The Tale of the Tail-less Bunny…Jan. 13,2005

My friend Barb….probably bored at work today, emailed me looking for a blog entry and was wondering what the heck was I doing??   

Well the last few days in between working, have been busy.  It’s that time of year when all of the rabbits need shearing……and when you have 17 of them, well……need I say any more?

Past winters, I have always shorn the rabbits in the freezing cold barn, but now that we have an island in the kitchen, I have taken to bringing those chilly buns in the house for their new "do". Little did my DH know that I had lots of non-cooking plans for that island…hehe.

Yesterday it was Nordic Billy the Kit.  Billy is a junior bunny from one of my summer litters.  His color is called Wild Gray.  This guy is one of the sweetest babies that I have had yet and his coat is fantastic!! 

His mother comes down from that German Import line that produces lovely coats.  I bred his mother to my red buck here and again………those import genes came thru.  He produced 9oz of fiber which is great for a junior.  A little more matting, than the pure German that I showed you last week, but still…….a great cutting for a junior. 

One of the things that I feel strongly about as a breeder, whether it be rabbits or dogs, is temperament.  If they are not easy to live with, you are not going to enjoy their company.   I will not breed animals that show any tendency towards nasty temperaments.  It is not fair to the people I will place their babies with.  Who wants to live with piranhas..??   Not me……I have one in the barn who bites me on a regular basis…….not fun!  Needless to say, she will not be bred.

As you can see, Billy is quite relaxed here in a "new to him" environment.   Just stretchin out and having a good time.

Have you ever seen a tail-less bunny?
This is Dandy (ISeeSpots Dandy).  Dandy is the oldest of my rabbits.  She is going on 7 years old and is the foundation of most of my breeding.

When Dandy came to me, I was completely inexperienced with rabbits.  At her first shearing, I kept wondering……."where the heck is her tail?"  ….."Don’t bunnies have tails?"  Of course, now that I have had many rabbits since then, I know that they have tails..LOL.

From experience in shearing wiggly babies, I can now see how easy it would be to lop one off as they are wiggling about…….but I can’t find any evidence that Dandy ever had a tail???  How strange is that?   Dandy was very happy to put her jacket on before heading back to the chilly barn.

A Gift
I just wanted to thank Patti for the lovely markers that she made for me.  Don’t they look great against the pretty card that she also sent?

I just found out that Patti is soon to become a new angora rabbit owner.  I will look for bunny pics soon!

Thanks so much for such lovely markers!