Spang Angora Rabbitry: Bunny Misc. Stuff

I have come to the conclusion today that it is beyond impossible to take a good picture of a rabbit before the age of 12 weeks:(:(. As I think about it now I realize that I have been trying to do this for years---I have been taking them out, distracting them, encouraging them to pose, cajoling, threatening, holding them down and then releasing them at the last possible second, and using all kinds of silly/useless methods to try to make them do what they obviously do not want to do, which is sit in one place for as long as it takes me to snap a semi-legible picture, LOL.

The littlest ones are the worst, of course. Their nosiness constantly overtakes them until they become so distracted by the table (top, sides, and bottom), the room, kids, walls, camera, etc, etc, that there is nothing to do but forget the whole thing and stick the little buggers back in their cages:). This is the kind of thing that they do:

This,

this,

and my very favorite, which is this:

So from now on I am just going to photograph those bunnies who are mature enough to handle a .236 second distraction on a grooming table, and leave the rest for a later date, LOL:).

I got lots of grooming done this weekend and have more to do again tomorrow, but here are a few of the finished buns who will be staying around here for future showing (with the exception of one or two).

The bunny below is an Ermine, who came out of the last litter of Evariste and Pierre. The color Ermine is not recognized in the FA standard, but it is basically a derivative of the Chin gene that can be used to produce other, showable colors. I am currently playing with the idea of using this rabbit to produce some Chins in the future because it is an absolutely stunning color, but I am not quite sure if I want to add one more project (or color) to those I already have.

This bunny below is another buck out of Eva's litter, a Sable. This bunny is actually for sale at the moment because I have another Sable buck that I am keeping. He is 11 1/2 weeks old and is a very large, solid baby with wonderful density and color. If you would like further details you can email me at amy@spangangoras.com. I will be delivering several rabbits to the Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY in October and can easily take him along.

And below is an older baby who is currently in Junior Prime at approx. 4 months of age. This is 'Spang's Isadore' and she is a Sable Pearl out of Neva and Dijon.

Below also is a Chestnut buck who is nearly 4 months old (sorry about the horrendous green line running through the picture:( ) out of Devaki and Dijon. He was due to be sold a couple of weeks ago but then I noticed that the ring color in his coat was not developing as it should so I am keeping him here instead. He is a beautiful rabbit with fabulous type and wool, but Agoutis I have had in the past with faint rings in the baby coat did not often develop good definition in the adult coat, so I am keeping him here until the Sr. coat develops to see what happens. If he pans out and looks good then I may use him to produce more and better Chestnuts. If not, he will have to be culled.

This little girl is a littermate to Isadore, the Pearl doe shown above. She is by far one of the best bunnies to come out of my summer breedings---large, well-balanced, with great type and color (and good wool too, LOL). Her name is Spang's Magdeline:

And this is a Fawn buck below---a littermate to the Chestnut buck. He is also a nice bunny with particularly good fawn color, though clearly he is not at his best in front of a yellow wall (LOLOL). This is Spang's Henryi:

There are many more up and coming babies (too young to photograph now) who are also promising and who will make nice additions to the herd. All in all I am very happy with the results of this year's breeding season. Nice litters were born and none of them (with the exception of the Ermine and one lop-eared bunny) were unshowable. There were no genetic DQs, and everyone was healthy.

Anyway, last but not least---here are 3 pics that I included of our trip last week to Mystic Seaport and Mystic Aquarium. The first is of some (crazy!!) people climbing up the mast of a 19th century whaling ship that was on display to furl the sails, and the last are of my boys clowning around behind a painted funny-board in the Seaport village, LOL.