tiny rabbits that have very mild and calm personalities and would be good for children include: Dutch, Holland Lops and Mini Lops. I've tried Polish, Lionheads and Mini Rex, but found them to be not very calm when being handled. So far, I've found Hollands and Minis are the most calm of the tiny breeds. I haven't tried all the breeds though! There are always exceptions to the rule too! We visit one of our local Nursing Homes from time to time. I always bring a young Holland or Mini Lop for a lap-rabbit and my most outgoing English Lop buck, Code of the West (Cody!) on a harness and leash. He LOVES to meet new people and also LOVES to be hugged. He weighs 11 pounds though, so for the people who don't want to get that close to a big rabbit we hand out the Holland or Mini Lop. They are tiny and sit very quietly when they are being held. |
| This English Lop's back feels bony or skinny all the time. How can I get him or her to gain weight? It is not necessarily a lack of weight that is causing a bony backbone. It is a lack of flesh condition. English Lops do best on an 18% protein rabbit feed, free choice all-you-can-eat diet. You can also supplement with a high protein, high fat treat mix. (try the "Secret Recipe" that we use!) If that doesn't fix the bony backbone, then consider culling the rabbit from your breeding herd. Elops make fabulous pets! The bony back in the English Lop breed is very hereditary. Select English Lops for your breeding and show herd that have good meat or flesh condition along the backbone and pinbones. Judges like a big solid rabbit and it is healthier for the rabbit to have that nice firm flesh along the backbone. Treatment of Sore Feet or Sore Hocks? It is easier to prevent Sore Hocks than it is to cure them. For prevention, keep their claws/nails clipped all the time. (every 2-3 months is usually just right) Keeping their feet and cage floor clean is crucial. For treatment of Sore Hocks: 1) Clip their nails as short as possible and clip every 2 weeks until hocks are completely healed and furry again. 2) Keep their cage spotless at all times! Don't let their feet get dirty or it will irritate their feet even more and reverse the healing process. 3) If they will sleep in a nestbox and not leave a mess in it, give them a nestbox filled with hay!!! If they start using it for a litterbox, take it away and stick with using a plastic resting mat and clean it every day if necessary. 4) If the hocks are bleeding or an open sore, then dab with Iodine or Vanodine for a few days. Once the foot forms a scab, then treat with Neosporin or Triple Antibiotic Ointment (found in the pharmacy dept of any grocery store) every day. It takes anywhere from 2 to 4 months to cure Sore Hocks. It is a slow and not-fun process. Usually, when the rabbit finally molts then the hocks will heal up and get new fur on them. Sore Hocks can be caused by an exceptionally heavy rabbit. Make sure to give those big ones a sitting mat BEFORE they wear out their big feet. French Lops (and many meat breeds) are very heavy rabbits and require sitting mats at all times! Sore Hocks can also be caused by thin or short fur. That is why you see a lot of English Lops and Rex with sore feet. Elops have thin flyback fur and Rex have very short fur, making it harder to keep the bottoms of their feet padded. If you have a rabbit that is prone to sore feet, it is best to cull it from your breeding herd. Rabbits that tend to have sore hocks, also tend to pass that tendency to their babies. Can you guess how long this baby English Lop's ears will finish out? I've been trying to figure that out for years. I've come to a general rule of thumb that works for my English Lop bloodlines. I like my English Lop herd to have at least 25 inch ears (longer is always good too! LOL) If you keep your baby Elop's ears warm (either by summer weather, or a heat lamp during the colder weather), they should reach their full potential length by 16 weeks of age. If you want 25 X 6 inches or longer here's the measurements: 6 weeks old - must be at least 18 X 4 1/2 8 weeks old - must be at least 21 X 5 12 weeks - must be at least 24 X 5 1/2 At 12 weeks old, an English Lop will usually only gain ONE more inch of length. Some bucks will broaden in the head as they mature at 5-8 months old and gain maybe 1/2 an inch in ear length. These measurements do vary by individual, but overall, if you're looking to cull early on for ear length this is a good rule of thumb. |