# hotzcatz or other bunny peeps



## kandmcockrell (Oct 10, 2008)

What type of angora do you have? I am debating possibly getting one. But i want one that is friendly and relatively easy maintenance. I know they must be groomed, but from what i have read, it depends on the breed as to how often and what way. Is that correct?


----------



## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

I'd say if you want an ease of care and grooming look at the French, Satin, or German Angoras. English Angoras have a more cottony wool and tend to need more grooming as they tend to matt easily. Other opinions may differ 

If you want a friendly bun yet a young one, baby, and raise it or get one that has been handled and groomed. Touch and handle before buying. They get used to the grooming. I used to hand pluck all of mine. I would begin by brushing and cutting out or plucking out matts. Then I would flip them onto their back in my lap. Clip nails, brush tummy and cut or pluck matts. Flip them back over and begin plucking from the tail to the head, one side at a time. If it was warm out or if the bunny is new to grooming I will stop and give them a break for about 15 min. Give them water, maybe a bit of carrot. Then begin again. If you pluck each bunny will pluck differently. I had some that would pluck almost completely bald others wouldn't, reason begging that the new coat might be coming it before the old is ready to release, or the old releases before the new coat has begun to come in.


----------



## Miz Mary (Feb 15, 2003)

My bunny is a 25% German 75% French ... I pluck her , but she doesnt "let go" all at once .... not even all in a month !! So, I just pluck the areas that are ready , when they are ready ! 
HANDLE them from babies ...... how can ya not !?!? 

Read up on them alot .... it didnt turn out as hard as I thought it was going to !!! I trim nails , but my bunny will NOT be turned upside down .... TOTALLY worth having an angora !! !

Hotcatz hopefully will find this thread ... she has TONS of bunnies and experience !!! 

I'd go with a white color .... you can alway dye it later


----------



## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

I started with French and a few English about 20 years ago. I found that the French are hardyer than the English, but I liked the English fleece better-less to no guard hairs(also more mellow). I cross bred them until I had what I was happy with. Had 50 I tended,got down to 7. Then for some reason I had 6 (does) die, I do belive it was from being fed "weeds" from someone other than me. I'm not going to name anyone, to avoid upsetting someone,but will never allow anyone but myself to feed again. I have 11 new buns, the last of the 7 was a old buck and would not breed anymore. I'm not really into all the colors and such, Hotcatz would be the person for that. I do not groom my buns, I hand shear when ready. One thing I've learned that I've never read before, don't let more than 1 unshorn live in a cage-they will "felt" each others fleece on the tips from rubbing against each other. Never have had wool block,my buns get alot, sometimes all greens and fresh veggies.


----------



## kandmcockrell (Oct 10, 2008)

thanks everyone!!


----------



## hotzcatz (Oct 16, 2007)

Aloha Kandmcockrell! Bunnies are great! 

There's a lot of differences even between bunnies of the same breed. The ones here have been bred for ease of coat maintenance and mellow temperament as well as coat/color/conformation and the rest of it. These are the bunnies that are here: Hillside Farm Hawaii English Angoras There's loads of info, but it's all on English angoras. They were chosen because of the quality of their wool. It's supposed to be the softest.

Generally, the bunnies here don't really get groomed much between coat harvests. Sometimes I'll leave the coat on them and still harvest a pile of fiber, but mostly they get haircuts. Once a bunny is clipped down to really short hair, then it takes several months before they have hair long enough to get tangled. The last several weeks, sometimes they will get a bit of combing before being sheared, but generally it's shearing them instead of plucking them. Mostly because it's quicker and even if they aren't ready to shed, they can be entirely clipped all at one time.

Not all breeds of angora will shed. Some have to be clipped, I think the Germans and Giants are all "must clip" bunnies, but ask the breeder to make certain. Even some bunnies of a breed that molts, will still need to be clipped since some of the show bunny folks want bunnies that grow longer hair so they've been breeding for non-molting bunnies. There aren't any of that type of English on this island that I know of, or I'd give them a try and see how the differences are. All I have are the molting type, so that's the only ones I know details about.

The English angora have fuzzy ears and fuzzy faces and that takes a bit more maintenance than the other types. But, I like to think they are much more cute than the others, however, I'm terribly biased.










This is a "blue" bunny, you can tell because he has a gray nose and not a black one. He has flown off to Kauai to be a fuzzy bunny there.










This is "Latte", she is an "opal" cplored bunny and that is basically a dilute version of the standard "wild" bunny color. Wild bunny color is also called "agouti". Latte is probably the friendliest bunny we have. Her litter was bred from two bunnies of good temperament and then handled literally from birth. These pictures were taken when they were about two and a half months old.

Oh, you tell a color of an English angora mostly by the color of their nose. The "wool" on the rest of their body get so long that the color fades out to basically some shade of gray. Well, unless they start out as a white bunny, then it stays white all the way to the end. A black bunny will look gray, except for it's nose. 










There's a "black" English angora. Shadow's nose is black so even though the rest of him is doing shades of gray, officially, he's still a black bunny. In the picture, he hasn't been groomed and needs a bit of combing to be more tidy looking. When his fiber is ready to be harvested, it will be a pale gray and just comb or pluck right off. You can sit the bunny on your lap and spin the fiber directly off the bunny, but they do get bored after awhile and may pee on you. Usually, though, they will get antsy before they do that, so give them a pee break when they get wiggly.










That picture is an assortment of different colored girl bunnies at one end of the big group space. The orange ones (those are a dark "fawn" which is basically fawn with a rufus gene) haven't had a hair cut yet while some of the others had been trimmed earlier. The ones with the dark faces and "blonde" hair are "tortoiseshells". If the nose is black, then they are a "black tortoiseshell", if brown, then a "chocolate tortoiseshell" or "chocolate tort" for short.

Their group space is 12 feet by 30" and the bunnies like to run up and down and hang out with each other. Girl bunnies can live in groups, but I usually keep the boy bunnies in their own separate spaces. They can get grumpy with each other and get into fights. Bunnies are scent oriented as to how they tell where "their" space is, so if you have a couple of bunnies you want to "bond" then just put them both (or however many you have) together in a space that neither one thinks of as "theirs" and they won't fight. If a bunny (or group of bunnies) has been in a space for awhile and you put a new bunny in that space, then they will grumble with each other.

Boy bunnies are usually more outgoing and if you're just getting a single bunny, a boy bunny might be a good choice if you want a friendly bunny to interact with, but again, each bunny is gonna be different. Latte (the opal bunny in the picture above) is a girl bunny yet really outgoing.

This is Latte's dad, "Twinkle" before a haircut:










And Twinkle after a haircut:










And this is Trinity eating a mulberry leaf. Mulberry leaves are very nutritious for bunnies. She is an "agouti" color of bunny which is the wild bunny color. Her fiber spins up to a medium to light cool gray color.










These two are Chipsy and Dozer, they are both "chocolate" bunnies and their wool spins up to a warm gray color.


----------



## Kasota (Nov 25, 2013)

Hotzcatz, what awesome pictures! And so much info, too! I can't believe how cute they are! Seriously delightfully outrageously cute!


----------



## Velda (Dec 3, 2013)

Maybe that lady that has a fiber farm in the mountains and raises satin angora rabbits and the really big rabbits will chime in. I was just reading an old thread with her talking and seemed very down to earth, but I can't remember her name. It was a silly name I remember.


----------



## Velda (Dec 3, 2013)

I think it was Rabbit Geek. There's a very good thread called Baby Animals of Fiber Arts too.


----------



## Marchwind (May 10, 2002)

Rabbitgeek aka Fraco is one of our multitask enter men on this forum. I haven't seen him here in a while but I've seen him on FB posting. Maybe he will join this conversation too.


----------



## kandmcockrell (Oct 10, 2008)

Hotzcatz, if i could figure a way for my SIL to sneak one of your rabbits on the plane with her, i would be in hog heaven! But i think a bunny in a carry on would be frowned upon I LOVE the gray one in the first pic. That face!!! Just looks so soft and squishy!!!! Just like Agnus in Despicable Me "It's so fluffy i'm going to DIE!!!!"


----------



## hotzcatz (Oct 16, 2007)

The gray one in the first picture is "Stormy" and he's already flown off to Kauai. He went as cargo, though, and not under the seat. I dunno, you could probably claim them to be a cat or something and just stuff one under the seat in a critter carrier. The don't really look like rabbits much at all. Alaska Airlines is pretty easy about pets, I think. 

Usually, though, they go as cargo and get shipped in an airline kennel. But you can put more than one in the box, so sometimes as many as six all fly away together.


----------

