Spring wrote:
Hi! I have a 10-12 week old lionhead and she already is almost the size of my 2.4 pound netherland dwarf who I was going to attempt to bond them. I was wondering how big do they grow? I saw my rabbits momand she seemed pretty big (maybe around 4-5pounds?) Her mom had a lion head fur and so did her dad but I didn't see her dad. She was the biggest in the litter.
Thanks.
As a lionhead breeder - let me say you've asked a hard question to answer. Let me explain ...forgive my wordiness though.
When lionheads first came over from England - the imports were HUGE....5 lbs was not unsual for a rabbit. I have some that are either imports or very close to being imports (one generation away)and they are big.
Since then - there has been "hybridization" of the lionheads - for two reasons. First of al - to bring more genes into the gene pool. A large majority of the rabbits that were imported into the States - came from nine original rabbits. Bceause in England it is not a big deal to have rabbits with malocclusion (I was told this - I don't know it from personal experience)...many of these rabbits carried that gene.
The hybridization was also to bring down the size of the lionheads. One of the most common practices was to bring in Netherland Dwarfs....and within 4 generations if you kept mating the off sping to pure lionheads - you'd eventually have pure lionheads.
A good place to see photos of lionheads is here:
http://www.lionhead.us/pic_rabbits.htm
The ones that are more "rounded" are most likely imports or have close ties to the imports and they will probably weigh 4-5 lbs.
The ARBA standards for this breed (you can see the link here)
http://www.lionhead.us/standard06ARBA8.htm
states that the rabbit should be no larger than 3 3/4 lbs as a senior. Ideal body size is 3 1/2 lbs.
With that said - the majority of breeders that I deal with are trying to get them to top out at around 3 lbs. They are also trying to:
shorten the ears
widen the mane around the face and have it go ALL the way around the head
If you look at the drawing on the standard - you will see how the rabbits' profile is changing also. Instead of being very round like an oval....it is more slanted (round) in the back...but not so much in the front.
So - how big will your rabbit get to be? If it is out of imports - it could hit 4-5 pounds. If it is from a breeder who is trying to breed to standard - it should aim for 3 1/2 lbs or so.
Sorry for the long explaination!
Peg
