Save Our Turtles!

http://www.saveturtles.my

There is a need for better ruling and law governing the sale of turtle eggs in Malaysia as the current wildlife protection law against the sale of turtle eggs is inadequate. WWF Malaysia is currently collecting pledge signatures for a petition to the government calling for stricter rules to better protect turtles that come to our shores.

In line with that, the Telur Rangers (Egg Rangers) were formed by 3 very interesting personalities (one of which is a very close friend of mine!). Their goal is to collect 100,000 pledge signatures!

To cut the chase short, visit http://www.saveturtles.my/ to submit your pledge in just 2 minutes.

And visit http://www.telurrangers.blogspot.com/ to read all about what's going on with the Telur Rangers.

Sign up TODAY & NOW!

Carmel never fails to touch my heart

This is one amazing doe. I love all my Hollands but Carmel is one of those that is truly engaging and as they say, possesses charisma and the X-factor.

Just look at her!

Carmel Up Close

My little cutie pie!

Adorable!

Can the real slim buhny please stand up?

A true show bunny and it runs in her blood

Nice crown

And a video to go along:

A Humble Tribute To Yasmin Ahmad

Her world is one that none of us could explain. She is above all our "normal" understandings and beliefs. She is one artwork that we will never be able to replace. Just like the world lost Michael Jackson, we have indeed lost our central creativity. She has boldly defy what we believe to be the "norm".

Taken from The Storyteller - http://yasminthestoryteller.blogspot.com/

Yasmin Ahmad left this world with many of her beautiful creations. What makes her work so unacceptable to us was because she told the truth through the lenses. She told the truth from her inner most being - her inner soul. Indeed she has lived and we have merely existed, and yet we continue to exist.

One TV commercial that none of us could ever forget was the one simply entitled "Tan Hong Ming's Love". It was aired a few weeks before we celebrated our 50th year of independence. Let's spend a little time watching this simple but yet very provocative video.

Set at a national school where children of all races come together for their formal primary education, Tan Hong Ming was asked whether he has got a girlfriend. We know not to encourage dating at such a young age but his innocence was what we really needed. We, the adults must indeed remember the time where "TRUE" love flourished. Tan Hong Ming's love isn't one that is ordinary in our eyes. You see, in reality we were called to be scattered through race. Look at the political parties we have today. They are race based! Look at public schools today. They are race based! That is exactly what makes Tan Hong Ming's love so pure and uncorrupted! He have learned to love a girl of a different race. It makes me wonder why are we trying so hard when what we really need is sheer simplicity. Why are our leaders making decisions that could only bring harm to these innocent children that we learn so much from?

We are all shamed by the innocence Yasmin Ahmad has brought out through his creation. Gone are the days when we have a game of football with friends of many different races, background and creed. Today we have so much differences that are created in the imagination of our minds. We poison our own beliefs. We become fanatics.

It is nerve wreaking that our local dailies are selling with headlines highlighting DEAF, MURDER, THEFT, RAPE and POLITICAL UNREST. We no longer want all these. We are in the 21st century and are civilized beings. We no longer live on trees or in caves and definitely hunting is not one of our main activities in life. We are called to increase the population of our country but yet we're killing ourselves. There are much more to be celebrated. Let's stop all the petty issues today and move on to build a better tomorrow.

I take my hat off Yasmin Ahmad. She is no different but a human that fight for unity. Her world could be shared even more if only there isn't any discrimination. Many international awards but unrecognized in her own homeland. Many would agree that she worked very hard to be recognized locally.

How many more good people must be lose in order for us to truly be awake?

May you rest in peace Yasmin Ahmad. You have touched our lives. May we make a conscious decision with good conscience for UNITY.

Thank you for all that you have given us. SEPET remains my favorite homegrown movie.

7.2 lbs Holland Lop!?

The standard calls for Holland Lops to be 4 lbs (MAXIMUM) and that's approximately 1.8 kgs. And look what I found out about the Rabbit Hill's Skor.

A Whooping 7.2 lbs!!!

The scale showed 3.25 kgs! My eyes nearly popped out their sockets!

I was so attracted to the way Skor was posing that I forgotten that someone tweaked my scale. After a quick adjustment, I got the right figure. He weighs almost 1.9 kgs or 4.2 lbs. just 0.2 over the standard.

That's 1.9 kg. What a relief!

With the does, breeders usually do not mind if there are big and ugly. Brood does come in many shapes and sizes. It made me wonder sometimes if there is such thing as a "brood" quality buck. I dare say now that my question has been answered. If we need those normal and big does to avoid getting peanuts, I believe normal/false dwarf bucks could be used with true dwarf does to help us get true dwarfs and at the same time avoid getting peanuts.

Skor is a very chunky huggable bunny. You'll be tempted to give him a good squeeze if you see him. Don't all Hollands make you feel the same?

Have a nice Sunday everyone!

A Tribute To Benji

A few days back, I received a text message from Hun regarding her 10 year old rabbit Benji. Apparently, Benji has since developed cataract on both eyes.

What amazes me most if that Benji wasn't on very special diet. He has been on the locally milled pellets and constantly having fresh veges in his diet. Whatever it is, to be able to live 10 years for a rabbit goes to show that his owner must be doing something very right. Benji is an in tact buck that isn't neutered. These photos show that Benji still have very nice fur condition.

Isn't he handsome?

Good teeth

Nice fur?

A garden to play in!

And all Thunder could do was...

Being in AWE!!!

A Very Special Visit!

I am so honored to have Keat visiting the rabbitry. I learned so much in the span of a short few hours during his visit. Keat is filled with so much knowledge that I found it really hard to keep up. But one thing for sure, he LOVES Thunder!

Keat checking out Muffet

Besides all the bunny talks, many important topics were discussed today and mostly was about Holland Lops (of course). There were mana "AHA!" moments and one particular statement made by Keat really stood out from the rest. He told me over lunch that he enjoys hanging out with fellow rabbit enthusiasts. I could relate to that immediately because up until today, I was trying to figure out what was it between rabbit people that is so attractive. The words that I was looking for exactly are "a quiet understanding". Keat brought that out very clearly when he mentioned that when rabbit people come together, there is no need for explanation as to why he likes rabbits. To put it plainly each rabbit person would know exactly why they are attracted to rabbits. That's exactly what draws me to rabbit people too. I don't have to explain myself to people who do not understand my liking for this wonderful breed called the Holland Lops.

Keat taught me a lot of stuff today from judging Holland Lops to sharing with me how he palpate does for kits. He adviced me to work on what matters as far as point allocation was concerned for the Holland Lops. The gis of it all that I can't agree more was that color is not at all important in Holland Lops as that only contributes very little in the overall point allocation. He somehow puts me into the right perspective.

Keat got Clark to pose in an instant!

I was hoping Keat would point out some of my mistakes in the overall management of the rabbitry and I basically left the rabbitry like how it usually is. I did not go out of the way cleaning and making it shine to impress. But I was flattered that Keat thought it was very clean and my rabbits are all healthy.

His end remark was "...visiting the premier rabbit man, Timmy Chan, in Malaysia. We should all keep our rabbits that clean!!!". That really cracked me up.

As a conclusion of his visit, I must say that TLR needs to reset the clock and try things all over again. If you can decode that it would be good, but I am sure Keat knows what I am referring to. He left without any stones unturned as far as the rabbits are concerned.

Since I was busy listening, he even wrote notes for me!

Thank you so much Keat, I really appreciate you coming over and showing me a thing or two!

In case you didn't know, Keat's an ARBA Registrar and he knows Holland Lops!

He owns a hobby farm called Tymin.

Kay Miller

For the first time, I found it hard to give an appropriate title to my blog post. Kay Miller is one of the most wonderful people that I have the privilege of knowing. There are many words that I could use to describe her. These words just cannot fit into a title and therefore, I am keeping it simple like how I think Kay would like it. Just Kay Miller will do.

But do let me share the words that describe the person Kay is. She is generous, kind, humble and filled with humility. I have never met Kay in person and likewise she have not met me in person too. What really brought us together was indeed through 2 of the most beautiful Holland Lops that she willingly shared with me.

I would really like to put a beautiful face to the beautiful name. I found some beautiful pictures of her on the internet and am now awaiting the approval from the website owner to allow me to use these photos. I am not too sure if Kay would mind me posting her photo on my blog being the low profile person she is. I hope she do not mind.

My post yesterday highlighted the "heavyweights" of the Holland Lop world but you must know that there are many more low profile breeders that could do as much damage to the show table. Kay Miller is one of those breeders that could make quite a big impact in shows while being low profile.

I stumbled across her cute little website today and thought it would be nice to share it - http://millerlops.googlepages.com/home:).

I realize that Clark has produced quite a few beauties for Kay before he came to TLR. I really do hope to get kits from him soon.

And I know Carmel means a lot to Kay as she is still listed under the does page. Really appreciate the honorary mention. I am overjoyed to see Kuala Lumpur written on the website of a reputable Holland Lop breeder's website.

And as you can see, Kay has been working with Holland Lops since 1980. That's 29 years of Holland Lop development. You can imagine how strong the Holland Lop bloodline is in her rabbitry.

It takes a lot of trust for her to share these beautiful rabbits of hers. And I personally take it upon myself to ensure the purity of these rabbits. I can only trust myself in ensuring that these beautiful Holland Lops do not get mixed by irresponsible hands.

That's from the bottom of my heart about this wonderful person named Kay Miller from Colorado. I could never thank you enough for your generosity.

A candle for Hans

I am in a total shock at the moment. One of my dearest bunny friends lost one of her rabbits today. Many have known Hans of furrybutts.wordpress.com and I am lost for words to learn that he left us yesterday.

My heartfelt condolences to both SB and her husband. Hope they will be able to move on. I truly understand how hard it is to loose one of your precious.

Binky free little Hans. I am sure Luna and Latara will be opening up the gates at Rainbow Bridge for you. You will be truly missed!

Lineage Tracing

I spend most of my free time tracing back Holland Lop lineages of breeders I admire and have high regards for. Most of the time, I literally drool over rabbit photos on their websites. So here I am again trying to figure out who's who in my rabbits. LOL!

Some of these photos I am sharing does not belong to me nor have I asked the permission to use them. I would like to apologize if any of the photo owners are offended. Please let me know so that I can remove them without question. But I do hope the owners to these photos do not mind me using them. I will put a note at the bottom of the photos specifying the websites I have taken them from.

When I first started out researching on Holland Lops, I came across many websites and some of which are breeders who have quit raising rabbits altogether. The two breeders that have carved a very deep impression on my mind about Holland Lops are:

1) Belokonny - Dr. Mark (wife Sarah) & David Belokonny

2) Pitney - Sarah & Dan Pitney

These 2 Holland Lop breeders have made a huge impact on most of the lineages we have today. Sadly, both rabbitries no longer exist but their stocks are all over the US. To be able to get hold of the descendants of their lines is a really huge honor. And owning them would be like my wildest dream come true. I am very proud and happy to say that I do own descendants of their lines of Holland Lops. I really have got Scott Rodriguez to thank (again!) for making this a dream come true.

Tracing back both Thunder and Haley's lineage, I could find some familiar names and I am grateful to even put faces to these names.

Some of the names behind Thunder:

Thunder's sire - Photo taken from www.ivycrescenthollands.com

Thunder's Grand Dam - Photo taken from www.ivycrescenthollands.com

Sarah's Isabelle (Thunder's Great Grand Dam) - Photo taken from http://www.geocities.com/pitneyhollandlops/

Naragon's Anubis (Thunder's Great Grand Sire) - Photo taken from http://www.angelfire.com/in4/naragon/

Thunder's Great Grand Dam - Photo taken from www.ivycrescenthollands.com

Some of the names behind Haley:

Sarah's Lewis (Haley's Great Grand Sire) 2004 ARBA Convention 1st BSB - Photo taken from http://www.geocities.com/pitneyhollandlops/

Haley's Dam - Photo taken from www.ivycrescenthollands.com

Haley's Great Grand Sire - Photo taken from www.ivycrescenthollands.com

Looking back at all these photos and lineages, I am compelled to write this post in celebration and to take my hats off these breeders that have developed the Holland Lops we have today. We continue to thank those that has left this wonderful hobby and yet have their legacy continued by those who are working with the descendants of their rabbits. I also would also like to dedicate this post to all those still going strong in their chase for perfection for all the hard work they have done and still striving tirelessly.

A few names I would love to mention with their websites included. I know that I will definitely miss out a lot of breeders, please forgive me but here are just a few Holland Lop "heavy weights" that I would like to mention and no offense intended:

1) L.O.V. Bunnies Rabbitry - Ardis Hartwig & Tim Waddell

2) BunnyLand USA - Becky & Allan Ormond

3) Critter Co*op Rabbitry - Chris Zemny

4) THF Saynora - Tracy Lukeman & Jenna Buchenauer

Celebrate LIFE, Celebrate the Holland Lop!

Definition of a Breeder

I love the way the free online dictionary Wikipedia.org describes the word Breeder.

A breeder is a person who practices the vocation of mating carefully selected specimens of the same breed to reproduce specific, consistently replicable qualities and characteristics.

This might be as a farmer, agriculturalist, or hobbyist, and can be practiced on a large or small scale, for food, fun, or profit.

And it further described Hobbyist as:

A person who is interested in a subject or an activity as a hobby

And it further described Hobby as:

A hobby is a spare-time recreational pursuit

That is exactly what I would like to be referred to maybe minus the profit part on the definition of breeder. Time and time again, I strongly believe that for me, passion outweighs profit anytime. The word profit only means cost cutting in my opinion. Cost cutting ultimately equates to suffering animals.

Profit or fun aside, let's bring ourselves back to the subject matter. What a breeder means to me?

Not too far in the distant past, breeders are people who consciously put 2 animals of opposite gender together with the intention to produce more. That was about all what a breeder's role is. Produce more, sell more and earn more. Today I am proud that there is an awareness sweeping across the face of the earth. People are starting to realize that beside from just producing more, they should also produce healthy and good stocks.

Not only breeders are called to produce healthy and good stocks but they now have an even more important role to play. Which is to disseminate crucial information. There are of course breeders from the dark ages still mingling around lurking to pounce on innocent preys caught unaware and off guard. They tend to play with their words and tell of the many lies to get their stock sold.

Some breeders have no qualms passing around genetically challenged stocks, sick animals which causes an outbreak at a fellow breeder's location and the list goes on. Whatever it is, truth shall always prevail.

So you see, what I am trying to say is that, indeed a breeder is someone that puts two animals together to produce more but there are many more that meets the eye. And the point however I twist and go round the bushes with my words, a breeder remains a breeder whether they are good or bad in our own definitions and expectations.

You do not call a person who puts 2 rabbits of opposite gender together a rabbit PIMP. You call him/her a breeder. Again, not a rabbit PIMP but a BREEDER.

And by all standards, when you breed 2 rabbits of the opposite gender and these 2 rabbits are bought from someone else, the offspring will be considered of your breeding.

The reason for that is that these 2 rabbits did not open the latches to their cage doors and came together to have a jolly good time. No, the breeder will open up the doe's cage door, pick her up gently and put her into the buck's cage (after opening the door that is).

So you tell me, in that act of a human being opening the door and placing a female rabbit into a cage where a male rabbit is, what would this action be called?

We in the rabbit world calls it breeding rabbits. And the breeding is done by? The breeder of course! DuHHHhhhHHHhhhhhhHHHhhh.....

If you have been in the rabbit world long enough, you will hear breeders saying, "I am breeding rabbits".

That means they are deliberately putting together 2 rabbits of their liking and in their best ability judged to be a good match. No breeder with the right frame of mind would say that they own offspring of 2 rabbits not owned by them and are bred by their rightful owner. To say that is totally utter nonsense and outrageous!

In the case of rabbit shows, if someone wins with rabbits bred from my stocks that I have sold him/her earlier. I would be proud that they did well with my stocks. But I could never and should never take credit for those rabbits that won. For it was the good judgment of the winner that he/she bred the rabbits I sold him/her that produced these winning specimens.

Basically, I cannot say that the tallest building in the world is built by me. PERIOD!

Spells You'll Never Learn in SwineWart

I would like to dedicate this post to all Holland Lop breeders longing to have their nest boxes fill up. And thank you Susie for inspiring me to write this. Susie happened to catch a funny quote from me that I would like to share with the entire world.

How many times do we find ourselves saying things like "I wish he/she weren't born" or something along that line? Yes, we do hate our own kind sometimes. We find some of the people we know do not deserve to share this world we are living in maybe because of their stupidity or unacceptable behaviors. It is pretty normal to feel frustrated with a fellow human being. I am sure most of you could relate to me when I say that our pets ultimately make us feel happier after a hard day's work.

Most people with pets can relate very easily how they always turn to their beloved furball for solace. And our pets will never be a target of a mean statement. And so the quote "Sometimes I really hope the fertility rate of useless people are given to Holland Lops.." was born.

When I first started raising Holland Lops, I normally giggle in my heart when people tell me that Holland Lop is the hardest breed to work with and many quit as fast as they get into the hobby. Right now, I totally agree with what they told me. And the fact remains that we do not normally take it out on our beloved pets. The quote was inspired by the fact that I rather "diss" a fellow human being rather than my Holland Lops because they are worth so much more to me. LOL!

And to bring this to a higher level. I started to wonder how would it be possible to make something totally funny out of it. Sarcasm comes to me quite easily when I am frustrated. Almost anything in my path will get a good dissing. I am sure some of my closest friends knows me by that fact. A very good target at the moment is a movie so overrated that it is worth every dissing. It is about the lives of students in a place they call the School of Wizardry and Witchcraft. Yes, that place where "hogs" have "warts" in their butts!

Instead of teaching the students how to make pigs fly with levitation spells, I think they should give all Holland Lop breeders some spells to speed up kindling dates and increase the fertility rate of Holland Lops. And so I suggested to them to research into a spell I call "Swavapo Fertilito Animelly Humano". This should be a spell to be used to swap the fertility rate between Humans and Animals to help us solve the overpopulation of "useless" people. I rather have more Holland Lops on the face of the earth than to have millions of incompetent fools running around.

And sometimes breeders give their rabbits some prep talks to get them all hyped up wanting to have kits. For this I suggest a spell call "Kitos Now Nokiddin"!

And how I wish with just one POOOOOOF, we'll get something like this....

Holly Hope as a baby

Rabbit Shows: The Way They Do It In US

I am feeling a little under the weather today. Not that I am ill but I am quite sick of what's been happening all around especially the news. At times like these, I turn to my solace, my blog.

I have seen many photos taken at shows and I realized that I have been talking a lot about rabbit shows but somehow have not taken the time to post photos of rabbit shows. Thanks to my dear friend Teri Reymann of sonshinerabbitry.net. I was able to obtain some photos to share with all of you. I really have to thank Teri for allowing me to have these photos.

Their outdoor shows are equally as impressive as those held indoors. Just take a look at these photos:

Triple Crown show held last weekend

A Judge judging broken tort Hollands

Here are some photos taken at the Washington State Convention:

It could get rather messy but interesting!

Judging tables and coops

Massive isn't it?

Grooming tables are familiar sights at shows

So as you can see, a show is all about bringing people together and having fun. It does not matter where and when it is held, as long as everyone goes home happy after having a jolly good time with friends.

Let's look forward for shows like these shall we?

Back-2-Nature Litter Bedding

Back-2-Nature

This is an overdue post that I should have written much earlier. Being such a procrastinator sometimes is not a good thing at all. As I have written previously, TLR supports and practices environmental friendly ways of managing the rabbitry. This is yet another environmental friendly litter materials that I am currently using. I know there are many recycled paper litter materials in the market but feeling the texture of Back-2-Nature litter bedding, I feel that is much more appropriate for rabbits.

Softer Pelleted Recycled Paper

I am sure most of you can relate with me as to how our beloved bunnies tend to "bring down the shower". I could almost recall vaguely that someone once told that she could hear "fountain-like" noise when her rabbit take a leak. One of the reasons why rabbits without proper waste management stinks is because the owners are not using a litter material absorbent enough to absorb the pee.

Close up of the litter material

Back-2-Nature is softer and in my opinion is able to absorb more efficiently and effectively. At the moment I am trying it on Seychel and it seemed to be working very well.

Seychel checking out the new material, APPROVED!

DIY Litter Tray

There you go, another good recommendation for the bestest of your bunny!

I Like Chocolates & Sundays!

Truffles turn 6 months today while Seychel will be 6 months in 12 days time.

I always catch Little Seychel sitting upright in her cage and at certain angles, she's really pretty. It would be perfect if her ears are a little shorter. I wish I had the DSLR today because she was posing for me. Anyhow, here's a photo captured with the regular camera.

I am so proud of my own breedings at the moment. These 2 kits are cool! Oops, no longer kits, they are both grown ups now!

Getting Bulky

In case you didn't know, Seychel is a broken chocolate doe. Hope to get nice solid chocolates from her!

Rabbit Owners, Mobilize & Get Ready To Roll Out!

We are in the midst of starting up Malaysia Rabbit Owners Club (MROC - pronounced as M Rock!). The first step is to hold a meeting of at least 7 members to form a committee. The poll has indicated we do have enough numbers. Details will be disclosed at later point of time. For those who are interested, please email your name, address and contact numbers to Ms. Felicity at felicity_junlyn@yahoo.com or myself Mr. Tim at truluvrabbitry@gmail.com.

The initial objectives of the club as stated in the polls post would be:

1) The club acts as a central repository for all rabbit owners in Malaysia. This would be a central point of reference for those interested in keeping rabbits as pets. New owners will be able to contact breeders and learn more before getting their new pets.

2) Organize shows that caters for all target group.

3) The club's main objective should be to educate the general public and ensure the well being of rabbits in Malaysia. The club will also promote responsible pet rabbit ownership and emphasis will be given to help control rabbit population through education on benefits of neutering pets.

These are just some of the suggested club objectives and more will be added before the first meeting will be held to finalize our objectives that are needed to form the club.

Again, for those who are interested to help, please get in touch with Ms. Felicity or myself.

The email addresses to remember are:

1) Ms. Felicity (felicity_junlyn@yahoo.com)

2) Mr. Tim (truluvrabbitry@gmail.com)

Dear rabbit owners let's mobilize and get ready to roll out! We welcome all rabbit owners irregardless of Purebreds or Mixed breds! As long as you're a rabbit owner, we want you! What ya waiting for?

Email us NOW!

I am not sure, BUT...

I am not a rabbit nutritionist extraordinaire but I feel and see the differences between the current feed that I am using as compared to the previous one that I was using.

Here's a photo before switching to Pro Optimum Premium Rabbit Pellets:

Truffles may be in a molt here so that might be the reason why he does not look as bulky.

And here's the after:

The pellets did great on his fur. It is all glossy and shiny now.

Don't mean to brag and my apologies for the repeated photos. Just thought my sharing. I have read that no way conditioning can help improve genetic traits but I thought there may be a little effect coming from a good feed.

The Rise Of The Singleton!

I am still very dazed from the exciting weekend. Since the show, the blog stats has skyrocketed. I am receiving so many congratulatory text messages and emails . Thank you everyone for your kind words. The inquiries for my rabbits has skyrocketed as well. Please know that I am still the same old guy that does not bite. The sales policy stands but I have nothing to offer at the moment. Sorry for that shortcomings. Am really glad that I am finally seeing some fruits of my labor after 2 years (since 2006). I don't mean the number of sales but the knowledge and awareness of this breed is finally growing.

Truffles is back to his old self. Being a mischieve like the usual. Begging for food this morning and I just love his cute face!

I just realized that he was a singleton and his mom Holly Hope was also a singleton. It is not easy raising singletons but it is very fulfilling! I never imagine getting even a ribbon before this but miracles do happen sometimes. I am proud that Truffles is from my own breeding and it was really fun having this little guy! Just like to post on his development so far with some past photos:

1st Day

6 weeks cutie

1.5 months

2 months

5 months