Basil is 5 lbs

[bad kelpie]

I bought a luggage scale, specifically to weigh my rabbit (and have since weighed my cat and dog and roommates dog and a bag of dog food that felt too light, lol). I know it shouldn't matter, but I want a HUGE rabbit. They were sold as "Flemish rabbits", but when I got there, he had mom out and both male babies, the dad passed away so I have no clue what he looked like or how big he was. Mom was not a Flemish, or at least not pure. She was white, and big but not huge, I would guess either a New Zealand or a New Zealand Flemish cross. The babies had spots, I didn't know what that meant. I knew I could have waited and found a "real" Flemish, but these babies were just so cute! So I took the chance that he may not be giant, and took him home.

The guy at the feed store said he looked checkered. I thought he meant his pattern .

I got him home and looked up checkered rabbit and found the checkered giant. He looks just like a checkered giant. So I don't know if the breeder (high school boy) got checkered and flemish confused or if he was mixed with both checkered and flemish. I was REALLY hoping he wasn't a straight Checkered/New Zealand mix, that just doesn't sound like it would make for a friendly rabbit .

Then I found you guys (who are awesome, by the way). And someone mentioned that checkered at 12 weeks should be around 4 lbs. So I looked it up and flemish at 12 weeks should be around 6. So I waited until 12 weeks and he is 5 lbs. Ok, I lied, I weighed him last monday too, he was 4.6 lbs. So, I'm happy, he should be a big guy.

I can't wait to see how big he gets.

For the record, though, I wasn't gonna throw him in the stew pot if he was too small. :biggrin2:

 

[gmas rabbit]

sounds like he is going to be a big boy, interesting to see just how big by 1 year.

 

[Nelsons_Mom]

I'm gonna have a big breed one day (probably at least 5 years away from that now c I can't wait to see pictures of his monster-ish-ness.

 

[PaGal]

If you don't mind my asking, where did you find the info that a flemish should weigh six pounds at 12 weeks? I'm just curious since I have a young flemish. I'll have to see if my hubby has some sort of scale I could weigh him on.

 

[mdith4him]

Wow! That's a big baby boy! He's such a cutie...I probably would've wanted to take him home, too.

 

[wendymac]

YAY! He looks like he's going to be big, and Checkerds are VERY tall rabbits. And not known to be super friendly. So if he would happen to be part New Zealand, that might be a good thing. LOL He's so stinking adorable...love those big ears!!

 

[bad kelpie]

PaGal wrote:

If you don't mind my asking, where did you find the info that a flemish should weigh six pounds at 12 weeks? I'm just curious since I have a young flemish. I'll have to see if my hubby has some sort of scale I could weigh him on.

http://naturespace.webs.com/flemishgiant.htm

This website says at 3 months old they should be around 2.8kg, which converts to 6.17lbs. I'm sure it varies between individual rabbits.

 

[bad kelpie]

wendymac wrote:

YAY! He looks like he's going to be big, and Checkerds are VERY tall rabbits. And not known to be super friendly. So if he would happen to be part New Zealand, that might be a good thing. LOL He's so stinking adorable...love those big ears!!

I thought New Zealands were a bit on the temperamental side too? His mom was thumping at me from the minute she saw me. But I suppose she was justified, I WAS there to steal one of her babies from her.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Congrats on your big baby boy! My big baby boy is 4 lbs 7 oz at 14 weeks so he's smaller and older than yours, but he seems like a giant to me Do you have pictures of Basil other than the one in your avatar?

 

[bad kelpie]

Of course! :biggrin2:

 

[blondiesmommie]

He's really cute!!

 

[bad kelpie]

Thank you, I sure think so!

I'm going to attempt to post a short video I put on facebook. I have never posted from facebook, so tell me if it doesn't work.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=3038455460937

 

[fuzz16]

New zealands are super sweet, ive known a couple and my flemish had nz in him too

 

[wendymac]

She was probably thumping because that's what does seem to do best. LOL I love the video!!

 

[MyBabyHasPaws]

BAHHH! He's super cute! Big boy! I love the stripe going down his back and what a nice name!

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Our Checkered Giant Serena is over 18 pounds and she's a lap bunny, plus she's very active and affectionate. Hos, or New Zealand was 11 pounds and very friendly, but not nearly as active.

 

[bad kelpie]

Huh, I was under the impression that New Zealands were grumpy old things .

In my research, it seems that the Checkered Giant is the same breed as the Giant Papillon, they just call them checkered giants over here. According to just about every website about Giant Papillons, they are sweet tempered. He is definitely energetic!

I put an old chinchilla cage in his pen a few days ago. It was a homemade cage, wood top bottom and back. Front and sides were chicken wire the whole thing was 2' x 2' x 2'. I took off the chicken wire front and gave it to him as a shelter. Today, I went to let my dogs out and he was out of his pen. There were no places at the bottom of the pen where he could squeeze through, and no signs of digging, etc. The x-pen is 4' high. The only way he could have gotten out was to jump 2 feet onto the cage, then an additional 2 feet over the x-pen, and falling 4 feet to the ground. Silly rabbit tried to do it again when I put him back, but I'd taken the chinchilla cage apart further and made it into an a-frame type bunny house. He was disappointed.

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

Oh my! He is so adorable! I am seriously jealous.. leaseplease: