Rabbit Rex

Rex rabbits are gradually gaining popularity not only among rabbit farmers, but also among pets. What are the features of keeping this breed of rabbits, what color can their delicate fur be, and how long can Rex live at home, we will tell in this article.

Description

Rabbit breeding has many breeds of decorative and household direction, among which Rex rabbits occupy a special position due to their unique characteristics of short-haired fur and dietary meat. Rex rabbits are also considered for home keeping, as pets. The breed was bred recently – about a hundred years ago in France, and it was introduced to the whole world in 1924, at one of the Paris exhibitions.

The main value of the breed is considered to be the unique beauty of the fur, the hairs of which (both the core and the downy ones) have the same length – only 18-20 mm, which makes the fur seem to be sheared. It is curious that such a feature of the fur is caused by a gene mutation that the breeders have fixed. This fur is very thick and delicate, soft in texture and shiny. It resembles expensive chinchilla and mink furs, has excellent wear resistance and is highly valued. It is because of the quality of the fur that rabbits are called royal.

After the lightning-fast conquest of Europe, a new rabbit breed semi-legally gets from Germany to the Soviet Union. The gene for the “royal” fur manifested itself in a generation, which the Soviet scientist took advantage of. Despite the ban on the export of a thoroughbred rabbit, he transported cubs from a rex and an ordinary rabbit across the border. Already in the Soviet laboratory, the first representatives of the pure breed of Rex rabbits were bred.

Appearance

In addition to the unique smooth fur, which instantly straightens out when ironed “against the grain”, Rex rabbits are characterized by the following features.

• They have an average but fragile physique, in which the body has slightly elongated parameters (45-55 cm). The mass of rexes ranges from 2,5 to 5 kg.
• On a rather strong neck of a rabbit there is an elongated muzzle (in females it is more elongated, and in males it is rounded) with a wide forehead and short, curved mustaches, bent inward.
• The ears on the head are straight (except for fold-eared rexes) and neat, up to 12 cm long in ordinary ones, and up to 6 cm in dwarf breeds.
• Brown, occasionally blue eyes.
• The bone structure of the Rex is light and thin, well developed.
• Paws are straight and strong, have a dense edge.
• The chest is narrow, in girth reaches 33-35 cm.
• The back is long, narrow, and may be slightly hunched, ending in a narrow croup that is crowned by a medium-sized, rounded, upright tail.
• A special feature of the appearance of real rexes is the same coat color and claws on their paws.

The color of rex is diverse and includes more than 25 species. Most often you can find rexes of white and blue colors, there are also black, brown, with a white underbelly and light-colored sides. The color may also depend on the subspecies of rex rabbits: there are bright red (fiery) colors, tricolor (tricolor), speckled, silver rex.

Physiology

The physiological features of this rabbit breed is the low fertility of females, in the litter of which there are 6-8 rabbits. Every year, one healthy rabbit gives birth up to 4-5 times. In addition, the physiological qualities of the breed include:

• good metabolism, thanks to which rexes perfectly tolerate cold winter temperatures down to -30 degrees;
• intolerance to heat, feeling unwell at an air temperature of 25 degrees and above;
• rapid growth and achievement of sexual activity;
• very fearful, shy character.

Advantages and disadvantages

Before starting any animal, you need to learn about the pros and cons of its character and content. Royal rabbits are no exception. There are certain drawbacks to their content.

• Low fertility rates, which leads to an increase in the cost of this breed.
• High mortality due to non-compliance with the standards of maintenance, as well as due to the high predisposition of these rabbits to stress.
• Constant maintenance of a favorable temperature in the rabbitry (not higher than +24 degrees, and not lower than -30).
• They bite if the hands in which they were taken, in their opinion, smell unpleasant.
• Rex rabbits have an active, curious and quick-witted character, they “try their teeth” on the whole environment. In this regard, at home it is necessary to remove all things of value from their field of vision, and the cells must be strong.
• They often suffer from skin diseases of the extremities (dermatitis).

The positive aspects of breeding Rex rabbits are:

• low feed requirements;
• obtaining economic benefits from the sale of skins and meat;
• accommodating, contact animals (including decorative mini-rabbits), they easily get along with both children and other types of animals;
• increased sense of motherhood and high lactation of females – rabbits can take on feeding other people’s cubs.

Varieties

Since rabbits lend themselves well to genetic selection, there are many subspecies of the Rex breed. Varieties differ in color, quality of fur and size of individuals, there are about thirty of them. It is worth describing the characteristic features of the most popular of them.

Pygmy or Sparkling

This mini-rex rabbit in adulthood has a mass of only 1-1,5 kg, a maximum of 2 kg. The main characteristics of the pygmy rex: short legs, stocky body, the rest of the body is about half that of ordinary rexes. They can differ in a variety of colors, breeders produce mini versions of almost every suit of Rex rabbits. Dwarf Rex are the same in character as their larger counterparts. They are calm, sociable, attached to a person. The purpose of mini-rabbits is to be pets.

Castor rex

The name of this rex with brown or brown hair in translation means “beaver king”. The color of his fur really resembles a beaver: shiny, chestnut, without spots, has a chocolate undertone all over the back. It happens that even the skin of these rodents is brown.

Marder

The rex fur of the marder suit is very similar to the highly valuable marten fur. Marders are ordinary or mini-version, dwarf. The latter are considered decorative and should not be bred for their skins.

Butterfly

The original color of this species resembles a symmetrical butterfly. Black blotches are arranged in a special way on white fur, they are symmetrical on the head and ears. A black stripe runs along the spine. On the muzzle of a rodent, a butterfly seems to be hovering – on the sides of the nose there are two spots similar to its wings. Not always blotches are black, there are blue, gray and red spots, but black ones are still considered the most spectacular.

Chinchilla

These Rexes imitate expensive chinchilla fur better than other rabbit breeds. It is necessary to be a high-class specialist in order not to confuse the fur of a real chinchilla and a chinchilla rex. But the rex fur of this species is still inferior in attractiveness to the skins of castor or marder rabbits.

Lop-eared mini rex rabbits

This is the youngest type of rex, it was bred at the beginning of the XNUMXst century. Babies are for decorative purposes. Their ears are drooping, the fur is plush, the constitution of the body is dwarfish. Rabbit breeders also bred a type of lop-eared curly mini-rabbit, whose short fur is distributed in curls.

Features of the content

Keeping rex rabbits in a farm environment involves obtaining rabbit skins or high-value meat. For these purposes, the frost-resistant Rex breed can be perfectly kept in the yard in a covered corral, or indoors.

In this case, you should always monitor the ambient temperature. The optimum temperature for rodents will be + 16-21, with a humidity of 50-60%.

It is not allowed to find rabbits in strong dampness, in a dusty or gassed room, in drafts, as well as a long stay in direct sunlight.

The main requirements for cages or aviaries: space, strength and environmental friendliness of materials.

Wood or metal construction is best. The floor should not be made of mesh, it injures the delicate pads of the paws of rabbits, which leads to infections in the herd. A good floor covering is wooden slats, with straw bedding. Cages need to be periodically (twice a week) cleaned and disinfected, in a crowded, damp and dirty cage, the animal will often get sick, and its fur will lose its commercial appeal.

It is better to attach the feeder to the wall, it should not be too deep.

The diet should be approached comprehensively, monitoring the presence of the necessary vitamins, minerals, and grain base in it.

In winter, about 70% of the rabbit’s diet should be cereal mixtures, compound feed, hay and branches, and 30% – treats in the form of hard vegetables. In summer, grain mixtures and compound feed are reduced, supplementing the diet with herbs. Rabbits must satisfy their gnawing needs – if hard vegetables are not enough for this, you can give the bark of deciduous or coniferous trees, but lactating females should not be deprived of vegetables.

The drinking bowl should be vacuum, with it the animals spill less water in their homes. In winter, you can partially replace the water with pure snow, but you should not allow the water to freeze. Clean water should always be available, especially for females with offspring who have given birth, otherwise they may bite their cubs. Rex rabbit care should also include disease prevention and vaccination schedules. A competent veterinarian should acquaint the farmer with such a schedule, who will prescribe the mandatory anthelmintic drug, vaccinations against rabies and infections.

Breeding at home

Friendly and quick-witted, Rex are often house pets, especially dwarf ones. If you feed such a rabbit from your hands, then it quickly becomes attached to a person. Asking how long rex rabbits live, we can answer that this period is relatively short – 5-8 years. There are also centenarians who live up to 12 years, however, in order to achieve such a record, the owner must follow important rules for keeping rexes at home.

• Make sure that the temperature in the room is comfortable, rabbits react negatively to heat and can die from it.
• Create a home for your pets, its design must be durable, spacious so that the rodent can jump. The cage should have a small sleeping hole, hay or straw bedding, a tray, an automatic feeder and a drinker.
• Keep your pet safe by letting it roam around the house. It is necessary to remove all electrical wires and cables that he can gnaw through. You also need to monitor the safety of valuables, given the curiosity of pets.
• You can’t pick up a rex if you smell something, the rabbit can take them for food and bite.
• Feeding pets is no different from feeding their counterparts on farms. Basic food: granulated food, cereal mixtures (30-45 grams of dry food per day per 1 kg of animal), fresh grass or hay, solid vegetables and fruits as a treat. An excess of white cabbage in the diet is not recommended, from which flatulence occurs in the intestines of a rabbit.

If the owners have a goal to breed decorative rabbits for sale, then here you need to choose the right individuals. Animal fur should be shiny, soft, and the rabbit itself should not be lethargic or inactive. Purchase rabbits that are more than one and a half months old. It should be noted that the female will give birth to no more than 6 cubs at a time, which is why the Rex breed is quite expensive. Rabbits usually give birth in the fall, at night or in the early morning, the process takes up to an hour.

Before childbirth, it is required to develop the mother’s nipples, near which it is desirable to be on duty if this is her first birth.

Then you need to make sure that all the rabbits get mother’s milk, supplement the babies with an artificial mixture in case of a shortage. Newborn rabbits are very weak and vulnerable, they can die with the slightest deviation in care. A prerequisite for survival is the arrangement of the nest, as well as the presence of a lamp (in extreme cold). Rex breeding is a very troublesome business, so if you are new to this issue, experts recommend not being shy about asking for help from veterinarians, who will provide significant support at the initial stages.

For Rex rabbits, see below.