Rabbit & Cavy News

Finally, Kelly and I had some extra time to go through all her French Lops and update the French Lops For Sale page at our website http://www.lopsandcavies.com/

Kelly decided to keep LaReau’s Fudge a while longer - she cannot make up her mind about which buck to keep - Talon or Fudge……

She also has decided to sell LaReau’s Emily - a broken agouti doe.  This doe is very nice and should do a wonderful job for another youth exhibitor or if you’d like to add these bloodlines to your herd.  Emily has always placed 2nd, right behind her sister Erin, but we’ve observed judges having a hard time making up their mind between the two of them!

LaReau’s Pluto has really surprised us - Kelly had him listed for sale before but he didn’t sell - his junior pictures showed him as a rather plain buck.  We took him out today and looked him over and weighed him - geeez he just turned senior this month and he weighs 12 lbs, 6 oz!  He has developed nicely too and doesn’t appear as ‘flat’ as he used to.  If you are looking for a nice herd buck, Pluto should fit the bill nicely! 

Both these rabbits carry a dilute gene for sure - so either would be nice if you are looking to add some color to your current herd!

We also have two French Lop litters currently in the next box so I’m sure we’ll be updating the sale pages again come spring.

Hoppy New Year to all of you!

Nahhh, I am taking a few days off here after the Christmas holiday!  I am so hoping that Kelly and I will have time to update our pictures of her French Lops for sale - the pictures currently on our site are of when these French Lops were juniors.

Stop back soon to see some new French Lop pictures!

Cathy

As Christmas 2006 is rapidly approaching I can’t help but wonder how some of my friends are doing- I think of them often and hope their holidays are joyful.

This has been a brutal year for many; the long stretch of high fuel costs has affected almost every aspect of daily life, plus add in that employers are cutting back on health insurance, benefits and wage increases (although these business owners and their managers sure don’t seem to be taking the hit very hard…..), so the person who was just ‘queaking by’ last year finds life a daily struggle this year.  I know of many people in this situation: just normal, everyday, hardworking people who can’t get ahead any more - 2007 has just got to be a better year!!

I hope that anyone suffering can find some comfort during this holiday season - it can sometimes be a challenge to appreciate what one does have.

It was 5 years ago on Christmas morning, that we rushed my dad in for emergency surgery for a ruptured bowel, a surgery he bravely survived, only to eventually give up the fight on February 2 after a long stay in the trauma and life support center. 

You would think that the passage of time would dim this tragedy, but I find myself remembering those days, in vivid detail, sometimes stronger now than when his death was so new. 

I can only hope that all my dear friends are doing well this holiday season, surrounded by the warmth of good friends and family.   Please look around you and take the opportunity to tell your loved ones how you feel about them-life is way too short

Anyhow, my own meloncholy is sure to pass with the coming of the new year - and I am really looking forward to showing my Polish rabbits in 2007!  My does were unsuccesful with their December litters so we are trying again for Jan or Feb litters - I surely want some to take some to the ARBA Convention next October!

Merry Christmas

Cathy

Kelly has gotten a couple of chinchilla babies out of her recent French Lop litters - and she so loves this color!  What a nice surprise since we were only expecting all chestnut agoutis……

Back to work tomorrow - yuk - hope your Monday goes fast for you

The French Lops breed so easily compared to our Hollands…..

Kelly bred both her Garrett does; Star and Acorn for December litters.

Acorn had 5 kits yesterday - all solid agouti as was expected since she is solid agouti and LaReau’s Talon is solid agouti….

This morning, Star had 6 babies and I am not sure if we got any different colors out of that litter or not, I was already at work when Kelly called with the news - but we bred her to LaReau’s Thunder, another solid agouti, so I guess we are not expecting much other than solid chestnut agouti from this litter either.

We are planning and counting on some excellent typed French Lops though - these crosses should be very nice!

Both moms and litters are doing great!

Sweety doe (Naragon doe) finally had her first successful litter - 5 were born but two were dead and a third is a peanut - but we are very excited!

Our tort doe out of Little Bear had her litter, but two were on the wire, the third in the box - a blue sired by Zack!  Due to the extreme cold at the time, I put this baby in with Sweety’s surviving kits and all have been doing well.

Our new Camelot doe from Zablers did have one baby on the wire, but this is a young doe with her first litter so we didn’t expect a lot more….

The fourth doe we bred did have one baby but I believe she had a hard time with it and had to pull it out as the baby appeared so and was dead. 

Not much luck this fall with Holland breeding - not sure why, everyone seems very healthy and active - guess it just isn’t in the cards right now.

I did not have good luck with my new Polish this December - I had three does bred and due for last week - two only have one baby each and both were dead (one was kind of mangled so by the new mom), and one was too cold (born during that cold snap)

The only other Polish I had bred didn’t come in.  And I was so hoping for these litters!

Well I guess we’ll try again for next month…..

During our recent minor revision of our website, LaReau Lops & Cavies, we also included a new link section listing all our printable rabbit resources:  Basic Rabbit Care & Breeding booklet, Printable Rabbit Show Checklist to assist you in getting ready for a rabbit show, and just yesterday we added a basic Rabbit Show Entry Form to this link group. 

Our one page Rabbit Show Entry Form is fairly basic and contains info used at most rabbit shows I’ve been to in the Midwest region.  Since it is not an ARBA-approved form, you may want to check your show catalog to see if they require ARBA-approved show forms before you print and use this to enter a show.  You can find the form here:

http://www.lopsandcavies.com/pdf/Rabbit_Show_Entry_Form.pdf

Have a great Friday!

Over the past few days I’ve spent a little time updating some of the pages in our website, LaReau Lops & Cavies.

No major changes, and certainly no new pictures as of yet, but I did put an updated file into our pdf folder:  Checklist for Rabbit Shows.  This is a printable list anyone can use when they go to a rabbit show and has a checklist of all the common supplies you’ll need to bring.

Hope you enjoy it - good luck at your next rabbit show!

Cathy

We are very excited - Kelly has two French Lop litters due this week, although she isn’t sure one of her bucks was quite old enough to produce a litter, so we’ll have to just see if the doe has any.

Jody and I bred 4 Hollands who are all due this week - keeping our fingers crossed - especially since two will be first-time moms.

And of course,  most importantly (hehehe) I have a couple of my new Polish does bred for this week too - I can’t wait for my own Polish bunnies!

If the weather would cooperate here - been pretty cold, blowing wind, temps in the teens all week……