My First "The Hollander"

I received my first issue of The Hollander yesterday. My wife forgotten all about it and it was left in the car. When I went into the car this morning I was surprise to have a mail from Chris Zemny. Without second thoughts, I knew it must be The Hollander. In fact, I was starting to wonder when I will get an issue of it.

I took a quick glance while I was driving. Yes, you can actually read something while driving in Malaysia because the traffic is just too horrible and beyond imagination. I can see ladies putting on their make ups, people eating their sandwiches and of course, reading the newspaper.

Back to The Hollander. This Fall issue features the 2007 Top Lops and goodness gracious, when I look at those lops (on black & white printing mind you), I was dumbstruck, speechless and my breath was taken away - literally!

These are mind blowing LOPS! They are just so spectacular and flawless.

I then turned the pages to the sweepstakes list and was so happy to see all my favorite breeders listed. To be listed on the sweepstake is an affirmation of the quality and standard of Holland Lops produced.

My mind suddenly wanders away thinking about all the sell outs that I have read about. And looking at some names on the list, I feel happy as we'll be seeing some of these breeders around for many more years to come but at the same time, I cannot help but to feel sad that some will not make it to that list for a while. They will be truly missed.

Well, since Christmas is around the corner, this would be my life long Christmas wish to Santa. I wish one day I could work with any of these great breeders that has produced all the Top Lops in the States. I hope one day, I will be able to ship some of these finest Holland Lops into Malaysia.

I recently read about this German farmer sending his German Giant rabbits to North Korea as a breeding programme to feed the poor. I am not poor but I was hoping that some Holland Lop breeders have some outreach programmes to develop the breed in other countries. If they have such programmes, I will definitely be the first to register for it. LOL...

On the other hand, the rabbit network has been really quiet these days. I believe many people are still enjoying themselves at the Convention or they are recuperating from it.

Just got a greeting from Susie and she had taken loads of photos of Holland Lops for me. Cannot wait to see all her photos. She takes great photos!

NIC Panels Available In Malaysia

Neat Idea Cubes (NIC)...

*photo courtesy of Cookie&Twix of Rabbits United forum

I know most of us have been searching hi and low for these panels.

And I believe some of us even dreamed of building one of these super enclosures for our little buhnies.

Our friend at Pet Epicure has got em!

Take a look at their own setup here.

So, if you want to materialize this dream of yours (or should I say your buhny's dream), get in touch with Ms. Alicia of Pet Epicure Sdn Bhd.

Her contact details:

email: petepicure@gmail.com

tel. no: 03-41072973

And did I mention that Pet Epicure also provide superb boarding service? They have a very classy cat boarding facility and I am sure you can get a room for your buhny whenever you need to be away for the festives.

That's Muh Boy Skor

It's been a while since I last put up a photo of Tru-Luv's one and only favorite boy. So since it is the last day of my long weekend, I thought of giving all the buhnies a nail cutting session and naturally, I felt like posting something about Skor.

So far, this boy never misses a litter. Each time I mate him with any of the does, he gets the job done. And talking about taking the extra mile, he give quite a number of kits. As far as quality is concern, he needs a great doe to compliment him. That is why the combination of him and Hope is highly anticipated. I do not want to put too high a hope for the two of them to avoid great disappointment. I just want to enjoy the entire process and be happy with whatever I am getting out of it.

urineOFF Those Stubborn Stain

Alicia of Pet Epicure recently sent me information about the latest product that her shop carries call urineOFF. I was very interested to check this new product out because I have not encountered any other that is able to remove those stubborn calcium deposit buildups that we love to hate in rabbit urine.

So this is the review that I would like to share with everyone on my experience with urineOFF for small animals.

These are the steps given at urineOFF official website for litter trays:

1. Empty the litter box

2. Wash and dry as usual, being careful to rinse away all traces of
soap.

3. Liberally coat the entire box, inside and out, with Urine Off.

4. Allow to air dry - 30 minutes or so.

5. Initially it may take more than one treatment to remove built-up urine.

Once box is odor-free, wipe with a paper towel and put it back in service!

As instructed, I sprayed on Hope's plastic litter tray and allow the bio-enzymes to work their wonders. I left the litter tray for approximately 30 minutes to be air dried.

This is the litter tray before:

And this is the litter tray after:

Alright, let's be realistic here. It is 2 am in the morning and I am trying to prove that this product actually works! But I did not have the patience to wait for the 30 full minutes so I settled for 20 minutes of air drying the litter tray after spraying with urineOFF. I must admit that the stain came off easily with a little scrubbing. I had the impression that the stain would come off without a scrub but as I said, we must be realistic here. Those are stubborn stains that has been accumulated for the past few weeks and without urineOFF, it is impossible to get rid even if you scrub it for 30 minutes. With urineOFF the scrub was made easier. I believe if I leave the urineOFF for longer time, it would be squeky clean.

As for now, I am very satisfied with the outcome. Let's see if I can make Skor's litter tray look brand new. I believe I have to soak it overnight. His litter tray is the ultimate. If urineOFF can clean his litter tray, it can clean anything!

It smells really good too I must say!

We shall see...

And by the way, Moesha finally posed for me and wanted to say "Hello" to everyone:

Run & Pop Successfully

So far I have read about the difficulties of breeding Holland Lops and the trend seemed to extend to other breeds as well. Most of what I read are coming from breeders with barns and their rabbits are kept in cages for long period of time.

I am wondering if the kindling problems are somehow related to the reason that most of these breeding does are kept in cages for long periods.

The reason behind my thoughts is that I used to have a Golden Retriever and my dad brings her out for walks everyday when she was pregnant. She had 6 beautiful pups in just 30 minutes. We have never seen such easy delivery. We attributed this to the daily walks.

As for humans, I have been told that most pregnant women that has reasonable exercise like brisk walking, tend to have very easy delivery. Could this be true?

I actually attributed the latest successful kindling of both BlueBerry & Noobie to the 4 feet cages that I provide them and also the regular runs that they get around the house.

But I cannot deny the fact that most Dwarf Breeds tend to have larger heads and the occasional stuck kit incidents are expected. It is quite similar for dogs with bigger heads and shorter muzzle like the Boxer & Bulldog.

But my point is, would it help if pregnant does are given ample of runs?

Does feral rabbits have very high success rates because they get all the exercises they need?

Maybe the stamina that they build from having regular runs will help them with the pushing? Maybe the muscles that they build will help them through the contractions?

I believe these are all reasonable possibilities. I shall experiment this with Holly Hope come November.

Just a thought worth pondering.

On the side note, thanks to Lindsey for highlighting the link to ARBA convention, http://www.arbaconventions.com/. This ARBA convention is such a huge production. You should take a look at all the preparations undertaken. MASSIVE Production this one. I hope one day we have such huge rabbit shows in Malaysia. It would be fun but of course you will never run away from loads of bickering and back bitings because people in general just DO NOT LIKE LOSING. If only we learn to have fun and practice good learning attitude, then I believe it will be such a worthwhile hobby. At the moment, no point just having an ARBA Production here with just 2 breeds to compete and less than 50 entries. LOL!!!

I would LOVE to attend ARBA convention one day and look for people like Susie, Laurie (if she still attends) & Christina!

Malaysian government is known to send their staff to pig farms overseas on a learning trip. I wish they could send me there for a rabbit breeds learning trip although I am not a government officer. Pretty please....

Molting Mo...

This little precious is having a minor molt. Thanks to Furminator, I got quite a lot of loose fur out last nite.

She's a little lazy and I got a little disappointed that she did not pose for me this time around.

She is growing up looking like mummy, Noobie

Reluctantly...

Such a lazy bun...

Since I was so disappointed with Mo for not posing for me, I turned my attention to my natural poser, Luna. She really know how to work her way into my heart through her poses. She's a natural.

Luna finally has some control over her bowels unfortunately not her bladders. She "officiated" the new carpet I bought for the grooming table with her pee...

If only the 2 front legs get thicker...

I love it when she does this...

I Found My PEARL In Holly Hope

"... you'll find a pearl soon to base your line on. And it might not be the rabbit you suspect"

Those were the exact words my all time favorite Holland Lop breeder and mentor, Laurie Stroupe told me quite recently. And true enough, I saw my pearl today. In full BLOOM.

I remember very clearly that faithful day, April 17th to be exact. I came home from work and found Noobie just done kindling. There were 2 viable kits. One bigger than the other. I recognized the unique color on the smaller one. After placing both of them in a makeshift warming box, I was occupied cleaning up the aftermath of what seemed to be a kindling gone terribly wrong. Three and a half (yes, unformed fetus) dead broken chocolate kits was what I found at the place of the incident.

After burying the dead kits, I then turned my attention to the 2 viable kits. I should have concentrated on them first because I noticed the bigger kit was fading away. This was something I regret dreadfully. The bigger kit was a solid chocolate! The poor kit breadth its last not too long after and I was left feeling beaten up.

And then there were one last HOPE. Thus, Holly Hope was born...

In conjunction of her being a Senior Doe on the 17th of October (Yes! She's 6 months), I am dedicating this long post to her. We shall go through a series of photo to celebrate this phenomenal little beautiful Lilac Holland Lop.

We celebrate LIFE today.

Since the day she was born, she was loved by both Noobie & Me. I held her in my palm every single day

This photo affirmed to me that she has got great potential

Fast forward to the present day, Holly Hope greets me at the doorstep every evening when I return home from work. I make it a point to feel happy stepping into Meadow Haven. I guess it is more of the herd giving my heart the true happiness.

My first satisfied customer using the grooming table. I found a great fitting carpet in IKEA (coincidentally, the size fits nicely).

In my eyes, that's perfect...LOL...

Come November 22nd 2008, I might decide to have a mother and daughter tag team on Skor. LOL. I am putting down all strategies and contingency plans I can possibly think of to ensure that nothing goes wrong. Tru-Luv Rabbitry needs all the prayers come Christmas 2008 for the most anticipated kindling ever. So please send good vibes this way. All prayers would be much appreciated.

In dire need...

I am in fact in dire need of a herd buck to replace Skor. He is the only buck I have at the moment and losing him (touch wood) would mean the end of Tru-Luv Rabbitry unless I plan to get a replacement flown in again.

Slowly but surely, I am training myself not to be too attached and always hold strong to the belief that as long as there are good Holland Lop breeders out there, I will be able to find great stocks. But it is easier said than done. It is impossible not to have feelings for these little creatures and it is only the cold-hearted that has got no remorse losing their pet.

After going through some deaths in the rabbitry, I tend to console myself that it is alright if I face another death and to make myself feel better, I sometimes remind myself that it will never be the end of this great hobby.

Ever felt the fear of losing your rabbits? How do you cope?

Slow Sunday

And then, there were 6...

A very slow weekend for the bunnies. I am not sure if they are missing Charlyz and Eclipse but they sure look a little depressed. LOL...

I spent the entire Sunday Morning fixing up pee guards for BlueBerry and Luna. The pee guard did not slant enough and pee gets collected at the end of the pee guards. Took me 2 hours to mess around in the rabbitry.

Fed all the ADULTS with papaya and boy did they miss those papayas. I personally love papaya too and I promised myself to eat them more often so that the bunnies get a piece each too.

I have yet to try out the grooming table because I did not have the time to look for a piece of carpet to be fitted in the grooming area. Shall go buy some later.

Just another weekend lazing around both bunnies and humans alike.

Have a nice remainder of the weekend people!

Charlyz & Eclipse Updates!

Just got photos of them and seemed like they are doing fine.

I am very pleased that their new owner sent me this "Charlyz very active.. she really go binky when i let them rooming free".

And she sent me these photos too!

The Tru-Luv Rabbitry family has just expanded to another great home! It really makes this hobby worthwhile getting to know nice rabbit people!

Another joy shared...

They call me Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor 2...

My wife thought I was building this gigantic nesting box today. But guess what?

My very own DIY grooming platform!!!! It comes equipped with a grooming tools compartment!

Last Night In Meadow Haven

Eclipse & Charlyz have their last night of roaming around the house. I will definitely miss the both of them.

I hope they do not get stressed out going on a 2 hours journey to their new homes. I will ensure that I get constant updates from their new owner.

I am happy that the new owner was supportive of the drafted agreement that I showed her and it will serve as a contract to protect both parties. I must say that the new owner is at an advantageous position compared to me when she endorses it. This agreement will also serve as a receipt for both parties.

I will be sending a softcopy of the pedigrees to their new owners after the COD has been made.

Here are some photos of my babies:

"Goodbye sister dearest"

"Huh? What's happening?"

Physical Examination

This is the common practice that I adopt. A couple of days before I send my rabbits away, I give them a thorough physical examination to ensure that they are free from mite, wounds, diarrhea and malocclusion. This is to avoid any discrepancies.

Charlyz:

Teeth Alignment

Vent area

Eclipse:

Teeth Alignment

Vent Area

Tomorrow will be nail clipping day.

Will You Eat Your Rabbits?

Let's bring ourselves back through time down memory lane. In the old days, rabbits/hares are bred mostly for their pelt/fur and also as food. Even in survival guidebooks, detailed rabbit/hare snaring instructions are given. That is for the sake of survival in the wild.

Fast forward to the 21st century, rabbits are mostly kept as pets. As a child I remember myself having barbecue rabbit for dinner in a restaurant. I was told rabbit meat is high in protein and indeed, if I remember correctly, I love the taste. LOL.

But to imagine me gobbling up Holly Hope is simply outrageous!!!

As I have mentioned previously, I have enrolled myself in many discussion groups and I received a daily digest today that has got member sharing their experience on how to cull pet rabbits from their herd.

Some sell them to the local markets, some sell them to wildlife parks needed meat to feed those rehabilitating wildlife animals, some feed the rabbits to their dogs (for those hardcore fans of BARF) and the last one just set me on vomit mode. Some actually put pet quality rabbits from their herd on the dining table!

I will only cook my rabbits in situation like a nationwide curfew or if this world is running out of food and the only thing I have with me at that moment happens to be a rabbit. Even that, my imagination tells me that I will be sobbing my eyeballs off peeling those fur and chopping up that poor rabbit. ArgghhhHHhhHhh.....

The worst part is to think about the prior relation of pet & owner. A relation has been strike because I have given name to my pet. Can you imagine me saying "Holly Hope, I am chopping you up for dinner tonite". OMG!!!!!!

We have rabbit satay here in Malaysia and if anyone plans to feed me some, please don't ever tell me that they are made of rabbit meat. That is how I would like it to be. No damage done not knowing!

So if you ask me for an honest opinion as to whether I will cull my pet quality rabbits, and if this entire world run out of good pet homes for my rabbits, my answer would be YES and these are the choices by rank how I want to cull:

1) Donation to wildlife/rehabilitation parks (humanely put down)
2) People with dogs going on BARF diet (humanely put down)
3) Poor countries in need of food (humanely put down!)

There you have it, my take on whether I will eat my own rabbits!

Farewell Eclipse & Charlyz

Eclipse & Charlyz are scheduled to leave Meadow Haven this weekend. I will pray really hard that both of them will be happy with their new owners. This is the first time Tru-Luv rabbits are going off to the hands of "total strangers".

It is quite obvious that I will never have control over my rabbits once they go to their new homes. It is always based on trust and I have only got their new owners' words at the end of the day. I hold them accountable for their promises and if bad things should happen, they will only teach me not to be careless and trust people easily.

So, as you may have already sensed it, I do have a lot of trust for these 2 new owners despite the fact that they will be miles away in another state. I have been promised regular updates and photos of my "babies". I hope they are delivered.

For all the caring, love, time & effort spent on Eclipse & Charlyz, I now release them to the care of their new owners. They will always be missed and remembered. I pray that they will bring cheer wherever they go and may their new owners find great joy in having them.

For if not, I take it very personally to have failed them in not being able to choose a good beginning and end for them.

So, new chapters begin in our LIVES...

My Final Lineups With Ranking

If I really have to rank my rabbits, this would be the result:

Buck

1) Skor (uncontested since he's the one & only)

Does:

1) Holly Hope

2) Noobie

3) Moesha

4) Luna

5) BlueBerry

As for brood does, I prefer Noobie over BlueBerry for overall type. I hope Holly Hope fair better come December.

I am slowly getting there but glad I have started on this incredible journey of show rabbit breeding!

You must get caught in this FEVER to understand the reason behind the burning passion!

Hypocrites!

I always wanted to write about this but always brushed it aside because I do not want to make my blog a negative one. Unfortunately I can no longer hold the urge as many incidents has made my fingers itch so badly.

Over the past 2 years, I have always been following numerous forums/blogs both locally and internationally. Of course I will not mention which one that these incidents (that I am about to disclose) took place and still taking place. I still prefer to write as discreetly as I possibly can.

When I first joined one particular forum, like any other forum it was filled with beginners. Some beginners were so highly regarded for matters that I just could not understand. It was totally like the blind leading the blind. Only a handful came out victorious because they are always doing researches on their own and obtaining very conclusive results which are shared (and goes unappreciated mostly).

We have also witness how oblivious breeders are to the breeds while they kept going and was adamant about the purity of their "purebreds".

As for other issues such as diet, we have people whom started off not being supportive of feeding hay (related how their rabbits thrive on just cheap pellets & garden scrubs) and ended up being advisers/consultants of HAYS.

I always respect people that learn and I have seen how far they have come. But isn't whatever they are supporting now what we have been talking all these while?

Why does it take so darn long for them to form the light bulb up their heads?

Or is it pure/sheer pride that they are too proud to admit that we were right?

As a close friend put it, "I can't imagine how smart they look but rubbish just comes out whenever they open their mouths" (in my own words).

So there you go, my take on Hypocrites in the rabbit world. Really makes us human, the lesser kind.

Ms Muffet & Tinkerbell

I popped by to visit Ms Muffet and boy has she grown!

Ms Muffet live together with a Minature Poodle called Tinkerbell. Tinkerbell loves her to pieces and what joy it is to see the both of them together.

Apparently, Tinkerbell would go into Ms Muffet's cage to be with her. LOL...

Here are some pics I took with my mobile. Not too clear though.

So glad to have chosen a good home for her!

True Colors

I could almost hear Cyndi Lauper's high pitched voice going "I see your true colors..." as I brought Luna to the living room where I can get natural light. I really wanted to confirm her color. And here she is posing naturally for me...

And guess who's the one having all the fun

Cleaning the rabbitry puts my brain on hyper mode

It is 2.19 am now. Just done cleaning Meadow Haven by wiping every cage with disinfectant. I started cleaning at 10.30 pm last night. So it took me approximately 3 hours to get everything done. Imagine, I only have 8 rabbits and I seriously wondering if breeders with over 100 rabbits ever clean their rabbit cages at all.

It just amazes me how they actually do it. It would be nice to spend a day with a big scale show breeder to see how life is having so many rabbits.

As you would guess from the title of this blog, I can't sleep anymore. It is way pass my bedtime and my mind is still very much awake. Luna's keeping me company at the moment as she is munching away her hay in the cage next to my table. The more I look at her, the more convinced I am that she is the ONE.

I have made up my mind actually. I am keeping Luna mainly because, I need a really "solid" herd buck to replace Skor and Eclipse isn't a WOW factor at the moment. Luna may not grow into a Show Quality doe but nonetheless she is of good brood quality to me.

Furthermore, the potential new owner promise that I could use Eclipse as a stud if need be.

So that shall be the arrangement and it is FINAL.

Difficult Decision

As I have mentioned many times before, mine is a very small rabbitry. Skor, Noobie, BlueBerry & Holly Hope will always be the permanent residents although I know one day, they will be out bred by their offspring. I will be adding on more permanent residents at Meadow Haven while I "cull" and send most to good homes. Once Meadow Haven has reached its limit, I will stop breeding until the older generations pass on and free up the spaces I have.

I will fill Meadow Haven with its finest but what happen when I am faced with so many potential finest?

At this moment I am in dilemma as to which to choose between Eclipse & Luna. Both have their strengths and weaknesses but there can only be one.

There are of course many criterias which I look out for but I am going in this order:

1) Body Type

2) Color/Markings

Beside from the above, I am also looking for traits that could help me improve the herd further. I only have Skor as my herd buck at the moment and I do not know when will there be another buck coming along that could replace him. Eclipse being the only other buck I have at the moment makes it even harder for me to decide.

I wonder how other breeders like me cope with their herd. I guess it is always better to have a big rabbitry where every single kit can be kept. LOL. That's totally the opposite extreme...

Maybe I shall pluck a sunflower and start plucking its petals to help me decide.

Luna, Eclipse, Luna, Eclipse...

UPDATE:

How can I resist this?

What On Earth Did I Miss?

It has been about 2 weeks since I last took photos of the juniors and I just cannot believe my eyes when I took them out one by one for an impromptu photo session.

Oh my Goodness Gracious! Eclipse is slowly showing off his big head and nice ear carriage. There is a reason why most breeders hold on to "potentials" for a little longer and I am actually experiencing that at this moment. I would like to hold on to Eclipse for a little while longer. Charl is definitely going although she looks promising, I am letting her go mainly because of color.

I better not waste too much time on words. Let's leave the talking to the photos alright?

Luna On Fire

Holly Hope The Awesome Singleton (LOL)

I sure hope this one goes into Disapproving Rabbits

Moesha is turning out like Noobie

Eclipse's massiveness is coming back again

I like those curvatures on his head and those ears look kind of good don't you think?

Last but not least, my lovely Charlyz

Charlyz & Moesha turned 8 weeks

Time really passes like a speeding bullet. After what seemed to be a blink of an eye, Charl & Mo turned 8 weeks yesterday. I really like how they both turn out to be especially the fullness of the hindquarters. Yes, they have really nice BUMS!

I did not have the time to snap some photos last evening. I hope to snap some tonite. Then I will be posting up. It has been a while since I uploaded photos of them.

Again, Charl is ready for her new home if anyone's interested. She shall be going as a pet because she is a charlie and breeding her would definitely produce more charlies if she is bred with a broken. But she can be used to produce brokens by breeding her with a solid. That will be a great help for those who wants to even out their solid herd with brokens.

Noobie finally have her much deserved rest from nursing these two. I finally separated them.

Felt like forever

It felt as if I have not been blogging for ages when it has only been a couple of days. And I can clearly see a sharp decrease in the number of hits to this site.

Well, it has been a long weekend for most of us and I was busy with some personal matters. Sadly, the weekend is almost over and I have not been spending much time with the bunnies except for their daily feedings and cleanup.

For those of you looking for a solution to keep pee and poo within the bottom tray for those cages with the dimension of W60 x H50 x D40, please visit the For Sale page for more information. The pee guard are for sale on a pre-order basis (I need time to get them done. LOL).

Eclipse and Charl are still available for sale. If you are really interested please feel free to contact me at truluvrabbitry@gmail.com. Serious and genuine enquiries only please. Charl will be turning 8 weeks tomorrow.

All New DIY Pee Guard!

First of all, I must thank Lindsey of 4 Kings Rabbitry for sharing photos of her rabbitry. It was through those photos that I got the inspiration to venture into another Proof Of Concept for the betterment of Meadow Haven.

I have just completed the DIY pee guard to improve the cages further so that it would be more effective in avoiding spills out of the bottom trays. So far it worked well for Luna, my first happy "customer".

Luna seen here taking a "leak"

Success!!!