Are These Guinea Pigs FOR REAL?!

canteloupe

When I was little and had rabbits, I wanted a flemish giant SO bad. But my parents had different priorities, so I usually ended up with whatever someone advertised in the classifieds.

Dog_Shrink

Here are a few more of our buns... it's not often I get to brag...

One of our netherland bucks (boy) Sammy


another of our netherlands. His name is Donnie Darko because he comes from a line called Darkside



A link to our web site just for the curious I so need to update pics to add the newbies )

http://bkgr.spaces.live.com/

Dog_Shrink

We keep our flemish buck in a 42 inch dog kennel... THAT's how big he is They're awesome

canteloupe

Hmm, I guess if I get back into rabbits and want to get a flemish giant, I'll know who to talk to! You're even in PA.

Donnie Darko looks like my last two girls. They were sisters and rather wild. I had a large outdoor pen that they could hang out in during the day when it was temperate outside, and they actually dug a warren. It was pretty crazy. We didn't realize how huge it was until they opened up an exit hole in the vegetable garden twenty feet away from the pen! We had to relocated the pen.

Dog_Shrink

Wow that IS HUGE! Donnie is a great bunny. He is called a black silver martin as far as his color goes. I'm in north west Pa near Erie so if that helps at all I'd be happy to help out with a flemish giant . My co-breeder had a dog attack at her rabbitry and lost all our does so I currently don't have a breeding pair but I know people who do down in Indiana township Pa. It's called Ashleys Rabbit Habit (or use to be anyway) Lemme see if I can find you a link.

Here ya go: http://www.ashleysrabbithabitrabbitry.webs.com/

I got my french lop Marilyn from her. Just so happens that she has 3 flemish for sale right now. 2 fawn boys and a girl.

canteloupe

Thanks for the link!

What does it mean when it says "one leg" or "three legs" under the birth date? And "6/8 fawn"?

Dog_Shrink

In rabbit shows it takes 3 legs to earn a grand champion certificate. In most competitions to earn a leg you have to have 5 or more rabbits from 3 different breeders so you aren't winning by default of lack of competition. A rabbit with a leg means it has won points either as best of breed, best opposite and so on just like dog shows. Larger rabbits are broken up into 3 groups... junior, intermediate (or 6/8) and senior. having it under the birth date is really probably just to identify that it was that particular rabbit.

Pai

That's not a rabbit, that's a white Pekingese, obviously.

Proof:

ruckusluvr

hey make hairless guine pigs too. Skinny pigs

canteloupe

Thanks for the info.

Found one:

Puppy_love_122

Yeah, they are cute, but its quite sad actually. They aren't really a breed (at least not recongnized...) they were first bred in a lab by scientists who induced the genetic mutation to make them hairless...probably to make research and testing on them easier, its sad, people really need to stop breeding them just for looks, poor piggies

canteloupe

That is sad... Probably they wanted them for testing chemicals on their skin.

Pai

They breed Xolos in labs too for that purpose. I've seen several research papers that used hairless dogs as test subjects.

What's fascinating about those 'skinny pigs', is their hairless pattern is the same as on the South American hairless dog breeds -- fuzzy on face, tail, and feet with a strip of fuzz down the back. I wonder if it's a mutation to the same gene. Do they also lack certain teeth? Is the gene dominant?

Now I'm going to have to dig up more information on these guys!

canteloupe

Oh, obviously!

Go for it!

The single most disturbing experiments that I've learned about involve raising kittens in tiny cells with their heads held so they can't move them, surrounded by wallpaper with vertical or horizontal lines. This caused the neurons in their occipital lobes that are stimulated by vertical lines or horizontal lines to develop normally, while the cells that are activated by diagonal lines and other visual forms never develop. So when their vision matures, they are unable to track in diagonals. Just imagine the short lives of those kittens. And then their deaths when the experiment is over.

I mean, compared to all the sick stuff I've learned about through studying psychology, that experiment probably doesn't sound like much. But it's really stuck with me.

Pai

I'm conflicted about animal research. In some cases, it's very beneficial to both animals and humans (the Rabies Challenge Project and the development of insulin come to mind) but some research just seems pointlessly cruel to me, too.

Some animal experiments fascinate me despite myself.. that that experiment where they got a monkey's brain hooked to a computer and trained it to telepathically control a robot arm. It's like something out of a sci-fi movie... but I also feel sorry for the poor monkey with a hole in it's head.

canteloupe

I think the standards for determining whether a study is ethically sound (on a scale of harm to the animals vs. importance of information learned to the welfare of humanity) should be much, much higher. So much of what is done is either needlessly cruel or repeats tests that have already been done a million times over.

After reading it, I think I would be totally fine with that particular experiment -- so long as I could know that the monkeys were living in humane conditions. Humane, for primates, involves a lot more than a clean cage. It involves hours and hours of daily social interactions, an enriched environment, and mentally stimulating learning experiences.

Pai

Apparently, Skinny Pig gene inheritance seems to be more complex.. The other 'naked' guinea pig breed, the Baldwin, seems to be the same as American Hairless Terriers (they're born with hair then lose it). Baldwins are probably simple recessives, like AHTs.

It's interesting how all species have genes that do similar things and that have similar results when mutated. Apparently, Skinny Pig skin is actually very similar to humans'... I wonder if they can tan too?

CoverTune

Omg, I love the White Crested.. looks like a rocker with a mohawk, lol.

Hallie

I almost got an English lop rabbit. I have a pedigreed show bunny. The odd thing about show buns is in order to 'register' it or pedigree it you have to do it individually. It doesn't matter if both parents are already registered the babies must be 'examined' before they can be registered too. I've had a few Dutchs as well but they were extremely timid, I'm more of a lop person! I've had a giant a few years ago and he was HUGE. I bred my own litter of Holland lops and they were absolutely PERFECT. I even had a blue and a harlequin in the litter.
Dog Shrink- I DEMAND pics of your French lop!!!!

Just because I love to brag and I'm convinced I have the most adorable holland out there here's pics of my girl lexie

melgrj7

I've always wanted a giant bunny Maybe when I have a house . . . Julie will probably tell me that it takes up the place of a dog, lol.