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Here Are The Rabbit Breed Descriptions
If you are short on space consider a Dwarf Breed. Woolly breeds will need more time for grooming and if you have the room, you could always consider getting a Flemish Giant. Besides picking the rabbit breed you can also can have the fun picking a color. Some rabbit breeds come in a variety of colors. I’ll explain the different coats (fur), the color patterns and the different rabbit breeds. Hopefully, these rabbit breed descriptions will help you in your search for that perfect new pet rabbit. Rabbit Breed Descriptions American – This rabbit is a medium sized rabbit weighing 9 - 12 pounds. They have a compact appearance with a pear-shape body. The American comes in two varieties of colors, blue and white. The blue variety has blue-gray eyes and the white variety has pink eyes. American Fuzzy Lop – This rabbit will need extra grooming since it is a crossbreed between an Angora and a Holland Lop. With a maximum weight of 4 pounds, and with their big floppy ears, this rabbit is growing in popularity. This breed comes in 19 colors; chinchilla, chestnut, blue, lynx, opal, squirrel, pointed white, blue-eyed white, ruby-eyed white, chocolate, lilac, sable point, Siamese sable, Siamese smoke pearl, tortoise shell (black and blue) and orange. This rabbit has a short, compact muscular body. American Sable – This is a rich brownish-gray color rabbit with its face, ears, legs and tail being darker than the main body. The beautiful soft coat has been crossed with a chinchilla. With a slightly arched back, this medium size rabbit weighs 7 –10 pounds. Angora – This is another rabbit that needs additional grooming since their coats are long and woolly. There are four different types of Angora rabbits. They are the English Angora, French Angora, Satin Angora and Giant Angora. English Angora – The English Angora is the most popular of all of the Angora rabbits. With its compact size and looks of a ball of fluff, it is certainly a crowd favorite. This rabbit originated in Turkey and weighs between 5-8 pounds. This breed comes in a variety of colors and patterns. French Angora – Bred specifically for its wool, this rabbit is similar to its English relative. However, the French breed has less fur on its ears, head and legs and weighs around 9 pounds. The French people would hand pull the fur from these rabbits to spin it into clothing. The French Angora comes in the same color groups as the English Angora. This rabbit is also longer and slight in statue compared to the English Angora. Satin Angora – As its name implies, this breed has a silky and shinny coat compared to its closer relatives, the English and French Angoras. This breed weighs around 7 pounds and comes is the same colors as the English and French Angoras. Giant Angora- A pure bred only comes in white with either blue or ruby eyes. This breed is larger than the Satin and the English breeds weighing around 9 pounds. The Giant Angora has a long woolly coat similar to the English Angora. Belgian Hare – This larger size rabbit weighing around 9 pounds has the appearance of a hare with its long legs and ears. However, this breed is truly a domestic rabbit and not a hare. Originated in Europe in the 1800’s, this breed looks like a hare, which is where the name comes from. This breed comes in a rich reddish-tan or chestnut coloring with slate blue under coat, bordered by black ticking along the length of the body and around the ears. Beveren – This breed is also a larger rabbit weighing around 8-12 pounds. This breed was originated in Europe and is a good breed for small children. The Beveren has a pear-shaped body. The colors of this breed are light lavender blue, white, glossy, jet black with dark blue under coat, brown and lilac. There is also a variety called Pointed Beveren, which come in the same colors but has white tipped hairs. Their coat is thick and silky. Britannia Petite – This breed only weighs 2 pounds and has a coat of all white or black otter. This breed is fine boned and light in stature so gentle care is needed when handling. This breed would not be good for small children, it’s been said that this breed has a bad temperament. This breed originated in Britain. Californian – This breed is a larger breed weighing around 8-10 pounds. This breed has a white coat and ears, nose, feet and tail tipped black, chocolate, blue or lilac. The breed has a firm body and is a cross between a Himalayan, Standard Chinchilla and New Zealand White breeds. As you can guess, this rabbit originated in California in the 1920’s. Champagne D’Argent – The coat of this breed is a mixture of color hairs resulting in a wonderful silver-looking effect. This rabbit was originally bred just for its fur in a province of France, called Champagne. Its a poplar breed in the United States, weighing 10 pounds and is medium in size. Checkered Giant - As a relative to the Flemish Giant breed, the Checkered Giant was first introduced to the United States in 1910 from Europe. This breed weighs around 11 pounds or more. The breed typically comes in white with dark markings that includes a “butterfly” pattern on the nose, dark ears, dark eye rings, spots on the cheeks and other dark patches on the body. This breed also comes in black and blue color varieties. This breed as a well arched body. Chinchilla - All three of the different types of Chinchillas have the same beautiful gray coat. One of the best coats of all the breeds, it’s long, smooth and glossy. The three different types are Standard, American and Giant. Standard Chinchilla – This is said to be the first Chinchilla rabbit that was found in France and first shown in the 1913. It is a crossbreed between a wild gray rabbit and a domestic. The Standard Chinchilla weighs around 6 pounds, has a medium body and a slight arch in the back. American Chinchilla - This is the middle size of the three types weighing between 9-12 pounds. Giant Chinchilla – This type is a crossbred between the Flemish Giant and the smaller Chinchilla. This rabbit weighs around 12- 16 pounds. Cinnamon – This rabbit is a crossbred from a New Zealand White, a Chinchilla, a Checkered Giant and California. The coat is a cinnamon or rust color with smoke gray ticking on its back and gray on the stomach. The weight of this rabbit is around 8 –11 pounds. Crème D’Argent – This is the smallest of the Argent breeds. It is a beautiful rabbit with its orange coat. The undercoat is a bright orange and the topcoat is a creamy white color.This rabbit weights between 8-11 pounds. Dutch – This is an easy recognized rabbit due to its markings and makes a wonderful pet. This is why this rabbit is so popular. The colors for this rabbit are Black, blue, tortoiseshell and chocolate, yellow, steel gray, brown gray and pearl gray. White markings are clear and distinct on the chest, front legs, blaze and tips of back legs.This rabbit weighs around 3 ½ to 5 ½ pounds. Dwarf Hotot – The characteristic of this rabbit is the black eye rings that look as if the rabbit is wearing eyeliner. This all white rabbit with black eye rings has a short, compact, well-rounded body. The Dwarf Hoto only weighs around 3 pounds. English Spot - The markings on this breed resembles as Dalmatian. It has a white coat with dark markings and spots much like the Dalmatian does. This breed comes in the colors of black, blue, chocolate, gold, gray, lilac and tortoiseshell. The dark markings cover the ears, nose, eye rings and a stripe down the back. The body is long and arched. This rabbit weighs between 5-8 pounds. Flemish Giant – A very popular breed even though this breed weighs around 14 pounds or more. This breed has a long, heavy build body. The colors this rabbit comes in are black, blue, fawn, light gray, sand gray, dark steel gray, and white. Florida White – This breed that originated in Florida, is a cross between a Dutch Polish and New Zealand White. This breed only comes in white. The Florida White has a short rounded body and weighs around 4-6 pounds. Harlequin – This medium size rabbit has a very interesting coat. There are different colors swirl and blending. This breed has two color groups but four actual colors. There is the base color of black, blue, lilac and chocolate on the head, ears, legs and body. The Japanese Harlequin has a body band with the base color and with an orange or golden orange color. The Magpie Harlequin has the body color band mixed with white. Also, the head of a Harlequin is split in half by color. One side is one color and the other side a different color. This medium sized rabbit can weigh 6 – 9 pounds. Havana – This compact, rounded body, medium length bunny is a good pet. This rabbit comes in black, blue or rich chocolate. The coat of this breed is magnificent and has ruby-red eyes. This rabbit weighs around 4-6 pounds. Himalayan – This breed has a short, sleek white coat with color marking on its ears, nose, tail, feet and legs in either black, blue, chocolate or lilac. This rabbit has a long body that weighs around 3-4 pounds. Hotot – This is the larger version of the Dwarf Hotot rabbit. It’s a white rabbit with black eye rings weighing around 9 pounds. Jersey Woolly – This is another rabbit that requires additional grooming time. This is a small rabbit originated in New Jersey, which has a long, dense wooly coat. This breed comes in a variety of colors and patterns. The approximate weight is around 3 pounds. Lilac - A Lilac has a small frame and a bulky body. This breed comes in only one color and it is a light pinkish dove gray color. It was thought of as an anomaly coming from the Havana breed. This rabbit weighs around 5 –8 pounds. Lop - With their droopy ears, these breeds are very recognizable. I can attest to their gentle disposition and their curiosity since I have a Mini-Lop. They are wonderful as a pet rabbit. Since their ears hang down, Lops are prone to ear infections more than the other breeds where the ears stand straight up. There are four different breeds within the Lop family and they are the English Lop, French Lop, Holland Lop and the Mini Lop. English Lop - This breed was developed in the 1800’s and is the first of the lop-eared breeds and one of the oldest breeds of all domestic rabbits. The adult English Lop ears measure twenty-five inches in length or more. This rabbit comes in a variety of colors and patterns. The approximate weight is around 9 pounds. French Lop – This breed is a cross between an English Lop and Flemish Giant. The French Lop has shorter ears and weighs around 10 pounds. They have a heavier build than their other relatives. This breed comes in solids and broken and a variety of colors. Holland Lop- This breed is a cross between a Dwarf, French and English Lops. They have short fur, dwarf in size with a muscular body. They are also known as the Netherland Dwarf Lop. Their weight is around 4 pounds This rabbit comes in a variety of colors and coat patterns. Mini Lop –This is the smaller version of the French Lop weighing in at around 5 pounds.This breed comes in a variety of colors and patterns. Netherland Dwarf – This breed has baby-like features with its large eyes and small ears. So even full grown this breed resembles a baby rabbit. This is a cross between a Polish and small wild rabbit. This breed comes in a large variety of colors and patterns. The approximate weight is around 2 pounds. New Zealand – This is a breed that originated in the United States by crossing a Belgian Hare with a white rabbit. The breed comes in 3 colors, black, white and red. They have a long, muscular body weighing around 9-12 pounds. Palomino – This breed was also developed in the United States and it comes it two colors, a golden and lynx. The golden color is similar to a Palomino horse that is where their name comes from. This breed has a slightly arched back and weighs around 9 pounds. Polish –This rabbit has a shiny coat and is a small rabbit weighing only 3 pounds. This is a popular show rabbit and comes in 5 different colors; black, blue, chocolate, blue-eyed white and ruby-eyed white. Rex- This breed is known for being a good pet rabbit and for showing. Its marvelous coat feels like velvet and comes in a variety of colors. Its unusual coat can be caused from not having any of the longer guard hairs. This breed weighs approximate 7-10 pounds. Mini Rex – This is the smaller version of the Rex breed. This breed has the same colors as the bigger Rex breed but the Mini Rex weighs approximate 4 pounds. Rhinelander – This is a medium to large breed that has a base coat of white with markings on its ears, nose, cheeks, eye rings, sides and back with black or orange color. This rabbit has six to eight spot-marks on each side of the lower portion of its body. This rabbit weighs approximately 6-10 pounds. Silver – This breed is believed to originate in India but refined in France. This breed has a unique coat that comes in black, brown and fawn with a blue-silver undercoat. This breed weighs around 4-7 pounds. Silver Fox – This is another breed with an unusual coat. This breed comes in black or blue variety. It has long, dense fur that is evenly silvered. Once bred only for its fur, this breed is now becoming popular at rabbit shows. This rabbit weighs approximate 9-12 pounds. Silver Marten –This breed was developed using the Chinchilla rabbit. The coat of the Silver Marten comes in black, blue, chocolate, or sable with its guard hairs tipped gray. Their eyes, nose and belly are also gray. This rabbit weighs approximately 6-9 pounds. Tan –This is a breed that comes from crossing a Dutch with a wild rabbit. Its deep golden tan coat is on the underside as well as around the eyes and nose, under the neck and the rims of the ears. A darker color of black, blue, chocolate or lilac is on the topside. This is a medium to larger rabbit weighing approximately 4-6 pounds. I hope these rabbit breed descriptions will help you when choosing your pet rabbit. Rabbit Breed Descriptions- Here's some information on Dwarf Breeds
Rabbit breed descriptions on Dutch Rabbits
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