Is Demi Normal?

[Ecresi]

Back in December my rabbit gave birth to 5 babies. One of course being the runt, smaller than the others, but still very strong. She's growing up and developing normally just like the others, but her fur is quite different from the others. While everyone else has soft fur, Demi's fur is more .. well .. This picture might be able to help explain better. Her fur has waves and ridges in different places, her whiskers are a little crooked and one or two of them are slightly bent. She looks like an alley cat version of a bunny. She seems pretty healthy, she eats and drinks well and is very active, and loves to snuggle. I was mainly just wondering if I should be worried about her at all. I'm not sure what breed of rabbit her father is since her mama was a rescue case, but her mother from what myself and a few other members here are guessing is a Flemish Giant mix.

 

[Maureen Las]

I think that she is darling!!!

I am fairly sure that she is fine but I will transfer this to the rabbitry so that the folks

who are used to dealing withlitters of babies can give their opinion.

 

[jamesedwardwaller]

Ecresi wrote:

Back in December my rabbit gave birth to 5 babies. One of course being the runt, smaller than the others, but still very strong. She's growing up and developing normally just like the others, but her fur is quite different from the others. While everyone else has soft fur, Demi's fur is more .. well .. This picture might be able to help explain better. Her fur has waves and ridges in different places, her whiskers are a little crooked and one or two of them are slightly bent. She looks like an alley cat version of a bunny. She seems pretty healthy, she eats and drinks well and is very active, and loves to snuggle. I was mainly just wondering if I should be worried about her at all. I'm not sure what breed of rabbit her father is since her mama was a rescue case, but her mother from what myself and a few other members here are guessing is a Flemish Giant mix.

the ears,i think,,give away the fleming side,..just watch his eating,drinking,habits--no doubt he is in an excellent environment--thats the best of it all--he is a little darling,,and he might get a growth speert in a few months..sincerely james waller:wave:

 

[aurora369]

The fur looks very rex like to me. Is the fur softer, shorter and more like velvet than normal bunny fur?

The crooked and bent whiskers is also a rex trait. A nicely bred rex will have almost no whiskers and those that are there are very curly or short (look like they got too close to a fire).

Rex fur is a recessive trait so both parents have to carry it. If they are both mixes with some rex in them, then it would be possible for them to produce a rex furred baby without having rex fur themselves.

-Dawn

 

[Ecresi]

Yes, the fur is short and more velvet feeling than that of the other babies. They can be seen here. The Rex theory is a good one. So maybe Demi is normal or there's not much to be concerned about. This is my first rabbit litter, though I am not planning for anymore. I was just worried

 

[Starlight Rabbitry]

I agree with Dawn. She probably has rex fur. Do you have pictures of the parents? Just curious as to how big she will get. She is very cute.

Sharon

 

[elrohwen]

Is she part rex? Those look like rexy traits.

 

[DyemondRabbitry]

The baby is very, very young. I have had some babies that do not grow guard hairs, or not very long ones, until they have an adult coat. Thus, until they shed out that coat they look and feel like a rex but are purebred New Zealands. The "velvet" feeling is caused by guard hairs that do not stand much above the undercoat.

My babies that start out like this have amazingly dense coats when fully matured. For instance, D22 (white buck) on website: dyemondrabbitry.com

 

[Ecresi]

The only parent I can give a picture to is the mother. I rescued the mother back in December from an animal collector. She told me she had no idea the rabbit was pregnant, and that she didn't have her that long. her owner before that must have the father. I don't believe that story at all in the slightest. The original ad that she was being offered in said that a girl was getting married and moving into her bfs mothers house, but her mother in law was allergic to animals so she had to give her up. The Ad I answered to was a woman who had taken her in from the girl that was getting married. This woman has collected a ton of animals. Rabbits, goats, chickens, everything. She doesn't own that much space either aside from a decent sized back yard. When I contacted her about mama bun, She failed to inform me she was pregnant until the last minute. (More so just as I was walking out of my house to come and get her.) I think she knew the rabbit was pregnant and decided that a mother rabbit would be too much for her to handle and decided to give her up. Whatever the case. the father goes unknown. Mama however can be seen here:

She's such a sweet bun. Though she's not too fond of being held, she does love to cuddle in your lap We had been concerned about Demi from the start, due to that she was a runt, smaller than the others and covered in wrinkles, so I checked the nest several times a day. But she's growing up healthy it seems. She's just as active as the others, though she has to push her way into feeding time she still gets her share. Even more so because if she sees i'm feeding the others and she can't get in, i'll pull her out and feed her on her own. It's possible she could be part Rex, but I don't think I'll ever fully know.

 

[Blaze_Amita]

she looks and reminds me of the mini rex doe I have, Poppy. Poppy, though purebred mini rex is a brood doe and 5 pounds. she could be a cross and the father either mini rex or half mini rex. if both parents are half mini rex, you still have a possibility of getting the rex fur( i think- i'm not that good with genetics) but the short curly whiskers are a giveaway for the rex background somewhere.
Demi sounds perfectly healthy and happy, just slightly different fur, my baby mini rexes look like(ridgey and what not) until they get older.