Holland Lop

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Holland Lop with broken orange coloring

2-month old Holland Lops

A Holland Lop eating its basket

A Holland Lop looking at the camera

A junior broken tortoise Holland Lop

Two junior broken black Holland Lop does

A three-month old Holland Lop buck

The Holland Lop rabbit is the smallest breed of the lop rabbit family. All rabbits belong to the larger family of Lagomorphs, which include rabbits, hares, and pikas.

Holland lops are considered juniors from 0-6 months and seniors at 7 months or older.

1 History
2 Physical features
3 Behavior
4 Pet care
5 Sources

[edit] History

This breed marked its beginnings when Dutch rabbit breeder Adriann de Cock sought to combine the best qualities from two rabbit breeds, the French Lop (known for being large and having floppy ears) and the Netherland Dwarf, into a new breed.

In the winter of 1949-50, de Cock bred a white Netherland Dwarf doe to a French Lop buck, but obtained an undesirable litter. Unsatisfied, he decided to switch the genders in the breeds, breeding a French Lop doe and a Netherland Dwarf buck, and got six miniature lops.

In addition, De Cock bred an English Lop buck and a Netherland Dwarf doe, resulting in two rabbits with upright ears, and three with half-lopped ears. He later thought that if he could make the lopped-ear rabbits mate, he would get the Holland lop, but was disappointed with more undesirable-appearing rabbits.

Finally, he inseminated a half-lopped doe rabbit to a buck from one of the initial breeding of six rabbits, producing what we know today as the Holland Lop.

[edit] Physical features

The Holland Lop is very popular and well-liked by many rabbit enthusiasts, pet owners and breeders, because of its compact size and attractiveness or "cuteness". It is characterized for having a stocky, muscular body, and its ideal weight is 3 lb (1.4 kg) to 4 pounds for showing in American Rabbit Breeders Association sanctioned shows, although it is not uncommon for many to reach a weight of 5 or more lbs (1.8 kg). These rabbits come in many different colors. Chocolate,Lilac,Beige,Brown,Black,white and more. They are adorable!

[edit] Behavior

The Holland lop is known for its sweet temperament and nonaggressive behavior. When feeling jubiliant, the Holland lop might perform a "binky", which features a jump in the air accompanied by running around in circles. This can be observed during outdoor playtimes in a bunny run or open area.

Conversely, when feeling threatened or irritated, the Holland lop may thump its foot on the ground as a signal to other rabbits. These rabbits can be very calm and very obnoxious. They will get scared if they are in an uncomfortable position. You need to handle them very carefully.

[edit] Pet care

Due to its thick fur, Holland lops need occasional grooming if you would like to keep it as a show rabbit. More importantly, however, because rabbits are biologically incapable of vomiting, grooming prevents a pet rabbit choking on a fur ball. Once a week one should brush the rabbit with a cat comb or a specifically designed rabbit comb. Combing is also necessary to get out any hay, manure, or anything else stuck in the fur. When done brushing, one should wet their hands and wipe the rabbit down to remove any excess fur. Holland lops moult about once a year, or more if you change rabbit feeds. In addition to brushing, rabbit spray-on shampoos are commercially available, as well, but not essential.

A necessary part of a Holland lop's diet is hay (either Timothy or Alfalfa) as it helps to digest their food. Young Holland lops, however, should begin with a pellet-concentrated diet and gradually incorporate more and more hay into the diet until it constitutes all or the vast majority of it.