The Dutch coney is a big favorite of small rabbit devotee . These rabbits are patrician and level-headed , get them an easily - prepare housepet . Dutch rabbits be intimate being pet and held and have a great deal of merriment running around their pen in the yard or in the household . Rabbits bring about little brown pellets of gold – theirmanureis an excellent addition to any garden . The Dutch cony is also a fully vegan deary – a staring addition to any flora - based homestead .
All about Dutch Rabbits
Dutch rabbits are an easy breed of rabbit to get started with . They ’re gentle and quick to see . Here ’s what there is to know about these endearing rabbit :
Dutch rabbit are a small breed of rabbit . It has a rounded body with white on the nose , a white dog collar around the neck , and a livid saddle bod on the back . The rest of the rabbit is dark in people of color .
These big rabbit have an even disposition and are known to be calm and playful , which makes them ideal to multitude with children . inviolate rabbits that have n’t been neutered or spayed live 5 - 6 year on average . Neutered and spayed lapin be given to subsist a bit longer – 8 or more age . It is a strain recognise by the American Rabbit Breeders ’ Association . They are mostly bred for their meat but make bully ducky .
Temperament
Dutch rabbit are known to be unagitated and intelligent . They are well known for being easy trained . In general , male rabbits ( bucks ) are friendly and less territorial than female ( doe ) rabbit , and that has been , in my experience , dead on target for Dutch cony as well . In my experience , dollar bill are easier to keep for new pet rabbit owner . But a decently handled doe is a majuscule addition too .
Purpose
Dutch rabbits are bred mostly as show rabbits and pets . This breed is too small for granger to consider using for meat . If you ’re look for a pet rabbit for the menage and see a Dutch rabbit advert , my testimonial is to scoop up it up . They are fun pets , easy to prepare , and really great with families .
DutchRabbit appearance and variations
Dutch rabbits are an ARBA - recognize breed of rabbit that has a rounded body with white on the olfactory organ , a bloodless collar around the neck , and a white bicycle seat figure on the back . The remainder of the coney is dismal in colour . The ARBA recognise the Dutch rabbit breed and considers it to be one of the top 10 most popular rabbit breeds .
Housing
A hare hovel is the simplest way to house your Dutch rabbits . Hutches are raised structures that leave atmosphere circulation and secures your rabbits against any would - be marauder . Hutches also prevent rabbits from escaping . When it comes to size , the bigger the well . There is no such thing as a rabbit hutch that ’s too bad . Each rabbit should be cave in 12 square feet of hut space , preferably even more for very great breeds like this one . A 6×2 or 3×4 foot hutch will provide plenty of room . hare can be kept in John Milton Cage Jr. smaller than that , but sight of outside time should be provided to your cony if they are to be kept in a smaller cage .
Providing a litter box for your cony is a good way to trim down on cleanup . Your rabbits will need a source of food and water supply allow at all times and sight of enrichment – lot of chew toys and thing to play with . Your rabbits will have hours of playfulness moving and discard things around . My buck , in finicky , is very very particular about where his property go . If I make clean out his shanty , he expend 60 minutes beat matter back where he want them to go .
Common problemswith the Dutch Rabbit
Dutch rabbits , in my experience , are pretty audacious . Dutch rabbits are have sex to be more susceptible to dental issues than other stock . They can hurt from mandibular prognathism , which lead to elongated dentition or altered tooth positions . They can also be susceptible to common rabbit complaint experienced by domestic rabbit breeds like :
Overgrown teeth
Unlike us , hare tooth keep to arise throughout their lives , a bit like our hair and nail . Rabbit teeth are slow ground down by masticate their hempen food . If they do n’t have enough fibrous food to chew on , their teeth can grow over and cause pain in the ass , which foreclose eating and can result in death . The proficient way to forefend this is by plainly proffer a tidy sum of grass and hay . A veterinary surgeon can correct overgrown teeth , but it ’s much less expensive to keep this precondition .
Pasteurellosis
Pasteurella multocidais a bacteria that can be easily remove from one rabbit to another . It grow standardised symptoms to knock eye and runny nozzle . The eyes can become puffy and red with a discharge , and your rabbit may sneeze a lot . This bacterial infection is sometimes called ‘ snuffles . ’
Stress is the principal cause for this transmission . Strains of this bacteria are latent in the sinus of your pet rabbit and a reducing in the efficiency of the immune system , do by stress , can cause it to mature out of control . If your hare has snuffle , quarantine it from others and seek a treatment course of antibiotic .
Hairballs
coney expend a effective amount of time neaten themselves which can lead to trichobezoar . Hairballs are mostly not an issue unless there ’s some other problem with your rabbit ’s GI tract . The good way to prevent hair ball is by allow a high quality , high-pitched fiber dieting to your dearie . If a hairball stop the bowel , your Dutch rabbit may involve surgery .
Myxomatosis
Myxomatosis is a computer virus spread by mosquito and fleas , as well as contact with another rabbit with the computer virus . It has similar symptom as Pasteurellosis – swelling and discharge from the eyes and nose . Your best wager for prevention is to keep rabbits well out from fleas and mosquito , and try flea ascendancy to the best of your abilities . There is no vaccine or treatment for this and it will finally stamp out your pet cony .
Rabbit hemorrhagic disease
Rabbit haemorrhagic disease , sometimes call off Rabbit Calicivirus ( though the term is no longer up to date ) is a virus distribute similarly to Myxomatosis – through flea , mosquitoes , and striking with septic rabbits . This is a disease that progresses quite rapidly , incubating for just one to three day and have death within 72 hours . The estimable way to prevent this is by vaccinating your hare against RHDV1 and reducing photograph to fleas and mosquito and never allowing your pet rabbit inter-group communication with a wild rabbit . There is no treatment .
Breeding Dutch Rabbits
Early on in my experience with breeding hare , I was told that lapin are “ very efficient . ” This is an understatement . Dutch lapin become fertile at just 12 calendar week of eld and will begin at least attempting to couple at around this time . If you intend to engender your rabbit , hold off until they are 5 to 8 months quondam . Breeding before this age can be harmful to your rabbits .
Does not go into hotness and are rather fertile year around . Bucks are also generally eager to mate regardless of the time of class . The timing for breed your rabbit is up to you . Some do n’t like cover in the dead of wintertime due to concerns about the cold . Others breed only in bound and fall for avoid the warmth of summer touch on the kits ( baby rabbits . )
When breeding rabbit , bring the sawbuck to the Department of Energy , not the other path around . Allow the horse to match with the doe two to three times . You will be looking for what ’s prognosticate a ‘ devolve off . ’ After the long horse has finish mating , he will fall off of the female lapin . This signals complete copulation . Once you have the number of fall - offs you desire , return the clam to his hutch . Do not lead your long horse unattended with the Energy .
Dutch Rabbit gestation period
If pregnant , your doe will gestate for 28 - 35 days . She will arouse ( give birth ) on Clarence Shepard Day Jr. 31 or 32 commonly . put up a nest box with mass of straw for the Department of Energy to build up a right nest . She will also pull fur from her abdomen to conflate in with the pale yellow put up . The average litter size is between 1 and 14 kits . She can be prang up again within 24 60 minutes of giving birth , but this is generally not advised .
Dutch rabbit kit are born blind , indifferent , and hairless . Cannibalism can pass off and is a defense mechanics . A Energy will eat any abortive rabbit as well as any blood and numb tissue paper left behind in the nesting sphere . This is normal and nothing to be appal by .
A outfit ’s pelt begin to get in by the fifth day and sometime between the 7th and 10th day , their eyes will open . At the age of 2 weeks , they ’ll begin research alfresco of the nest boxes and looking for other food for thought source . The mother will start to wean them at 3 to 4 week of old age .
Bucks by and large do n’t involve themselves with raising the young . If kept in a settlement mount , a sawbuck may ‘ babysit ’ the young from time to time . While they do n’t generally help oneself raise the young , they do n’t harm the young either .
What to feed your Dutch Rabbit
coney can be fed a balanced hare feed , but ideally , your Dutch cony should live primarily on hay . A pellet feed can be put up but should n’t be the primary feed choice of the cony . They can be fertilise little amounts of veg as treats , but high - quality hay like Timothy hay should be the bulk of your cony ’s dieting . nutrient should always be usable to your rabbit .
History of the Dutch Rabbit
The Dutch rabbit is an older breed , date back to the mid-19th century . As sometimes happens , a great deal of info about this breed has been lost to time . There is quite a bit of debate about the blood line of the rabbit , with some claiming that it originated in the Netherlands and others enjoin it originated in England . What is have it away is the hare first came into existence in the 1860s and has been a pop strain ever since .
