Contents
Animals with hanging ears always evoke tenderness in people. Perhaps because they have a “childish” look, and cubs are always touching. Although it is not natural for rabbits to have floppy ears even in childhood, nevertheless, rabbits with floppy ears have been bred for quite some time.
Due to the shortened facial part of the skull and the slightly humpbacked line of the front of the head, the lop-eared rabbit received another name – “ram”. The head of the fold in profile resembles the head of a sheep.
There are already 19 breeds of such “sheep” in the world. And this is clearly not the limit. Breeders continue to cross various breeds of lop-eared and ordinary rabbits, bringing out more and more new varieties. Perhaps, a breed of hairless lop-eared rabbits will soon appear. At least the first copies are already in stock.
This is not a breed yet, but an application for it. True, this lop-eared head does not look like a lamb either in profile or in front.
The most common breeds of lop-eared rabbits
In order for a ram rabbit to be considered a breed, it must be recognized by the British or American Rabbit Breeders Association, since these organizations are the “trendsetters”. Although it may happen that a breed recognized by one organization (Americans are more democratic in this regard) is not recognized by another.
Among sheep there are both large breeds exceeding 4 kg, and miniature ones. Some breeds exist in two at once, and the Kashmiri Fold even in three variants.
True, there is no other information about the giant Kashmir ram, except for the mention of its existence. No sizing, no photos.
cashmere ram
The Kashmiri fold dwarf rabbit differs from the large variant of the cashmere fold only in weight. The country of breeding, colors and exterior are the same. Moreover, given that breeds weighing less than 3 kg are classified as miniature, both of these varieties are miniature.
The Kashmiri lop-eared ornamental rabbit weighs 2,8 kg, and the Kashmiri dwarf ram 1,6 kg.
There are about 20 colors of Kashmiris. Almost all the overflows of colors are from black to albino. Wool of normal length. The photo shows that the head of the Kashmir ram is shortened. The ears should hang down at the sides, but not drag along the floor.
English sheep
A large variety of rabbits – lop-eared sheep. It belongs to one of the largest varieties of lop-eared and is the longest of all. The weight of an English ram is 4,5 kg, and the length of the ears is 65 – 70 cm. English breeders plan to bring the length of the ears to 75 cm. Any color, saturated color. This rabbit has short hair. It was bred in England.
French ram
It is similar in characteristics to the English ram, of which it is the ancestor. The French ram has the same weight, but much shorter ears. Color, just like an Englishman can be any.
german ram
The smallest of the “family” of large sheep. Its weight ranges from 3 to 4 kg. And his ears are the shortest, from 28 to 35,5 cm.
The German Fold is just the case when the breed is recognized by one association and not recognized by another. The British organization recognizes this breed, the American does not.
The purpose of breeding this breed was to create a medium-sized lop-eared rabbit. When breeding, they crossed a French fold and a Dutch dwarf.
In Germany, the German Fold was recognized in 1970. In 1990 he was recognized by the British Association. Initially, rabbit colors were only with the agouti gene.
Later, enthusiasts interested in a greater variety of colors, with the help of the addition of other breeds of rabbits, greatly diversified the color of individuals of this breed.
But so far they are not recognized as a standard: harlequin, otter, silver marten, blue, piebald with a large proportion of the colored surface, chocolate.
Standard colors by group
Agouti: chinchilla, chocolate agouti, opal.
Piebald with white ground color and a small number of colored spots, including tricolor.
Single-color: black, chocolate, blue, albino (REW), blue-eyed white (BEW), lilac.
Veil: golden, silver, black, blue, chocolate, lilac coating on the tips of the hairs, silver-brown, sable, pearl-smoky.
Striped in cream, red, auburn and fawn tones.
The ears of the German are thick, wide, with powerful cartilage. The ears should hang down behind the eyes and be turned with the auricle towards the head.
Wool of regular length.
American Longhair Sheep
The American Longhair is similar to the Dutch Fold Dwarf, as it has it in its pedigree. Initially, the Dutch fold had only solid colors. To diversify the colors, he was crossed with the English “butterfly”, getting spotted lop-eared rabbits. But the quality of the fur of the Dutch fold deteriorated and the angora rabbit was added to them, resulting in a lop-eared miniature rabbit with long hair. But the standard of the Dutch ram does not provide for such wool and long-haired rabbits were culled from breeding, although even now they come across in the litter of standard Dutch rams.
Enterprising Americans noticed that people are more willing to take non-standard Dutch folds with long hair and attempted to cross two long-haired individuals in order to obtain 25% of long-haired rabbits in the litter, since the gene that determines long hair is recessive. As a result, in 1985, three contenders submitted long-haired rabbits for registration at once.
The standards presented by the applicants varied, which delayed the registration of the longhair ram as a breed. It wasn’t until 1995 that the standard was set.
The weight of the rabbit was determined to be up to 2 kg. The ideal weight is 1,6 kg.
Lop-eared lionhead
The average weight of rabbits of this breed is 1,5 kg. The breed was registered in 2007.
Colors are very diverse:
- white (red or blue-eyed);
- the black;
- blue;
- agouti;
- opal;
- steel;
- pale yellow;
- deer;
- redhead;
- sable from light to dark;
- black-brown;
- pale yellow;
- chocolate;
- butterfly.
Characteristics of character
All lop-eared rabbits have a calm and docile disposition. Perhaps due to the fact that the ears are not only hanging, but almost everyone has the auricle turned towards the head. This position of the ears makes it difficult for the animal to determine exactly where the frightening sound comes from and jump to the side. Therefore, lop-eared sheep have no choice but to freeze in place.
Caring for ram rabbits is somewhat more complicated than for conventional breeds. Moreover, the conditions of detention may vary depending on the breed.
When choosing a sheep breed, you first need to figure out how to care for a lop-eared rabbit of your favorite breed.
Maintenance and care
In general terms, the care and maintenance of sheep does not differ from ordinary breeds, if we consider the place or food of these animals.
But if you want to get an English ram, you will have to be puzzled by the cleanliness of the cage. Dragging ears on the floor will constantly find dirt. The animal can also injure its ears on something sharp while walking around the house.
A long-haired or lion-headed ram will require careful grooming, as during the molting process, wool can be swallowed, cleaning its skin. If the wool forms a lump in the intestines, then the rabbit will not live longer than a couple of days.
To prevent this trouble, the animals are given a malt paste that dissolves wool. And don’t forget to brush them.
Fold rabbits eat at home the same thing as other decorative pets of this species. They are given feed, observing the requirements for norms for hay, compound feed and succulent feed.
With good care, rams live as long as their relatives with erect ears live, that is, 6 to 12 years.
The specific problem of sheep
Due to hanging ears, rams cannot shake out the secretions accumulated there by shaking their heads. Sulfur plug can cause ear infections, so rams need regular ear cleaning throughout their lives.
Breeding sheep rabbits
Puberty in rams occurs at the same time as in ordinary rabbits. They can also happen at the usual time, that is, in 5 – 6 months. Depending on the breed, rabbits bring a different number of rabbits. Large breeds of sheep on average bring 8 – 12 rabbits. From small ones, you should not expect more than 6 cubs.
Conclusion
Dwarf rams with their cute appearance attract buyers more than rabbits of ordinary breeds. And if the ram is also fluffy, then there will always be those who want such an animal. With folds of large breeds, things are more complicated. That is why the English ram is not widely used. In Our Country, it is unlikely that you will be able to get an American long-haired ram, but one of its progenitors, the Dutch Fold, is now quite common in the country.