In our time, rabbits have become quite popular. The number of their breeds is probably not inferior to the number of breeds of dogs or cats. They can be bred for meat, skin, or just for fun. Before every novice rabbit breeder, the question arises: what rabbit breed the best and which breed to choose? It depends on the purpose of breeding, conditions and possibilities. This article provides a description of several breeds of rabbits.
Gray giant
A very popular meat breed among rabbit breeders in our country. They are well suited to our climatic conditions and easily tolerate diseases. They are bred for the purpose of obtaining meat and high-quality skins. The gray giant, as its name suggests, has a long and massive body. Large, rough head, long ears.
In the photo, rabbits and rabbits of the Gray Giant breed
The color of this breed is very diverse. You can find rabbits in gray hare, kangaroo and glandular gray. Females are fertile, feed offspring well, which grows quickly enough. At the age of four months, the animals weigh three or more kilograms. When slaughtered, you can get about 60% of meat from live weight, which makes this breed effective. In addition, an adult rabbit produces up to 3000 sq. see skins.
Hermelin
Origin story.
These animals were bred in the 19th century, but appeared in Russia quite recently. The first hermelin were brought to the Moscow exhibition of miniature rabbits in 1998.
Germelin is often confused with his close relative - Polish rabbit... Germelin is rarely seen in Russia, but they are very popular in England.
Characteristic.
- The weight of these rabbits is about 1 kg.
- The color, according to the standards, is only pure white.
- The eyes should be either red or blue.
- Hermelines are short-haired (length - about 2 mm). The length of the ears is up to 7 cm.
Hermelin rabbits are also called ermines.
Care.
You can bathe your rabbit no more than once a year. During the molting period, be sure to comb once or twice a week. Since hermelin is often obese, it is very it is important to properly balance their diet and calculate portions by gram.
California rabbit
This breed is comfortable for its unpretentiousness. Californian rabbits easily adapt to special conditions of detention, are resistant to diseases due to innate immunity.
These are the beef rabbits with the highest return on the percentage of finished meat to live weight. Females are capable of producing up to ten young rabbits at a time. Rabbits gain weight quickly and reach three kilograms at the age of three months. The meat is tender, some of this breed is called broiler.
Photo of rabbits meat Californian breed
In the photo, an eleven-kilogram rabbit of the California breed (age 5.5 months)
Rabbits have a pronounced color. The main surface of the body is white. The lower part of the legs, the entire area of the ears, the tip of the muzzle and the tail are dark, in rare cases even black. Occasionally, you can find a California rabbit with small spots.
White New Zealand
Animals of this breed have a calm and kind disposition.For example, while handling the rabbit, you can safely put it on your lap or hold it over your shoulder. Easily adapt to temperature changes. They can live up to ten years, which makes the white New Zealand rabbit a good pet.
Photo of nine week old New Zealand White rabbits
In the photo there is a rabbit of the described breed
It is convenient to breed them in mesh enclosures. The cost of white New Zealand rabbit meat is high. Due to the young age of mating and the relatively large growth, it is beneficial to keep them. The female is capable of bringing up to eight rabbits in one round. Adults of this breed are quite large, weighing up to five kilograms. With this weight, the structure of the body allows you to get up to 60% of tasty, dietary rabbit meat.
Read the article on New Zealand White Rabbits
Where is it better to buy a dwarf rabbit
You can buy a bunny:
- in the nursery;
- at a pet store;
- in the poultry market;
- through a bulletin board on the Internet.
Breeders advise using the first two options. Buying an animal in a specialized institution, you get a guarantee that the baby is healthy, vaccinated and meets the breed standard.
As you can see, there are many varieties of decorative rabbits. The main advice is to choose a pet with your heart. Then he will become a friend and a full-fledged member of the family.
Burgundy
French beef breed, bred not so long ago - in 1914. One of the best rabbit meat breeds. The constitution is strong, they have a fairly compact body in the shape of a bar, a short neck, a small head, and erect ears. The skeleton of a rabbit of the Burgundian breed described is rather thin and at the same time strong. Burgundy rabbits grow rapidly, their weight in 4 weeks is 0.7 kg, at slaughter - 2.5 kg (70 days).
In the photo, the examination of a rabbit of the Burgundy meat breed
In the photo "Burgundy" rabbits
How to make a do-it-yourself rabbit cage - step by step action plan
Strict requirements are imposed on the size of the cage: it must be comfortable for the animals to move and play in it; the height should be such that the rabbit does not rest against it when it stands on its hind legs. If the cell is made by hand, then you need to think about creating another one. Those animals that are poorly gaining weight are placed in it: they will need to be fed separately.
It is recommended to allocate 0.7-0.8 m2 of free space per pet.
When making a cage with your own hands, you will need the following materials:
- wooden board 2 cm thick;
- wooden bars;
- pieces of slate for the ceiling and floor;
- metal grid;
- plywood to build the walls of the mother liquor;
- polycarbonate to make the back wall in the cage;
- fasteners.
Tools to make a rabbit cage:
- a hammer;
- hacksaw for wood;
- drill;
- roulette.
A detailed algorithm for making a cage with your own hands for 4-6 rabbits:
- A cage frame 2 meters wide, 1 meter deep and 1.5 meters high is made of wooden blocks. It is reinforced with crossbars.
- The frame is sheathed with boards or plywood.
- Overlaps in the cage are made from pieces of slate. The first tier should be at least 50 cm from the ground.
- The tiers are divided into 2 parts by bars.
- The back wall of the cage is made of polycarbonate. On the lower tier, the wall is installed at a slight slope so that all feces and urine flow down through it.
- Doors are mounted from a metal mesh to the rabbitry. They put latches and hinges on the door.
- The inner corners of the cage are upholstered with tin.
- Feeders are installed on the side walls.
- A small house for the rabbit is placed in the cage, where she will give birth and feed the offspring. A partition is installed between the nesting and feed compartments for the animals.
- The roof in the rabbitry is made on hinges, so that it can be easily removed if necessary.
If the rabbits are kept outdoors, then the cage with them must be placed on the uneven bars. This will keep the rodents away from other animals.
German giant
In another way, this breed is called Risen, which means giant, huge. Truly giants among rabbits. An adult can weigh up to 12 kilograms, while the body size reaches 70 centimeters. Usually this breed is black, gray, sandy or blue in color. The length of the coat is about four centimeters, if you comb the rabbit against the growth of the hair, they easily return to their starting position.
Photo of a German giant rabbit
Breeders have achieved a good meat return from this described breed of rabbits. In addition to high weight, convenience in breeding and a large percentage of profit is achieved by the fertility of females. There can be up to 12 young rabbits in a litter.
Video of the examination of a rabbit breed German variegated giant:
Features of the view
Buyers often confuse the concept of "dwarf" and "decorative". These words cannot be called synonyms at all. Any rabbit that is kept as a pet is considered decorative.
Dwarf ones are small fuzzies. Such animals correspond to the breed standard and have a strictly permissible color.
Chinchilla
Breeders got this breed by crossing the White Giant and the Chinchilla. Thanks to this relationship, we got rabbits with beautiful fur and a good percentage of meat yield. The breed has good adaptability to various breeding conditions.
The hair of the chinchilla rabbit is soft, glossy and has a silvery-gray-bluish color. An adult weighs about five kilograms. Young animals are quickly gaining weight, after 120 days from the moment of birth, the animal can weigh four kilograms. From an adult rabbit, up to 63% of the finished meat is obtained.
In the photo, a rabbit of the Flandre chinchilla breed
Photo of rabbits and a rabbit of the Soviet chinchilla breed
Meat breeds
Meat meat has high-quality, delicious, dietary meat of the highest quality, and the skin is a by-product. In the Altai Territory, skins are not valued, in 2010 they cost the same as a loaf of bread. Read the description of the most common rabbits in Russia with photos below.
California
Their nose is usually black, and they themselves are white
The California rabbit has a high growth rate, high quality hair. It is convenient to keep these pets on mesh floors in closed rabbitries with an artificial microclimate.
Slaughter weight up to 5 kg, it is undesirable to keep it longer, since the rabbit will swim with fat. There are rare colors: chocolate, blue, lilac. After five months of age, there is no point in keeping the "Californians", they need to be sent for slaughter, or in mating.
Soviet chinchilla
The Soviet chinchilla appeared in France. It got its name from the skin similar to a chinchilla. The modern Soviet chinchilla was bred by crossing with a white giant.
Refers to large, meat-skinned. Live weight under good conditions reaches 7 kg. Rabbits are affectionate and caring "mothers". The color of the fur of the Soviet chinchilla comes in different shades: from silver to blue to white and gray. The eyes are "lined up" with a white border. The selection of the species continues.
Black - brown
Black-brown sits on the grass.
The rabbit of the black-brown breed has a peculiar color. Its tummy is brown, and the back and sides are black. Bred in the fur farm near Kazan, climatically adapted to the harsh conditions of Russian reality.
The finished skin is similar to a fox; in terms of wear and density, the fur takes one of the first places. In addition to the magnificent fur, they have excellent quality meat. The rabbit has already won the trust of rabbit breeders all over the world, Russian breeders have something to be proud of.
Silvery look
Note that the head and legs are usually darker.
The breed of rabbits "silvery" is distinguished by its large size: length 57 cm, chest girth 36 cm. Silvery ones are unpretentious in food, they grow quickly. Weight at the time of slaughter is approximately five kilograms. They got their name for the amazingly beautiful silver skin with a blue tint. Bred by Ukrainian breeders.
Vienna Blue Rabbit
The small rabbit has a beautiful blue-gray skin. The described breed was bred specifically to obtain the best fur or meat and skin exploitation. Finished skins do not require additional dyeing, which is highly valued in production.
In the photo, the breed of rabbit Vienna blue
The maximum weight of a rabbit is five kilograms. For one okrol, the female brings 7-8 cubs. Due to its resistance to cold weather, it is possible to obtain young animals even in winter.
Soviet Marder
The Soviet Marder is one of our best domestic breeds. Created by complex reproduction: initially Russian ermine and chinchilla were crossed, after which their offspring were crossed with outbred rabbits with a bluish color, chinchilla and Russian ermine rabbit. Rabbits of the Soviet Marder breed are perfectly adapted to the forage conditions and climate of our south. Born rabbits are dark gray or gray in color, and at the age of 60 days their color becomes brown, and after molting they acquire a typical brown color for the breed. Rabbits have very thick hair and beautiful skin. The head is small, the ears are short, cherry-colored eyes. The animals of the Soviet Marder breed themselves are rather medium-sized, but with a dense body and a strong constitution, their weight is about four kilograms. Usually rabbits of a mardera bring 6-7 rabbits.
Possible diseases and their prevention
When buying a pet, pay special attention to its health and behavior. However, even if you bought a healthy rabbit, over time, due to improper nutrition and care, the animal can get sick. For decorative rabbits, the most common diseases are:
- rabbit viral hemorrhagic disease (VGBD);
- bloating of the intestines;
- constipation;
- diarrhea;
- rhinitis;
- abscesses;
- myxomatosis;
- stomatitis;
- diabetes;
- conjunctivitis.
All diseases of dwarf rabbits can be roughly divided. The main causes of non-communicable diseases are unbalanced nutrition and inadequate care. Revision of conditions of detention and diet will help to avoid these diseases.
For these reasons, your pet may develop diarrhea. If it does not pass for a long time, then the entire cage should be disinfected, and the animal should be given a decoction of chamomile. Also, do not delay the visit to the doctor. An upset stomach in rabbits can also occur as a result of a change in diet, diseases of the digestive system, viruses.
If your pet begins to watery eyes, redden or swelling of the eyelids, then this is one of the reasons for concern, since he has conjunctivitis. This disease occurs as a result of chemical or mechanical damage, bacterial or viral infection, improper diet, as a result of exacerbation of other diseases (for example, rhinitis).
To treat this disease, it is necessary to isolate the sick animal from others. The place of detention is disinfected with a solution of boric acid or potassium permanganate. The animal must be shown to a doctor who will determine the degree of damage and prescribe treatment.
The course of treatment includes regular rinsing of the eyes with an antibacterial solution or furacilin. And then, depending on the purpose, drops or ointment can be used.
Timely vaccination serves as the prevention of infectious diseases. A fluffy vaccination schedule can be drawn up with the veterinarian you are seeing.
Rabbits are often given vaccines for HBV and myxomatosis, but if you are traveling with a rabbit, you should also get a rabies vaccine.
Important! Before each vaccination, the rabbit must first remove the worms, which can significantly weaken the animal's immunity.
Decorative rabbits are able to delight their owners and their guests. These furry animals can be easily taught with many tricks that they will constantly try to demonstrate. However, the care and maintenance of these animals requires tremendous work from the owners.
