Breeders and exhibitors of Mini Lop, Continental and British Giant Rabbits
Welcome to The Rabbitry website. Our aim is, through careful and thoughtful breeding, to raise happy, well-balanced rabbits of good type and excellent nature.
We are a family-run rabbitry, based in Ridgewell on the outskirts of Halstead, North Essex. A family of animal lovers, we pride ourselves on the care and attention we lavish upon our pets. I say 'pets' because that is initially what they are-a rabbit is not a breeding machine, but a cuddly bundle of fun. Our breeding program takes into careful consideration the welfare of our bunnies and every care is taken to ensure their wellbeing at all times. We are members of both the BRC (British Rabbit Council) and the NMLRC (National Mini Lop Rabbit Club).
When selecting our breeding stock, every attention is paid to detail. Our aim is for good, strong type and colouring- for this the parentage (or 'family tree') plays a very important part. We try our utmost to ensure that there are no REW/BEW (Red Eyed White/Blue Eyed White) rabbits in the ancestorial line of our 'coloured' rabbits -after all, to us, a black rabbit should be black, and introducing white somewhere along the line could play havok with our breeding program. Eventually, our hope is that, through careful planning and our ongoing study of genetics, the colour lines will be 'set' and there will not be too many 'little surprises' occassionally appearing in litters.
In an ideal world, I would love to keep every baby, from every litter-but such is life...so, occassionally, we have wonderful 'bundles of fluff' requiring new homes. Please check our Litters/For sale page for any babies that may be available and by all means feel free to contact us should you have any particular requirements.
Our contact details:
Donna and Danny Savill
telephone~01440 785304
email~Donna@therabbitry.co.uk
Our Re-homing Guidelines
Your new bunny will come to you happy, healthy and full of vitality. It is our policy to keep babies until they are 10 weeks old.
Along with your precious new addition, you will recieve:
a care sheet-full of important information such as feeding and aftercare
pedigree/birth certificate-with as much detail as is available regarding parentage/breeding
2weeks supply of food-to ensure a smooth transition into your home
Our full contact details and personal guarantee that we will always be here should you require advice/assistance. We want you to rest assured that when you take home one of our bunnies there is an aftercare service available, should you need it.
In return, we ask that you take time to consider your decision to take a rabbit into your home. That you are sure you can provide adequate housing, and, of course, plenty of love.
BEFORE YOUR NEW RABBIT COMES HOME
Before you even think of taking your new baby home, you should have suitable accomodation ready for them.
If your rabbit is going to live outside then they need to be positioned where the sun cannot shine directly onto them and the rain will not pour in on them, a sheltered area is best. Your hutch should be large enough to accomodate your chosen breed when it reaches maturity. This is so that they have enough room to stretch and jump about. As a guideline, a giant rabbit should really have a hutch measuring at least 5ft by 2ft by 2ft (although I recommend 6ft long). The recommended size (recommended by the RSPCA) for a mini lop sized rabbit is 3ft long, although a little bigger might be best suited to a bunny that has to stay in it's hutch for long periods. Ideally they should have access to an area that can be used as 'a run', rabbits love this and you will get hours of pleasure watching their antics as they frolic and jump around.
Rabbits can live quite happily indoors and there is housing designed especially for this. I find it fairly easy to litter-train a rabbit. Neutering a bunny can also help with this as it reduces the rabbit's natural tendencies to mark it's territory. Bunny proofing your home is essential if you plan to keep your new addition indoors. Things like live wires could prove fatal so they need to be tucked safely away. Rabbit playpens are widely available and could be handy-especially when you have guests who are not used to 'bunny dodging'.