How We Raise Our Hollands
Small, friendly, and generally playful, Holland Lops are a popular breed of rabbits for both pet and show. At Hollificent Lops, we breed for our own personal showing hobby. As we work toward developing our own line, some of our babies will be for sale as pets and show/brood prospects. Here's what you can expect when you get a Holland Lop from our rabbitry...
Our relationship with each of our kits starts on their first day of life. We check on them and hold them every day, so that by the time that they begin to venture out of the nestbox they are already craving attention. Our babies get SO excited when it's playtime and flock around us like little magnets! We raise them in our home, around children and two family pets. They get little visitors several times a day, which just makes them all the more excited! Since we hold them daily, they grow up used to being handled and learn to associate people with good things like playtime, pets, and treats.
Our relationship with each of our kits starts on their first day of life. We check on them and hold them every day, so that by the time that they begin to venture out of the nestbox they are already craving attention. Our babies get SO excited when it's playtime and flock around us like little magnets! We raise them in our home, around children and two family pets. They get little visitors several times a day, which just makes them all the more excited! Since we hold them daily, they grow up used to being handled and learn to associate people with good things like playtime, pets, and treats.
When kits are 3-4 weeks old, we begin periodically working with them on grooming, posing, and health checks. This includes getting them used to nail trims and being flipped onto their backs, being handled by a judge, and sitting in a proper pose with only a light touch of the hand. By the time they are old enough to be shown or go on to new homes, they are used to and comfortable with these things.
Besides socialization and handling, we do everything in our power to ensure that kits are growing up in a clean, healthy enviroment and receiving all the nourishment they need. As soon as they start eating rabbit feed, babies are fed free-choice along with their mom until weaning. We supplement their mom with an oat mixture during both pregnancy and lactation to keep her in good health and her milk in production and begin adding oats to the babies' feed when they are 3 weeks old. We leave them with their mom for as long as possible before weaning so that they develop healthy immune systems and stress as little as possible over the change. They have access to fresh, cool water and timothy hay at all
times. We keep their cages clean and provide them with a comfortable place to rest.
By the time babies are 6 weeks old, we have started to evaluate them and think about which ones we would like to keep as show potentials. By now they know how to pose for us and we can pick out the ones who we think could develop into little show Hollands. Typically in a litter we might have one or two that we want to keep, as we will always be a very small rabbitry and we want to maintain the level of individual TLC we give to each of our rabbits.
At this time (6 weeks) we might have some babies who we know will be pet quality, and we would go ahead and post those for sale with pictures and personality information and take deposits on them. Any babies that we sell as pets have the personalities that we think will blossom in a loving home. We won't sell any rabbits who are mean or aggressive. Our pets have been loved on and played with but just lack the physical attributes of a show quality rabbtis. Pets are typically $50 - $75.
If we have some that we are on the fence about keeping or who we won't keep but would like to grow out longer so we can better assess them for buyers, we might wait a week or two to post those for sale. Any of our show/brood rabbits are ones who we would personally keep to show or breed. They typically will be
$75+. (Remember, no matter how old a baby is when we post it for sale, they won't be ready to go home until they are 8 weeks old.)
When a rabbit leaves us, we send it home with a care sheet, Holland Lop breed information, a bag of starter feed, and a birth certificate (for pets) or pedigree (for show/brood quality). We will spend time with you going over the rabbit at pickup and will offer tips for handling, grooming, and care. We encourage anyone who has bought a rabbit from us to keep in touch with pictures/updates and are always happy to answer any questions and offer advice down the road!
(For full details of the sales procedure, please read our Sales Policy.)
At this time (6 weeks) we might have some babies who we know will be pet quality, and we would go ahead and post those for sale with pictures and personality information and take deposits on them. Any babies that we sell as pets have the personalities that we think will blossom in a loving home. We won't sell any rabbits who are mean or aggressive. Our pets have been loved on and played with but just lack the physical attributes of a show quality rabbtis. Pets are typically $50 - $75.
If we have some that we are on the fence about keeping or who we won't keep but would like to grow out longer so we can better assess them for buyers, we might wait a week or two to post those for sale. Any of our show/brood rabbits are ones who we would personally keep to show or breed. They typically will be
$75+. (Remember, no matter how old a baby is when we post it for sale, they won't be ready to go home until they are 8 weeks old.)
When a rabbit leaves us, we send it home with a care sheet, Holland Lop breed information, a bag of starter feed, and a birth certificate (for pets) or pedigree (for show/brood quality). We will spend time with you going over the rabbit at pickup and will offer tips for handling, grooming, and care. We encourage anyone who has bought a rabbit from us to keep in touch with pictures/updates and are always happy to answer any questions and offer advice down the road!
(For full details of the sales procedure, please read our Sales Policy.)