New Post Finally

Wow I just noticed I have not written a blog in FOREVER..once again..how many times have I said that now, hmm. Anyways lots has changed since last blog. Of course the biggest is these dwarf hotots, acquiring pieces from several different breeders to create a herd of my own. Honestly they are the most easy going most easy to breed ive had and there small size keeps my feed bills cheap. Warning this blog will be a monster one I swear!

Why I got the Dwarf Hotot? How did this start?
When I lived back on the island I had gone to a show with Andrea of Electric bunny and that was the first time I saw them up close, they were super sweet and crawling out of the carriers for attention. There cute nature and small size caught my eye but at the time I was showing well with my Holland lops and American fuzzy lops so never took much notice. After the loss of my fuzzy herd couple years ago because nobody would breed I did not want to breed again, it was a MAJOR turn off, 2 years of either no babies or nothing, even if my fuzzies were winning on the table that did not matter if I could not get babies out of them. After that time I thought well lets try this one more time with another breed, then I thought of the dwarf hotots. Andrea had already sold out by then which I found out and was devastated. I then began researched every piece of information on the breed and any breeders that were left in Canada. I also started to track down where Andrea’s hotots went to. I found a lady in Edmonton with a son of Electric’s Glass Tiger and went and got some, they were not the best quality but definitely a start. I knew if I could not find the certain lines I would be starting from scratch. I emailed a breeder in Saskatchewan with no reply, then a month later got an email saying he was selling out of his rabbits and was willing to sell his herd of dwarf hotots. It was take all or none though, so I made some decisions, bought some dwarf cages and made some room in my new shed. I brought home 7 rabbits with 3 different lines consisting of pieces of Andrea’s old herd. This included her original herd buck Calvin, he Is now retired living with a tsw American boar, love each other to bits. I would like to one day put Calvin and Boo my Holland together to live out the rest of there days with company, who knows. The lines I acquired were BOJ’s Calvin, Mingus Omega, Mingus Charisma and my fav Electric’s Nightwish. I then emailed another breeder in Victoria who was coming up for a show and then got a buck that is grandson to another Andrea herd member Mingus Primus and also an unrelated breeding doe with thicker eyebands. This completed my pieces from Andreas old herd. I chose to go after her animals because of the quality, the breeding because of Mingus background and the selective culling that was done to produce nice animals. The potential was there to get some nice animals!

First Generation
The first generation of dwarf hotots is already here and almost ready to breed already so little too late on explaining! My first litter was with Savannah and Colton, producing Flower Child, she is a larger doe but with the correct mass in body and wide shoulders and HQ makes a nice broodie. The only problem ive seen and I know I will need to fix are the eyebands, Colton may have been a super nice buck and TINY but he was severely lacking in eyebands, so thin almost to the point of a break. He has thrown this in more then 50% of his litters too, which is why he was culled. My next litter was with Aly and Light Orchestra, a Calvin son, this was his first litter. Produced some decent hotots, but they are still so gangling I will not be able to see how they turn out, looked good as babies. I did get some nice eyebands though, little feathered on top and smaller size with ok type, can fix that in future. Bettes litter was the best so far, created 2 copies of show mingus quality animals. Angel who is now sold and Devil. He looks NOTHING like any hotot I have, im assuming these guys are throwbacks because of quality and size. Devil will be my herd buck used this summer on all my does, super friendly too. He is the focus of a true hotot head and ears with the small size. I will be line breeding him to enhance this type. Of course Devil got his dads shoulders, almost pinched but I have some broodies who can fix that. My last litter out of Sweet was not too bad either, being full sibling to Devil and Angel I expect no less, 2 super nice does and finally a hotot with thick defined eyebands with no feathering. As for the rest of my hotots, when I received them they had not been bred if ever so this was a challenge. It took 3 times for both Bette and Sweet to have litters. I finally got something out of Gazer this last month so she is proven now and Ballade has been living with ELO for 2 weeks now so I should get something this time, she Is proven. Walker has been very stubborn, she is my best doe in type and eyebands with an honour mention at the Manitoba show last year as a sr. I will try her with any of my bucks to get something!
What to Work on With Dwarf Hotots
So this next generation I have another new buck added because my lines are already so tight, he is slightly related to Andrea’s first animals and with a buck out of the states. He is small, nice substance to ears and head but why he’s here is because of those super super thick dark eyebands. I have the body type in my does, I just need head, ears and eyebands. He will be bred to all my does this Feb/March after Wetaskiwin. I will then breed his babies to Devil and linebreed the two together. I also have pieces here and there, Devil is lacking in shoulder yet Flower and Myst could use a better HQ so works both ways.
New Project
Because I am losing my eyebands from breeding and am unable to find a single sport marked around, I have decided to bring in another breed and might as well bring in some color as well. Now this is up in the air still as to what color. I would LOVE to find a blue but I know it is almost impossible to find one. The breed choices I have are the polish because similar posing style and type or the netherland which could also fix my head and ear. If I am unable to find a blue I will settle with a nicely typed chocolate polish. The point is to fix my eyebands and bring in some color! It will be very exciting. I plan on using flower for this program and will breed her after Wetaskiwin.
Thriantas
Ok so some are wondering what are you doing with these thriantas then?! Well I admit I love the breed to bits, they are super sweet different personalities and gorgeous type and lines I have. I will be bringing them to the show and seeing if a new breeder is interested in them. It’s impossible to do two different breeds at once with only 18 holes to use. Alana, an only daughter out of Jillian and Forrest is turning into a beautiful doe, weighs 4 pounds at 4 months old, already over sr weight. Very nice body and color is coming in nicely. I expect her to show VERY well in the future. Worst case scenario if I am unable to find these guys a home is to sell Carmen and her leftover babies, keep Jillian because she is sterile and my pet as well as keep Alana and borrow a buck and sell Forrest to a pet home or cull, he is 4 years old currently, just a big old man. Otherwise that is all I’m doing with my thriantas. I refuse to let these guys go to waste, Jillian is full sibling to the 2006 BOB convention thrianta and forrest is uncle to the 2008? Or 09? BOB convention thrianta so ya excellent lines there.

Well that is it for now, I will post results after Wetaskiwin, this is just a fun show to learn more about my hotots and see how everyone else does! Such fun!