Category Archives: General Care

1. The one and only good reason for breeding is to achieve a certain standard specified by a recognized body. In short, it should be for the preservation of best qualities and traits of the rabbit breed.

2. Breeding to meet the market demand is never a good intention/reason. Best interest of the breed is more important than your bank account balance.

3. Keeping a next generation of your current pet should not be your reason to breed because it is not likely that the offspring will turn out to be exactly the same as your current pet. Furthermore, you have to ask yourself if your current pet have all the good qualities desired for the breed.

4. Extensive research has to be undertaken if you intend to be an ethical breeder. This usually last for years and not temporary. Developing a certain breed of rabbit is not a passing fad or craze.

5. Those with intention to be a breeder should always have a mentor and be enthusiastic in their hobby.

6. In order to assess the success of breeding programs, the breeder have the responsibility to keep track of his/her “products” whether show quality or pet quality.

7. Pet quality specimens must be passed on with a no-breeding contract. Spaying and neutering highly desired.

8. Show quality specimens must not be bred if they develop undesirable traits as they grow.

9. A responsible breeder is one who takes back his or her “product” for whatever reason specified by their owner.

10. My personal belief is that rabbits should not be exploited in any way. Many responsible breeders would love to give their “products” as cherished gifts to deserving individuals. This will help the community curb pet-milling and back-yard breeding problems. Since the world is not in such a perfect condition, I usually charge to cover the time and effort I put into this hobby. I normally make a loss having this past time. If people are unwilling to pay the amount I propose, I would encourage them to adopt which is a noble act

Just heard a great news from a fellow rabbit breeder. He is bringing in Oxbow and will be the distributor in Malaysia. That is great news indeed for Malaysia rabbit community. So excited. If all goes well, we shall have Oxbow in May 2008!!!

I just read on another HL breeder’s blog that she feed 3 to 4 ounces of feed a day. That is equivalent to 85 to 113 grams per day. I really need to bring out the weighing scale to see how much I am feeling my rabbits per day…

Just need to add on more. A dear friend also mentioned that the recommended amount to feed is 1/8 to 1/4 (of 250ml cup) per 5 lbs (2268 grams or 2.268) body weight.

Let’s do some calculations here:

Skor is 1.6kg

(1600 g / 2268) * 100 = 70% of 1/4 cup?

That’s less than 5lbs so I can just give 1/4 cup I believe as 70% would be too little in my eyes. Wonder how much is 1/4 cup in grams….

This means that I have to start weighing my rabbits to ascertain how much to feed each individual.

Many people keep animals as pets and I usually see 2 different types of pet owners. The first kind keep their pet for reason such as a dog to look after the house and the second are those who pampers their pets to the maximum.

I am starting to believe that I fall under the extreme case of the second kind. I practically splurge on my pets like crazy. But I am comforted because I know people who are worst.

Rabbit pellets were running out fast and I had to stock up for the month (hopefully they last for a month that is). Since getting oxbow is such a chore, I decided to start my rabbits on Sunseed’s Vita-Plus range for both young and adult rabbits. I also got hold of a pack of Kaytee Mini Bale Alfafa. I felt Kaytee’s was a little expensive at $17.90 per 800g. I later found Benjy selling for $20 per 1kg at another pet shop. I ended up buying both.

Total expenditure for rabbits today was $140. I really hope the food last till end of next month. I have to stock up for the Sugar Gliders, Hedgehog & the Dogs too. Darn…

Totally slaving to my pets…

The stuffs I bought today to pamper just the hoppers…

Every month end, my pet supply shelf would look like this…

I usually drop by Laurie Stroupe’s blog whenever I am surfing the internet. She never fails to give good advice and post informative write ups. I came across another good blog entry today and thought it would be worthwhile to share:

Baby Bellies

Went to the vet today and confirmed Skor had fur mites and lice. It is quite obvious he did not get them here in Malaysia because it takes almost 3 weeks for eggs to hatch. Apparently, these mites and lice are the hatched version. We only had Skor for approximately 3 weeks and so, it was quite obvious these parasites came with him.

Fur Mite

Lice

This time Dr. Lee attended to me and she gave me quite a lengthy explanation. She also confirmed that FrontLine should not be used on rabbits. The best drug to use is Ivermectin namely Merial Ivomec. Skor was given only 0.05ml dose for 1.2kg although he was 1.6kg. This being the first dose should be a little less than needed so that it would not be too much for Skor to take.

Dr. Lee pulled some fur from Skor and put them under the microscope. There were eggs too! Dr. Lee allowed me to take a look through the microscope and it looked like a whole new world. I could just imagine Skor’s body zoomed in and cannot help but to feel itchy all over.

Dr. Lee explained that there are 2 types of mites. Those that burrow under the skin and those that lives on the surface. Rabbit almost never get the burrowing type or even flea. I concluded what she told me as all these parasites live on rabbits or any other hosts for a reason. And the most common reason is to feed on the skin rather than the common belief of feeding on dandruff. Mites/Lice do not feed on dandruff but instead causes dandruff. Ivermectin will stay at the skin surface when administered and the lice or mite that feeds on the skin will die from consuming the drug.

I previously had the impression that there are blood sucking parasites and skin eating parasites. To kill blood suckers we should administer Ivermectin and for skin eaters we administer FrontLine. But that is not the case. The conclusion was clear. Most common mites and lice living on rabbits feed on their skin and administering Ivermectin at least twice a week apart will kill them off. They will still stay on the rabbit as dead parasites until falling off along with their fur.

I never fail to learn something new each time I visit the vet. Will be bringing Skor for another jab next week.

While waiting for those snails to get Oxbow into Malaysia, I had to find some other alternatives. Can you imagine that we have Pet Lover Centre in Ikano Power Centre and yet they are telling me that there are no distributor bringing Oxbow in. Seemed like these fellows have not heard of STOCK TRANSFER. Same company (branches) but cannot have the flexibility of moving their stocks around, how can? Thanks to my cousin who is working in Singapore, I was able to get hold of 2 10lbs packs. Hope he comes back often so that I will have regular supply of this wonderful product for my bunnies.

When Tru-Luv says we love our bunnies, we will always go the extra mile for them. Here you go, our very first packet of Oxbow Bunny Basics/T. Simply amazing!