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The fashion for keeping various exotic, and not very, animals in the house continues to gain momentum. In addition to wild forms of animals: iguanas, pythons, various lizards – to which breeders have not had time to put their hand, animal lovers also give birth to more familiar species.
One of these domesticated, but not previously living in apartments, species are rabbits.
In the case of these animals, you first have to figure out what the types of decorative rabbits are and with the concepts of “decorative”, “dwarf” and “miniature”.
Often, neither sellers when selling, nor buyers when purchasing animals, think about these points. As a result, a situation can easily arise from a joke about a man with a bear who was looking for a seller of hamsters in the market who sold him a “hamster”.
Differences between the concepts of “decorative”, “dwarf” and “miniature”
The concept of “decorative” includes any rabbit that is kept as a pet, not seeking to get a skin, meat or fluff from it. A medium-sized skinny black-fire, meat-skin Californian and Dutch or meat giant, the Flemish rabbit, may turn out to be decorative.
The dwarf rabbit often has a body of the same size as its industrial breed ancestors. But at the same time, dwarfs have short legs, due to which they seem smaller. Such animals are born if the dwarfism gene Dw appears in their genome. Sometimes this is a spontaneous mutation, sometimes a conscious crossing of short-legged animals in order to obtain a dwarf breed.
The only group of rabbits originally intended to be pets only is the group of miniature rabbit breeds. Miniature rabbits include all rabbits weighing less than 3 kg.
rabbit competition
But do not consider decorative rabbits as stupid animals that are not adapted to anything. If the owner likes to communicate with the animal, train it, then rabbits of any group lend themselves well to training. In the West, they even arrange competitions for them.
Cute Bunny Jumping Competition!
At the same time, such physical exercises will help the animals not to gain excess weight.
Rabbit Grand National The Final
Types of ornamental rabbits
In addition to size, decorative rabbits differ in exterior features. They can be smooth-haired and long-haired. And there is a third, intermediate option, the occurrence of which is debatable: either a spontaneous mutation, or the product of crossing a smooth-haired and long-haired rabbit. These are lion-headed rabbits, distinguished by the presence of long hair on the neck, forming a semblance of a lion’s mane around the head.
And one more division that exists in decorative rabbits: by the ears. Ears can be erect, hanging, long and short.
It is easy to get confused in all this diversity, so you need to describe the breeds of decorative rabbits with photographs.
The most popular decorative large breeds
These same breeds are also often bred for meat and skins, but, for example, it is already inconvenient to breed the English Fold in modern cages, and the ears interfere, so it has moved into the category of purely decorative rabbits of large breeds.
English fold breed
Bred from the French Fold, the English “ram” is smaller than the progenitor, although it weighs 4,5 kg, which is quite a suitable weight for a meat breed.
The length and width of the ears of the English fold significantly exceeds the progenitor. The ears of an Englishman today already reach 70 cm, and their width exceeds 16 cm.
So where is this? Even in agility you will not adapt, it will knock down sticks with your ears. Therefore, strictly a pet for those who like to mess with the animal, as this rabbit’s ears are picked up with special clothespins.
Since the breed is already decorative, special attention is paid not only to the ears, but also to the color. An English ram can be of any color that exists in rabbits.
Голландский
A characteristic feature of the breed is the color, visually dividing the body of the animal into two halves. Front white, back dark. Dark color can be black, blue or chocolate, red.
Initially, the breed was meat-and-skin, and in Our Country the old version of these rabbits is still bred, weighing an average of 5 kg. In Europe, with the advent of broiler rabbit breeds and a decrease in the number of cheap furs, the Dutch rabbit moved into the category of decorative ones due to its interesting color and decreased in size.
The Dutch rabbit is considered decorative if its weight does not exceed 3 kg.
The Dutch rabbit is an animal with a calm temperament of a completely athletic build. He lends himself well to training.
The Dutch rabbit can also be tricolor, but only if the so-called cross combination is observed, that is, a black ear is above one red cheek, and a red ear should be above the other black one.
Florida white
An animal weighing 2-3 kg in the States is not only a pet, valued for its calm disposition and white skin, but also a source of meat, as well as a laboratory animal. It is on these rabbits that new products, cosmetics and medicines are tested.
When buying this breed, one must take into account the quality due to which the rabbit is used in the laboratory: albinos are prone to allergies. Therefore, you need to pamper your pet even more carefully than other breeds of decorative rabbits.
havanese
Bred in Holland, this rabbit was originally only a dark brown color, similar to the color of a Havana cigar. Because of this suit, he received the name of the Havana rabbit. Later, three more colors were added to the breed: blue, black and chubaraya (Dalmatian). It cannot be attributed to miniature rabbits. Its weight is 3,5 kg.
For all their gentleness and friendliness, these animals have a cheerful disposition and love active games. Given the size of a rabbit of this breed, you will either have to give him the opportunity to splash out his energy into a regulated channel, or he will smash the apartment. But this breed would be ideal for agility.
miniature breeds
For greater contrast, after the largest breeds of rabbits that claim to be decorative, one can describe the smallest representatives of rabbits. The smallest decorative rabbits are tender in their size, as they are very similar to rabbits. But the rabbits themselves consider themselves quite strong and large animals. Or maybe the point here is that due to the “toy” appearance, the upbringing of such an animal is not given enough attention. In any case, it is the miniature breeds of rabbits that are distinguished by increased viciousness. Not all mini-bunnies will definitely bite, but many of them are addicted to it.
The smallest breeds include: Hermeline, shorthaired dwarf and Dutch fold.
Hermelin
It has a cute appearance, short ears, a short muzzle and small size. The maximum weight of germelin is 1,5 kg. Most often, it does not even reach 1 kg.
Also among the features is a rather vile character. It is difficult to say why this breed is not popular in Our Country. Whether it’s a matter of character, since the animal is on its own mind, or that, because of the thick fur, the hermelin does not tolerate heat at all.
The ears are no longer than 5 cm, the color is always white with red or blue eyes.
Very similar to Germelin shorthair dwarf.
Shorthair pygmy (colored dwarf)
The breed is very similar to the Hermeline and is related to it. Even the requirements of the breed standard are the same. But if germelin can only be white, then a colored dwarf has 60 color variations. However, even here the most fashionable white suit. True, with a black border around the eyes.
Here such a colored dwarf is easily confused with hermelin.
It is said that the character of a colored dwarf is lighter than that of hermelin. Maybe Hermelyn just doesn’t want to be grabbed with unwashed hands? But during puberty, a colored dwarf can also show aggression.
dutch fold
The smallest representative of the group of lop-eared rabbits. According to the standard of the American Fancy Rabbit Association, the weight of the Dutch Fold ranges from 0,9 to 1,8 kg. Colors are divided into two groups: one-color and two-, three-color.
A mandatory requirement of the standard are wide, fleshy ears hanging on the sides with a clearly defined “crown”. Pointy, narrow or thin cartilage ears are not allowed.
In addition to being miniature, they are also decorative dwarf rabbits, since the Dw dwarfism gene is present in their genome.
The presence of this gene indicates that the individual is a “true dwarf”, in the absence of the gene, the Dutch fold is a false dwarf and its weight often exceeds the standard.
This point must be taken into account when breeding. And it is better to cross a true dwarf with a false one than two true ones, since in the latter case, part of the offspring will die in the womb.
Lionhead
A decorative rabbit, obtained either as a result of mating a long-haired rabbit with a short-haired one, or as a result of a mutation. Experts are still arguing.
The fact that the quantity and quality of the mane is determined by the dominant gene M speaks in favor of the mutation. With a heterozygous set of M / m, the rabbit does not show much fluffiness anywhere except the neck, as can be clearly seen in the photograph.
With a homozygous set of M / M, the mane of the lionhead is much more magnificent, and long hair is also present on the sides.
Lionhead colors can be very diverse. Average weight 1,4 kg, maximum 1,7 kg.
Lionhead with a double set of M can be so fluffy.
But it should be borne in mind that caring for the mane of lion-headed rabbits is very difficult. During molting, the fallen hair tends to get tangled in the new one and get tangled, so the animals are shown daily combing of the mane.
It is also necessary to ensure that animals do not eat wool, which can clump in the intestines and clog the gastrointestinal tract. To prevent blockage of the gastrointestinal tract, you can give malt paste.
Downy breeds
Another common name for these breeds is angora. Although in fact, only one breed was exported from Turkey, which ended up in France. Since the 2th century, the procession of the Angora breed around the planet began. Breeders from different countries changed the breed to suit their needs. The appearance of the animal, the length of the coat and weight changed. Today, the weight of representatives of various downy breeds ranges from 6 to XNUMX kg.
Like the Angora goat, the coat of the Angora goat consists mainly of down with a slight admixture of protective outer hair.
Leading in the production of rabbit Angora wool, the Chinese can boast of such animals.
The angora rabbit can even have pubescent ears and head, as in the top photo. Or maybe wool only on the body.
A trimmed angora with fluffy ears.
And an Angorian with a smooth head and ears, but luxurious fluff on the body.
Wool is removed from the Angora either during molting twice a year, or by shearing. When shearing, you can get a wool crop 3 times a year. The main thing is not to be scared later when, waking up in the morning, you see this in front of you:
It’s not an alien, it’s just a trimmed angora rabbit.
These circumstances make them very troublesome to keep as decorative animals, although the animals lend themselves well to training and have a cheerful character.
Experienced rabbit breeders are advised to hide all easily breaking objects before releasing the Angoras for a walk.
Considering that many Angorans die from “intestinal diseases” before they reach 5 years of age, you need to think about whether they have a gene in their genotype that provokes the development of megacolon. The development of the disease with age is a sign of congenital megacolon. Farms do not select for this trait, since Angoras are slaughtered long before they reach 5 years old, but this issue is relevant for the owner of a pet.
Conclusion
It is important to know that no matter what decorative breed you choose, the animal will need to occupy its brains with something. An exception may be the English Fold breed because of the size of their ears. But given the size of these animals, few people seek to have them as pets.