Show tomorrow.

This week is a very special week- Convention breedings can start. Oh yeaaaa! I started today off with cleaning a few nest boxes and a couple carriers for the show in the morning. Tiring! Then I did two Convention breedings. One was PFF's Tonka (Tort) x Hobbs' Oh No (Blue Tort). This is going to be an exciting breeding. Oh No is a VERY short and solid doe with excellent wool. Tonka is short, except he is long in the shoulder. His head is TREMENDOUS. I haven't been using him much lately because he is just my spoiled baby, but I really need to get some babies with his monstrous big head on them! The second breeding was THF Saynora Zayden (Tort) x THF Saynora Tort doe (Qwade daughter, Tort). He only got her once, but I'm still crossing my fingers.

I'm looking forward to the show tomorrow morning, but I wish I was a bit more prepared. Even though I cleaned a few carriers this morning I still have a TON to do in the morning. Here's to waking up at like 5am!

Oh those Convention breedings

The nestboxes are full right now here. It's such a wonderful feeling to go through each of them every morning and see how every new life has grown in just the past 24 hours since I last looked at them. This year is going to be a busy baby year here, as I have Convention breedings starting this weekend. I've been sitting for weeks comparing and contrasting who to breed to whom. I have some decisions dead set, yet others I am still unsure of. Who has the best shoulers to breed to the one with some weak shoulders? Ok this one has good ears, and this one's are a little funky.. but will they all end up thin and folded or short and thick and round? So many decisions! I am going to start my first round of breedings. After 5 weeks of the litter being born, I will probably start Round 2 for those that I need more babies out of. I'll foster to any other does if possible when having litters. Even though the amount of holes I'm taking to Kentucky on the plane are very very small, I would like to have a great batch of juniors to pick from.

Anyone who is interested in any for sale rabbits we will have will probably be disappointed to hear that shipping to KY will not be possible by airlines. The rabbit would have to go via ground transport by one of the many people who will be driving from CA to KY. It's sad, but this year space is limited. Next year, since the Convention will be in Southern California I will be able to easily drive there and bring as many rabbits as I want! Yipee!

Above you will see photos of some of our upcoming juniors. I believe both of these two are bucks, and are around 3 months old. Forgive the scruffy wool. They're still babies! If all turns out, I'll be keeping the fawn. What I love about these two is how clear the agouti coloring is. The mother of these guys is Hobbs'/Moore's Ado Annie. She is a very crisp clean fawn with an awesome shake and show coat. Father is Hobbs' Dayton, a solid blue buck that is so short and so solid. Both babies ended up with awesome coloring and rufus. They are doublebred on PSP's Taboo, a broken chestnut buck that took a great placing at Convention a few years back.

It's so nice to have some young life in the barn!

Holland Lops!

Quite a few months ago I was fortunate to get a great start in a new breed. Their page is not setup all the way on our website yet, but I just had to share what we have. HOLLAND LOPS! Yes, that's right! Starlite Rabbitry is also home to Holland Lops. We have a very small herd of them at this point. I always told myself that when I decided to get into them I would only go to the very best. And I did just thank. I cannot thank Tracy and Jenna enough from THF Saynora for sending me my starting stock. All 6 of our current hollands are from them. I have a solid tort buck, broken tort buck, two solid tort does, a broken tort doe, and a broken blue tort doe. I have only done one breeding so far, with the intention of doing most of my breedings for Convention juniors. Might as well since the time is right! I am very excited with this endeavor and it should be a great challenge as we all know how competitive holland lops are on the table. Below is a picture of one of my boys, THF Saynora Yowza who always begs for loves through his cage door. Photo is Copyright THF Saynora:

I have lots of babies in the box right now. I am very excited for some of the crosses! I only have a couple more does due before I start my breedings in about 2 weeks for KY Convention Juniors. I can't believe it's that time already!

Yesterday one of my good friends Susie (Wooly World Rabbitry) stopped by for a visit. We spent the day going through my rabbitry and comparing rabbits. She brought a few of her own fuzzies from her barn for me to look at. We also did some breedings. I'm very happy for her and how far she has come in her program! Each generation seems to get better and better. She also helped convince me to keep a couple of my juniors from my older litter. One is a fawn jr buck and the other is an opal jr buck. They have both such awesome agouti coloring and the rufus is amazing! I was so hesitant and debated on just selling them all quick as pets but when she convinced me to take them out of their cage I was pleasantly suprised at how they are turning out! Sometimes all you need is another eye huh?

The babies are coming!

Man, changing my feed was the best thing I've ever done. After being "forced" into switching feeds I went from two litters in a 1 1/2 year period, to almost having 5 so far in the month of March alone.

This morning, Hobbs' Moxee (broken tort) produced a litter of 4. One was DOA, but the other three are fine. One is a broken, and the other two are solid. These are by Sky High Walker (Tort buck) which makes me SO excited. I haven't got babies out of him in so long. I bet these babies are going to be awesome. Moxee's father is the well known Hobbs' Indy. Starlite's Gucci (chestnut doe) had a litter yesterday morning. She was bred to my black otter wool carrying buck AK's Quiddich. Crazy enough, she had a REW! Yes, you see that right. Over here on the West Coast REW is almost considered a "rare" color in fuzzy lops. It's not very common at all. So that was exciting! She also had a solid and 2 tan colored babies. I love having so many babies right now. It makes me so happy!

Pictured above is a solid tort junior buck (Hobbs' Dayton x FH's Honalulu Honey)

The Otter Project

I think most people have some sort of "color" or "new breed" project that they are working on. It provides challenge to the breeder, and a sense of accomplishment with each new generation that is produced. I decided that I would work on a color that is not recognized in fuzzy lops. About the same time that I decided to work on Otters someone pulled the COD on the color. Perfect! I was able to acquire an otter holland lop that was (holland x fuzzy). He is smooth coated but carries the wool gene. So in a litter the probability is that 50% of his offpspring will be smooth coated and 50% of the offspring will be fuzzy. I spent many many months getting nothing out of this buck, and all of a sudden it seems like every doe he has been to lately has been bred! That is really exciting for me.

And I am proud to announce that I have my FIRST otter colored offspring in the nestbox. (which you can see in the photo above!) At this point I'm not sure whether it will be fuzzy or not, but it is broken black otter and has lots of white on it. Crossing fingers it will be fuzzy, because then this baby will have been statistically perfect! In all aspects, as long as the type is good, the baby will be staying here to continue on the generations. Yay! I feel that much closer to seeing that beautiful otter fuzzy lop I picture in my mind. How about a solid black or blue otter buck with a massive head and flowing wool? YUMMY!

It's been a while...

I'm guilty. It's been months since I took the time to write a blog. I promise I'm going to try to keep this updated regularly. Everyone keeps bugging me about it! :P



Good news here at Starlite. After almost 2 years with only one litter, we are now getting babies!! I have had several litters born in the last month and I am beyond excited. Seeing these new little lives born in the barn make for exciting moments. I feel like I am really starting to make progress.



Since my last postings I have done some work on reformatting how I want my herd to be, and grow from. I have moved out many of the random lines I started out with, and have settled on a few to be the backbone of my herd, which is mostly Hobbs' lines and several fuzzy holland lines. Leslie Hobbs has been such an inspiration to me. She has helped me so much with some direction and has taught me a lot about linebreeding, type, and using a pedigree and appearance to create something incredible. I first purchased from Leslie in August of last year (drove all the way up to WA to visit and see the rabbitry in person). I just received a second batch very recently. I have some incredible rabbits thanks to her. Above you can see Zola, a beautiful REW doe we purchased from Leslie. She has the sweetest temperament and the shortest thickest ears!

A super important announcement.. we *will* be at Louisville, Kentucky for the 2008 ARBA Convention this October!! I am beyond excited. It will be my first Convention and I can't wait to see all the rabbits, put some names to faces, and enjoy some wonderful times with friends. I purchased my plane ticket this past weekend so all is in order to go! Yipeeee!