We just completed one of the roughest ruts in the path of our entire journey raising rabbits over the weekend. You've read in this space (or can read below) about the possibility of our selling-off of the Holland Lops in our rabbitry. Now that it is over, I'll attempt to explain why we considered such a possibility.

We've had an air-conditioned rabbitry for our entire 19+ year history. I've always believed that it is more humane to house the animals this way, especially during the Summer in Texas. It also allows for year-round breeding (with appropriate rest schedules for the does) and increases our comfort- ensuring that our rabbits get the same amount of attention and affection year-round.

This year, our air conditioner, active for over 15 years, decided to break down. It has broken before but has always been relatively inexpensive to repair. This time, not so much. We called a repair service in Waco which shall remain nameless (rhymes with Zampbell Zappliance, as in the zoup.)

They took part of the system, told us they'd look for a replacement, then proceeded to quote us an amount which was about $300 over our final bill. While attempting to negotiate, the owner held us (and our rabbits) hostage for over a month, telling us fairy tales about finding used parts on the internet.

Zoup is bad food.

We finally found a repairman willing to attempt the job who successfully repaired the system for a reasonable price. Our rabbits were well-taken care of during the interim, of course, but we had to rely on fans and a small window-unit AC to cool them. We also had limited cage space and had to rotate them between 18' x 24' units and show cages. They are glad to be back in their regular rabbitry now, with room to stretch.

MBT

It's been a while since I've posted anything, my apologies. Still working to get everything on rabbittank.com transferred over from the old geocities account. I also have TONS of new photos to add to our Galley pages.

We've had horrible luck with our air conditioning system this summer. Looks like we'll be out around $600 to fund repairs. We have money coming in from sales but hardly enough to cover.

We may be forced to sell out of Holland Lops completely. I wish we didn't have to but our Dwarf program is so much stronger, so it's a logical move. Also, it will allow us room to expand our Netherland Dwarfs, perhaps even to enter another color or experiment with colors. It's one of those head vs. heart battles. Sigh.

Looks like most of our babies from the last breeding have been sold or will be hoarded by us :-) More does had their litters after my last post- Ilene and Domhnall are the proud parents of two gorgeous little Chocolate Otters and one super-nice black doe. We're keeping them for now to watch them grow, if you're interested, send me an e-mail at rabbittank at grandecom dot net.

Now it's time to think about our next breeding, which should happen this weekend according to my Llewellyn's Datebook, which lists days fertile for planting and harvesting. This will be the first breeding for several does I can't help but think of as babies, I watched them grow so closely. Tank's M'nyara and Nyosha, sisters; Tank's Sisele, lovely Chinchilla doe; Tank's Diana, who recovered from an injury she sustained at a show when a judge slammed a door on her leg; and Becca's Bekah Dot, our broken doe pictured with Garron on the "Love Breeds Champions" page. We have a commitment to her terrific youth breeder, who lives in West Texas, to split the first litter. She'll be bred to Tank's Domhnall, our Chin buck that has produces so well with such quality.

Please keep watching for more photos and rabbits for sale. If you're interested in some great Holland Lops, now's the time to contact us. THANK YOU for reading!

MBT

RESULTS a/o June 20:

We had a major breeding about 31 days ago. Despite some sultry temperatures and multiple failures of our air conditioning system, our little Netherland Dwarf does are coming through! Here's a summary...


Delivered June 19:

Tank's Seshata/Dwarf Hill's Phoenix- 3 babies- looks like two of these will be a dilute coloration and either Marten or Otter.

Tank's Habiba/Tank's Meilyr- 3 babies- one of these looks dilute, very promising looks.

Caldwell's Emma/ Tank's Tighernan- 2 babies- one baby may be a REW, it was born with it's eyes open, so survival is doubtful. The other is most certainly a Tortoiseshell!

Tank's Oseye/Tank's Domhnall- 2, stillborn


Delivered June 20:


Tank's Sigrid/Tank's Thor- 1 baby

Tank's Muireaghl/Tank's Ivor- 2 babies

Tank's Dyvette/Tank's Meilyr- 3, stillborn

Tank's Ursula/Caldwell's Joachim- 2, stillborn

Tank's Ilene/Tank's Domhnall- busy in her nestbox as I type!

Still out: Tank's Freya, Tank's Olympia, Tank's Kate, Tanks Norah Jones

More news as it comes...

MBT

First Post

Greetings from Central Texas!

Finally, you say, it's about time there is no more obnoxious "Test Post" repeating the words "Rabbit Tank Rabbitry" over and over again. Things have been going ok in Valley Mills so far in 2007. Our rabbits are healthy and the babies we've had have been nice. Our production rate hasn't been stellar, so we are making a switch from Petrus rabbit feed to the 16% protein Pen Pals variety. I think this will be a positive change; our friend Ann Ward at Award's Rabbitry in OKC like it and has quite a bit of success.

Out of our most recent breedings, we've kept:

- Two chinchilla ND does, Sisele and Sadhbh from Tank's Domhnall and Tank's Oseye (chinchilla father, siamese sable mom.)

- Two black ND does, Nyosha and M'nyara from Tank's Dakir and Emma from Robert Caldwell's rabbitry (black buck (pictured at right on this blog,)tort doe.)

- One chesnut doe, Diana from Tank's Meilyr and Tank's Olympia (black otter sire, chestnut dam.)

I'll post more photos both on our Gallery on the main site as well as the very blog you're now reading. Looking forward to our next breeding on May 1, those Maypoles will be spinning ;-) I'll post those combos soon as well.

We have several ND and HL rabbits for sale in a variety of colors, more details to come. E-mail me with interest, rabbittank at grandecom dot net.

MBT