Monthly Archives: October 2008

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!

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.

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….

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?

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!