Questions for flemish giant owners

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Most Flemish does will get a dewlap, at least a small one, regardless if they are bred or overweight. It will get bigger when they are bred or if they get overweight.

It is perfectly acceptable in the Flemish and is not a fault or DQ.
 
Hi I'm Amy we got our flemmish in dec at about 6 weeks old. She is now roughly 15 weeks old. I weighed her tonight and she is just shy of 8lbs her hind foot is 5" long. We love her. She hasn't had an accident in the house in a few weeks now. She gets along great with our Americam Bulldog and our two cats! She isn't that affectionate but is growing more so every day. She loves her head rubbed and scratched. We are new to the bunny world and are having fun learning more about the breed. We did research before we bought. We got Bailey from a farm in southern Alberta. We paid $20 for her. Happy to be a bunny momma!
 
Zombie is my flemish. He's 5 weeks old, white with pink eyes. His story goes like this. I wanted wanted a flemish and found a breeder to be put on a list. We were talking off and on and he seemed so happy to know that I wanted one for a house bunny! So fast forward a few months and I get an email. He had three babies --- they had been buried in the open pen just before he put his rabbits up in the hutches for a cold spell. He knew she was pregnant and she normally has her babies in the hutch, but.. there were none. He assumed they had all died and she disposed of them herself. Three weeks later, while in the yard he finds four baby bunnies digging their way out of the ground! All were sick, dehydrated and emaciated. One passed away but Zombie and his brother and sister survived ! He wanted them to go to indoor homes as house pets since they'd been through so much already. My friend took the girl (Powder is her name) and I took Zombie, the boy. One boy is left but he was still too skinny and weak and needed more time.

Zombie is incredibly affectionate. He never showed any fear, even when driving him home. He slept in my jack! Snuggled up. His sister was in my friend's jacket, snoozing away too.
Zombie loves giving kisses. Not just one or two but lots and lots! He binkies as much as he can; climbs in laps for a nap or up onto a chest; loves to play with millar helium balloons on strings (he is fascinated that a tug or two of the string brings the balloon closer before it flys away again), steels socks right off feet, claims a "Pound Puppy" as his personal snuggie and curls up under blankets Head scratches, ear rubs, will always lead to him flopping over for a belly rub. He is super, duper affectionate!
 
I just love my Flemish Giant! Paddy O'Hara is her name and she is so sweet to everyone even strangers. Her nickname is Trouble but mostly because she likes to have a great time.
I bought her from a breeder, she was not show quality but pet quality. She was about 10 weeks or little older when I got her. She will be 3 years in March. I had her spayed when she was 5 months old. She wanted to mate with my husband and he could not walk through the house without her on his feet. She weighs about 22 pounds.
My intentions were to raise her to be a pet therapy animals and retire my dog. She exceeds my expectations as a pet therapy animals. The experience is so different with a rabbit. She is also part of READing Paws. She has a bio under the Tennessee chapter if anyone wants to read it.
She bonded with me and my husband right away and just loved the dog from the moment she saw him.
She loves to play and is always so hungry (so she thinks) so she sits by the fridge waiting for someone to open it. She has also learned how to ID fridges at the places where she works in the pet therapy program.
She loves to groom both me and my husband and loves for us to groom her back.
I love all the rabbits in my life past and present, but she is the sweetest one that I have ever known.
 
I wasn't originally going to post on this thread since its four years old, but since I see some folks have brought it back and I do have Flemish, why not. Great story about your bun Zombie Wooly Hopper.

I got both my Flemish's Conan & Xena from show breeders who specialize in those colors (Blue Male & Fawn Female). They both could be show quality but Conan has a kink in his tale that makes it look slightly crooked (his bun mom stepped/slept on it) and was the runt of his litter (a now 13lb runt!) which would take some points off I hear, and Xena I think was sold cause the owner had good does already. Wouldn't matter I'm not showing anyways and I love these guys. Conan and Xena were both 15 weeks when we got them about five months apart.

Now I can't say either were that affectionate when we brought them in. I've owned Conan for 6 months and Xena almost a month. Conan is friendly though, he'll let you get in a quick rub and come over for a quick sniff introduction. They both were extremely comfortable in their new homes, lazing about, binkying, flopping and exploring with no trepidition. Xena is even friendlier and more curious, begs for food and isn't picky on edibles like Conan is. They took to litter training day one and have been good about it relatively. Every day I see more warming up on their part with only an occasional back step in fright runs. They are a pleasure to have in the family and I can't wait to successfully (I hope) bond them
 
Hey. Just thought I'd share a couple pictures of our Bailey.
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Bailey getting her morning scratch!
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Bailey when we first got her!
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Bailey with her two brothers(the cat's) and sister(the dog)!!!
 
We got Thumper at ten weeks old from a breeder. He fit in from the day we brought him home. He was the smallest of the litter but also seemed the most relaxed. We did not interact with him much the first night here as we got home somewhat late. The next day my husband let him out of his cage early in the morning. He took some time to check out his new room but it wasn't long before he would binky, bun 500 and DBF. His cage is a large dog cage. He only is in it when we go to bed at night or if no one is home. I used to let him have free run of his room all but when we went to sleep until the day I came home and found him in my daughters room. Not sure if it was him or the dog that knocked the gate down. Eventually we will set it up so he cannot possibly get out and he will go back to having free run except at night. He has been great with the litter box from the very beginning. He has only peed outside his litter box twice and each time was in his cage so no big deal. Like all buns he leaves a few poos around. He loves to be petted and likes to play chase, either chasing or being chased. He loves chewing and although he doesn't like being picked up and does not groom us he is so affectionate in his way. The only place his is even a little touchy about being petted are his feet and belly. But he just hops off when it's bothering him, other times he doesn't mind. He has only bitten once and I think he was actually just chewing a seem on my pants and started to enjoy it too much since I did not stop him. I was preoccupied and didn't even notice him chewing. He gives nose bonks constantly and runs up to see us when we go in his room. He has never shown cage aggression but does like to try to supervise my cleaning it by coming in while I'm cleaning. Thumper is now a year old. He gets along with the dog and is very laid back, doesn't frighten at much.
 
What can I feed my Flemish giant better timothy hay or alfalfa hay
How old is your rabbit, young rabbit preferably under 6 months need alfalfa and rabbits over 6 months needs timothy although I feed my rabbits timothy and one 4 months, and the other ones 6 months. Hope I helped :)
 
We got Harvey from a breeder when she was 8 weeks old. She was supposed to be a male. We got her fixed at 4 1/2 months. There was no personality change. Harvey is a sweetie most of the time. She has her own room and runs to greet us when we visit, which we do several times a day. When she wants company, she hangs around her door, which is glass, and tries to catch my eye. If I walk by and see Harvey watching for me, it's impossible not to set the laundry or whatever aside and go in for some cuddles.

Harvey is very affectionate. She was early on, but has grown more and more so over time. She likes to run, play and investigate, but her favorite thing is cuddling. She loves to be stroked and will bunny kiss as you stroke. She will lick my arm, leg or face for 15 minutes. It's like a bunny bath. We put a two person lounge chair in Harvey's room, and my boyfriend and I lay in there and Harvey has her special spot right between us. She licks him, then me, then grinds her teeth, blissing out.

The breeder we got her from bred for show but also personality. Maybe this made a difference?
 
I got shadow 7 weeks old. I bought her from someone who bred her rabbits. Shadows birthday is December 17th. It took her a few days to warm up to the kitties. She bonded with us immediately. She was affectionate. When we got her. She did have behavioral issues before she was fixed in January 2017 and the behaviors stopped.
Shes 19 months now and more aff3ctionate but not playful.
She is a flemish giant and she loves car rudes, going to our summer cottage, and her kitty siblings
 
I'll chime in again about Harvey. I chose Cotton Patch Rabbitry because the website describes the parents temperaments. When we brought little Harv home, she was used to being handled, friendly and settled right down. She had a problem with nipping at first. Every time she nipped me, I squealed like an injured animal and left the room. I read that works best to stop rabbits nipping. It did! She stopped biting me in a week or two but continued nipping my boyfriend. My boyfriend kept dogs as pets only, so when harvey nipped him he would yell "no!". That never worked to stop the behavior. After a couple weeks of only him getting nipped, he finally gave in and tried squealing and it worked. Harvey is going on three years old now. She still likes to play tag, and comes running for cuddles. She refuses to be picked up and still shreds carpet if we aren't looking.
 
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I've been talking to someone about flemish giants about how sweet and affectionate they can be - and Alicia (JadeIcing) reminded me that not all flemish giants are what I've experienced. I remember when I first got Tiny that he was not affectionate and I was so disappointed.

So I thought I'd start a thread here asking flemish giant owners to post about their experiences. Here are some questions - but feel free to write whatever you want...these are just to help get some specific information.

How old was your flemish when you got it?
Was it affectionate at the time?
Where did you get your flemish? (Breeder, shelter, pet store, other)
Is your flemish male or female?
How long did it take your flemish to fit in and become comfortable with you/your family?

Anything else you wish folks would know?





I got my first Flemish Giant last Saturday from a breeder. Thor was 15 weeks and 2 days old. He was very affectionate from the get go. This past Monday I took him to my rabbit savvy vet for his wellness check and on Tuesday he was neutered. He's now litter box trained. He does bunny flops, binkies, gives kisses and eats, eats, and eats! He was part of the family from day 1.
 
My mother bunny gave birth to three beautiful baby flemish newzealand cross bunnies. Sadly, one of the male bunnies passed away in his sleep. No clue what happened, but a month later his sister died, she was making quiet screaming noises, and around 2-3 minutes later, she died. My bunny was fine the day before. But we did notice some breathing difficulties when she died. And her head was going back almost touching her back. She was laying on her side unable to move. It took awhile for us to realized that our baby was gone...

Does anyone know the probably cause? I had a litter of baby bunnies before this, four of them, but they all died the same way. There mother came from a bad owner, she was imbred we think too much. They were cotton tail flemish giants, yet they stoped growing. They all died the same way... then our next healthy litter of baby bunnies are dying off too? I only have one of my babies left...

Please if anyone knows why this happened to my bunnies please don’t hesitate to reply!
 
We have 2 purebred Flemish giants. We got Fred when he was about 7 months old, he’s almost a year old now. He’s a Buck and we got him from a family friend who has rabbits and breeds sometimes. I’ve seen a big change in his personality, he used to really like to nip and had a bit of a temper but now he’s gotten a lot better. He has definitely mellowed out and gotten easier to handle. Then we have Jolene, She’s a doe and we got her from the same person. She’s over a year old and we just got her a couple weeks ago, she’s very moody and is not afraid to bite but if the family friend was correct she should be having babies in a couple weeks then hopefully her attitude mellows out.
 
I have 5 intact does. 3 are kinda standoffish. One is affectionate as any loving puppy and the last will try to take your hand off.
The best is to learn your rabbits personalities and treat them accordingly.
 

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