coineanach an taighe
THISTLEDOWN CROFT'S
Mini Rex Rabbits
This Breed was bred down from the standard Rex Rabbit and only has been a recognized breed since
1985
ARBA standards recognizes many colors/varieties for the Mini Rex including: black, blue, castor
chinchilla, chocolate, himalayan, lynx, opal, red, seal, tortoise, white, lilac and broken pattern.
See the link below to his web site
Claudia, a June Baby
Nov. 1, '00
The Mini Rex first "officially" became a breed with it's third and final showing at the ARBA
Convention in Madison, Wisconsin in the fall of 1988. Only six varieties were accepted - but the
following year the number jumped to eleven.
We bought a bred doe, Willow, in May of 2000 and became Breeders without ever really trying to but we have enjoyed the litter so much we put up this page.
Our Mini Rex are not registered as we bought our doe at an auction but the tattoos in her ear have led us to believe she is purebred as she is true to type. All the offspring are very correct too. We have become interested in the bred to the point we may buy registered stock. Jim and I enjoyed looking at all the fairs this summer at the mini Rex and we do think they are the best breed out there. We had a full sized Rex, Earl Grey when we were first married and now we find that the mini Rex make an even better breed for house rabbits. We like the disposition of these better than the Netherland Dwarfs we had but they are small and fun to hold just like dwarf rabbits. We hope you enjoy our page on the Mini Rex. Follow the links to learn more. We have a broken blue, a broken black, a blue and a chocolate. Willow is our Chocolate, Zinc our blue, our broken black is Claudia, and our Broken Blue is Audubon!
Our Blue, "Zinc"
The mini-rex rabbit is a very diminutive rabbit with a maximum senior
show weight of only 4 1/2 pounds for does and 4 1/4 pounds for bucks. Its
body is rather short and close coupled. The top body line rises gradually
from the base of the ears to a high point over the center of the hips and
then rounding downwards to the base of the tail. When viewed from the tail
end, a Mini-Rex is approximately as wide as it is high. When viewed from
above, the body tapers down slightly from the hips to the shoulders. The
ears are rather short and thick and are carried erect. The fur is one of the
most notable features of this breed. The guard hairs are the same length as
the underfur giving an extremely plush, silky, feeling to it when stroked.
The fur has a lustrous appearance and has a distinct springy feel when
depressed. The fur type has earned the Mini-Rex the name "velveteen
Rabbit." ARBA standards recognizes many colors/varieties for the Mini
Rex including: black, blue, castor chinchilla, chocolate, himalayan, lynx,
opal, red, seal, tortoise, white, lilac and broken pattern. Breeders are
continually trying to develop new colors.
Claudia and EWE
All Saints Day, '00
ORIGINS The Mini Rex Rabbit
was originated by Ken and Mona Berryhill of Wortham Texas in
December 1984. Mona won a pair of dwarf Rex in the Rabbit Research and
Development auction at the 1984 ARBA convention in Orlando Florida.
The buck was bred to an undersized Rex Lynx doe which was purchased at
the same convention. The mating produced 7 uniform miniature bunnies
with rex fur. Three of these bunnies, does, were bred back to their sire,
and, again, uniform miniature bunnies with rex fur, i.e., Mini Rex bunnies,
were produced. From there, the Mini Rex blossomed to every corner of the
nation. The first presentation of the new breed to the ARBA Standards
Committee was made in Columbus OH on November 1, 1986. The final
presentation was made at the 1988 convention in Madison WI where the
Breed achieved formal recognition of the American Rabbit Breeders Association.
Our Broken Blue Buck, Audubon
Links
Best Buns on the Web
A Rabbits Foot -Note
"The new findings, published in Nature by Dan Graur, a zoologist at Tel Aviv University,
and colleagues at Claude Bernard University in Lyon, France,
are based on comparisons of the
detailed structures of 88 proteins common to all mammals.
The results showed overwhelmingly
that rabbits are more like primates as a whole
than like rodents, and very much more like tree
shrews (order Scandentia),
a group that is thought to have given rise to the primates."
-(Feb. 5,1996, The Detroit News)
Copyright, James and Beth Boyle, All Rights Reserved
| We recently discovered someone else who breeds Scottish Blackface Sheep in New York State has used our farm name, Thistledown Croft. They more than likely took our name from the University of Oklahoma Breeds of Livestock site as we contributed material several years ago about Scottish Blackface Sheep and we are very widely known through shows and the Net. |
|
We have advertised nationally for many years and we feel we are the first to use this name in New York State and we hope all our patrons and sheep buyers will let the copy cats know they know the name was plagiarized from the Boyle Family in Mayville, NY. This party also raises rabbits as we do, their server is Yahoo and their site is just going up as of this November. Our farm was established in 1980 and we have been on the Web since 1997 on Alltel and Fortune City.
Sincerely yours,
Beth Maxwell Boyle
