baby rabbits ears.

[nael]

Hi there I know this may seem like a silly question but i have some baby rabbits and they are 16 day old now and i just wanted to know as the dad has ears that go up he is a rex and the mum a lop her ears go down how old do the babys have to be befor i can tell wich tyep of ears they will have at the moment the babysears go up wonce again sorry for the sill question. they look just like there mum but they have there dads fur any way thanks for your help.



Nael:bunnydance:

 

[Bassetluv]

Not a silly question Nael! I am trying to recall the age that lops' ears begin to fall...it's been many years since I raised Holland lops (and I didn't have much experience with the lops...I raised mostly Polish). If I recall correctly, it was usually between 4 weeks of age, sometimes much longer, before they did. And not every one always did fall. I'd say give them a couple of more weeks before you will see if the babies' ears begin to lop.

(Any of the lop breeders on site here, though, will probably be able to tell you more... )

P.S. Will you be able to post pics of them at some point? They must be gorgeous little babies!

 

[NZminilops]

I would say between 3-10 weeks? My ones ears either loped by 10 weeks or not at all.

 

[cottontails]

ohh yes plese post pics.....Sorry have enver bred bunnies so can't help you with the baby ear question

 

[katt]

being that one parent isn't a lop and the other is, don't expect any babies to have full lop ears, for the most part you will see that 1 ear will fall while the other is up, or that they both sit at an odd angle, not really lopping or straight up. . .

katie

 

[NZminilops]

katt is very correct on this - although the parents of mine are both lops (dwarf, and miniature) only one out of seven babies has lopped ears, the rest: 1=both ears up 5=one ear up, one ear down (see my avatar - one ear up, one ear downish). The doe has a poor crown, it's narrow and set far back and her ears are sort of aeroplane-ish (yet still very floppy). Having one parent totally without lop ears would make a small chance to have totally floppy eared babies.

 

[nael]

hi there guys thanks for all of your help



Nael

 

[pamnock]

Ears can lop at any age -- I've even seen them lop on breeds that have erect ears. In a lop x erect ear cross, it is very possible to have some ears lops, conversely, I've had purebred lops whose ears didn't lop.

:bunny19

There are a number of different factors that affect lopping including the length of span between the ears (the wider the span (side to side width of the crown), the more likely the ears are to lop), development of the ear base and connective tissues (rabbits with a well developed ear base are less likely to lop), length of the ears (longer ears are more likely to lop), temperature (warm, steady temperature makes lopping more likely)and environment (I've had some ears lop the day I moved the kit by itself to a weaning cage).

Pam



http://www.geocities.com/pamnock/