Lionmanes

[mmfh]

I'm curious, my Cleopatra has such a whispy mane. She is a year old and instead of having a bushy stuffed animal mane she looks like a adolescent male lion- with some whispy hairs in front of her ears. I'm wondering if I should wait to fix her, if her mane will get thicker in time?

 

[Must_Love_Pets]

More than likely her mane will not grow back. Lionheads do lose their manes. DM Lionheads can end up as SM Lionheads and sometimes lose both. Did you get her from a breeder? If you got her from a breeder you can contact the breeder and see if her lines have lost their manes at a certain age. If the mane was cut, it can grow back, but if the mane is lost on it's own the chances are very low.

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

The mane is determined by genetics. Lion heads come in single and double maned. Single manes are just around the neck while double maned is around the neck and the skirt (around the flanks). Single manes can be lost with the first moult, but some do stay. Double manes stick around.

Some lion heads just don't have the same poofy mane and others. This is usually caused by breedings that are not done to the breed standard. Many breeders are breeding to the standard, but some aren't and seem to just want cute pets.

It would seem that Cleopatra just doesn't have the full mane. There is nothing wrong with this, just how she is.
I doubt the mane will get thicker with age. At 1 year old, she is pretty much what you are going to get.

 

[mmfh]

I got her from the humane society so I know nothing of her background. They told me she was a dwarf lionmane. 3 months ago she weighed 4.69 grams. She looks bigger now, lol. She is between 15"-17" long. She wasn't cooperating. Her mane has become longer with time but not thicker. She also had very thick growths of hair on either side of her tail (she looked like she had 3 tails). Those molted out and have not come back. I have a pic of her but i'm not sure how to get it from my tablet to this site at this time. I love her either way. I just wasn't sure if I should let her mature longer as I plan on getting her fixed this year.

 

[Must_Love_Pets]

I have had a DM show Lionhead and a DM pet Lionhead. My pet DM Lionhead is now a SM Lionhead. Just as cute and less to groom and he is cooler when the heat comes around too. I certainly don't mind either, they are the same bun, the hair doesn't change who they are. The DM Lionhead show rabbit however, came from some really good winning lines. He has a beautiful mane. So the reason I mention it is becasue I wondered the same thing myself the fisrt time round with that breed. I am more of a Flemmie girls myself but I love all of them just the same. I just have my faves to snuggle with. I hope you figure out how to post pictures from your tab becasue I wanna see the tootie pie:biggrin2:

 

[TinysMom]

Korr_and_Sophie wrote:

The mane is determined by genetics. Lion heads come in single and double maned. Single manes are just around the neck while double maned is around the neck and the skirt (around the flanks). Single manes can be lost with the first moult, but some do stay. Double manes stick around.

Some lion heads just don't have the same poofy mane and others. This is usually caused by breedings that are not done to the breed standard. Many breeders are breeding to the standard, but some aren't and seem to just want cute pets.

It would seem that Cleopatra just doesn't have the full mane. There is nothing wrong with this, just how she is.
I doubt the mane will get thicker with age. At 1 year old, she is pretty much what you are going to get.

As a former lionhead breeder - I agree with most of what has been shared. However, I have seen double mane rabbits lose their manes as they molt - certain bloodlines were more prone to do so (at least a few years ago when I bred).

One of the things that seems to determine if a rabbit keeps their mane and how full it becomes - is if the mane itself is crimped. There seems to be some sort of a modifier to the genes when you have a rabbit with the crimped manes and that modifier makes the manes come in fuller and fuller (sometimes) with each molt. I had a single mane rabbit with the very crimped mane and all of his offspring - both single and double maned - would keep their manes because their manes were crimped. It seemed like every time he molted he would lose his mane for a little bit and then it came in even fuller than it was before.

I'm not sure how the bloodlines have developed since I got out of breeding a couple of years ago. I know that the lines from one rabbit (Cimmaron Firebear) were known for being very typey....but unfortunately I heard that many times they lost their manes even if they were double maned (although he always seemed to have a gorgeous mane). The lines from Tuborg seemed to keep their manes fairly well and the lines from Bob Whitman's "Blue Boy" kept their manes quite well also.

Anyway - a rabbit is either single mane or double mane by genetics and even if they lose their rear flanking - they are still considered "double mane" if they were genetically double mane - they are just showing the mane on the head.

 

[Just Mee]

TinysMom wrote:

Anyway - a rabbit is either single mane or double mane by genetics and even if they lose their rear flanking - they are still considered "double mane" if they were genetically double mane - they are just showing the mane on the head.

yup ... double mane or single mane refer to the genetic of abuns head/neck wool, not to the flank area. The flank area is only supposed to have regular fur & not wool, as many do.

From the research I have done the terms of single mane or double mane became used by breeders when there was still alot of outbreeding to ND & EA being done to try & improve the breed. I guess it sounded better than saying Lionhead x ? mixbreed, it basicly let them know that two SMs bred together would give them a % that were maneless or that two DMs would give them too much body wool (looking more like a JW).

Oh well I ramble on too much.

 

[Pharfly]

Does the sex of the rabbit affect the manes?
Male long haired mice have better coats then females, they relate the hair issue to hormones. I have had long haired female mice start out super fluffy and end up short haired with long wisps behind the ears. While the males from those litters had beautiful coats.

 

[Must_Love_Pets]

From my experience, no the sex does not make a difference. It's the bloodlines.

Anyone else???