Rabbit & Cavy News

The other day I learned that Gary Smith of Creek Haven Lops decided to sell out of his entire rabbitry.  Gary has been raising French Lops for 20 some years and has developed a successful line of colorful French Lops here in southern Wisconsin.

Although I will greatly miss seeing Gary at our area Wisconsin shows, I can understand why he’s decided to hang it up; with retirement looming he’s decided to take on some new interests.

If you are looking to add some quality rabbits to your herd, just starting out in French Lops or you are interested in cages, carriers or other equipment, contact Gary directly:

Gary Smith

Wisconsin: Cottage Grove

email

phone:  (60 837-8250

French Lops

Yesterday, the first day of summer, I lingered in my rabbitry after I finished chores.  I looked around to the many empty cages and thought of all the different French Lops that had once inhabitated them.

Those very first rabbits from Creek Haven Lops - how Kelly was so excited when we brought them home!  Our first litter, which Kelly took out and played with for hours- feeling sure that every one of them was a grand champion!  Kelly’s first win with Creek Haven Janet.

Breeding, learning to identify faults and buying rabbits to correct those faults.  Kelly developed a natural eye for these large rabbits and became very accomplished at producing her own quality French Lops.

Our first significant win with her own-bred rabbit, Thunder, was memorable and so worth all the hard work that brought us that far!   The subsequent wins…rise in the points…more litters born….producing several more grand champions.

I never thought it would end so suddenly with Kelly!  She had always been such an ‘animal person’ and I never thought she would pass by her rabbits, so readily, for other interests!   She has decided to move ahead though and seems to have the ability to simply move on without looking back.  I wish I could do that so easily!

So here we are, with only Thunder and Star left as permanent residents, and only two more French Lops to sell.  Tons of empty cages.

After I get over the ‘finality’ of it all and get moving,  LaReau Lops & Cavies will go through another transformation.  I am not sure exactly which direction I’ll take, but I have no intentions of getting out of rabbits myself. 

I will always have the Hollands - no bones about it, they are permanent here and I’ll continue to breed but with more gusto, now that I have a lot of cages to play with!  My Polish endevour is still new to me, and I’ll keep trying with that breed to.  I may decide to pick up a new breed, perhaps a rarer breed.  Not sure. 

Our website will need a major overhaul too.  It is still painful for me to look at, so many memories and rabbits that were once here.  I’ll have to redo a lot.

Well, the one thing I am really looking forward to is getting back to rabbit shows, beginning this fall.  Now I can just pick up and go without so much work!  I really am excited about this…….

Well, have a great weekend everyone

Cathy LaReau 

Hi everyone, here is a quick update about LaReau Lops & Cavies.

It is finally going to happen - Kelly is selling out of her French Lops!  A few years ago I would have never thought this could happen, with the way she loved those big ole rabbits, but high school has really been a busy time for Kelly, plus she is making plans for college next year.  We knew the rabbits were going to go next year for certain, but I was a little dismayed when she decided to sell out now instead of waiting another year.

I will be keeping at least a few of these large creatures; Thunder is staying for sure - he is retired now and I can’t imagine our rabbitry without the ‘big gouti’ there.  There are a couple more I am thinking of keeping, and perhaps I’ll show a few down the road. 

Kelly has two litters from this past winter that haven’t even been shown yet and many look pretty nice.  

We’ll be getting pictures and info posted to our website by the end of June.  It was our wish to be able to attend a rabbit show or two in June, to bring along and sell her herd, but with my son’s graduation, other family graduations and all the other end-of-year stuff going on, we can’t get away!

Because of this busy schedule, I will be unable to meet with people or even respond to emails in detail, until the third week in June or even later.  Sorry!

It looks like I will be the only family member showing rabbits from now on - oh well, I think this will be a lifelong hobby for me; I can see myself doing this for years and years! 

My recent Polish litters are so funny - the youngsters are quick little characters.  I let each out on our large carpeted table so they can run around and just get used to handling.  Each younster is quite a show off!  They buck, run, and all do the ’scared bunny’ thing, you know- where they run really fast, darting back and forth on the table as if they are being chased!  All the sudden they stop and for a brief moment they are statue-still before darting off bucking - I just love watching them!

I’ve only got two Holland babies right now, one seems to have some show potential, but the other already appears to be a larger brood type rabbit, hopefully it is a doe!  I’ll be breeding more Hollands this week hoping for litters before any bad heat spells hit.

Well that is all for now.  After graduations this June, I’ll be updating our main website within info on our sale French Lops, then I’ll begin working on all my other website projects again!

Cathy

What a crazy week this has been!  First of all, we had the arrival of our new computer, thanks to my friend Robert up in Alaska.  I’ve spent a couple days now setting it up and tweaking things so it is the way I like it - and boy, is this thing fast!  I didn’t realize my other computer was such a dinosaur until this arrived!  Well I now have no excuse to begin working on the websites again, that is, when I can squeeze out some time……

Saturday there is an all-lop triple show in Rockford, Illinois that we were planning to go to, and of course, there is the Lakeland Rabbit Breeder’s Association show at Elkhorn, WI on Sunday. 

We are leaning towards just going to Elkhorn at this moment - my life seems to be busier than I can manage lately and right now I don’t want to be gone for both weekend days.  Kelly also was invited to play lasertag Friday night, of all things, and there is also a high school dance Saturday night that all three kids want to go to.  Who am I to argue?  Actually I am looking forward to working on the computer for at least some of the time the kids are gone.

When we narrowed it down to one rabbit show this weekend, we at first were going to go to Rockford just because it is a triple show, but Saturday is just not looking good for any of the troups to be semi-awake after the Friday late night lazer tag.  Oh well.

I can say that the Miller’s, who are purchasing Emily from Kelly on Sunday, are getting a top notch show doe - she is just awesome - and we even venture to say she could win a best in show the way she is put together.  I am sure the Miller’s will be happy with her.  Kelly is happy she is going to a good home, but also a little regretful of selling her I guess - after all, she’d make a good showing at this year’s ARBA convention!  We hope the Miller’s will show her and gather some good points with this lovely doe! 

Recently, I quit smoking, hopefully for the final time.  This past month has been absolutely brutal for me - I’ve lost every iota of ambition that I ever had and it has been difficult to concentrate on just about everything - hence the lack of updating or working on our other website The Rabbit & Cavy Directory as I had planned.  I’ll get around to it soon since now I have the computer at my disposal.

The cold snap continues here - I think it came with my computer from Alaska….LOL

Happy weekend to you all.

cathy

Just wanted to report that both French Lops, Emily and Pluto, have been spoken for already; Emily is going up north to live at the Miller’s, and Pluto is going to, I believe, Michigan after Lop Nationals in Illinois. 

I just haven’t had time to update our website - been so busy with some personal things. 

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!

Kelly still has a few quality French Lops for sale here in southern Wisconsin.  Since we didn’t go to the last few shows in our area, we didn’t have the chance to market these nice rabbits……

If you are looking for a nice show quality buck, Kelly has LaReau’s Fudge for sale.  At his last show he won his first leg by winning his 6/8 class, then winning BOSV against a lot of nice French Lops - he even beat out his brother, Talon, who has been sweeping his classes lately! 

Fudge is a solid agouti but does carry a dilute gene.  He’s got nice heavy bone and a wonderful body type to him.  He’s be sure to add some nice qualities to your current line!

To see Fudge or any of our other sale French Lops, please visit our website. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Kelly does have one French Lop for sale as a pet rabbit.  This male broken agouti (brown and white) is about 8 months old now, so he is just now considered an adult but has a lot more growing to do!

He will probably attain his final adult weight at right around 12-13 lbs.

He is a sweet bunny, with a funny personality - and he absolutely loves his morning banana slice!  He is ready to go to a new pet home so contact us by email ( cathy@lopsandcavies.com ) if you are interested in him.

He is not litter trained right now, but all our French Lops sold as pets have been easily and successfully litter trained by their new owners!

Kelly will only sell pet rabbits to good homes - you must be prepared to prove you live in a home where this rabbit can remain permanently as your pet, and we do ask that you provide us with information as to your experience or knowledge about pet rabbits. 

Owning a pet rabbit is a long term commitment - and they do require a fair amount of daily care in order to maintain their health.  We have a lot more pet rabbit care info on our website - please read through some of our pet rabbit articles to see if a pet rabbit is the right pet choice for you!

Cathy   LaReau Lops & Cavies

As of today, Kelly still has some nice agouti French Lops for sale!  These rabbits are just nearing senior age and are looking great!  They come from Kelly’s own line she’s been developing over the past few years -going back to Creek Haven stock,  plus a scattering of Mr. Z’s dilutes, Mair’s, and Garrett’s quality French Lops stock.

Although they are all agoutis, they all carry a dilute gene - if you are looking for some color, breed any of these to your dilute carrier and you’ll be sure to end up with some nice blues or opals!

Kelly will be again breeding for spring litters soon - and plans to pair up Thunder with one of her Garrett does, plus Talon will soon be old enough to become a dad, so she plans to breed him to the other Garret doe.