Japanese Lop Rabbit is actually a large white rabbit that grows in Japan. That's why it is also called Japanese White Rabbit. It is said to be a hybrid of Chinese and Japanese white rabbits, but this cannot be verified. Japanese Lop Rabbit is a common breed, mainly used for economic production.
Scientific name: Japanese Lop Rabbit
Also known as: Japanese White Rabbit
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Lagomorpha
Family: Leporidae
Genus: Oryctolagus
Species: Japanese Lop Rabbit
Distribution: Originally from Japan, it is said to have been bred through the hybridization of Chinese domestic white rabbits and Japanese rabbits.
Reproduction: Viviparous, with 5-7 litters per year, producing 8-10 offspring per litter, with a maximum of 17.
Behavioral characteristics: Early maturation, fast growth, tolerant to coarse feed. It has good mothering ability and strong reproductive power, often used as a "nanny rabbit." It has good meat quality and excellent fur quality. The main disadvantages are larger skeletal structure, insufficient body plumpness, and lower slaughter percentage and net meat yield.
In the 23rd year of the Republic of China (1934), this breed of rabbit was introduced from Shandong and raised in places like Wuxi and Nanjing. Starting from 1958, the foreign trade departments in other provinces successively introduced the Japanese Lop Rabbit and distributed them to rural areas for breeding. In 1976, Peixian County imported 2,200 Japanese Lop Rabbits from Shanghai.
The Japanese Lop Rabbit has white fur and long, large ears. It has a large body, grows quickly, and has strong adaptability. The average weight of adult male rabbits is 4.06 kilograms, with the highest reaching 6 kilograms; female rabbits weigh around 4.5 kilograms, with the highest reaching 6.5 kilograms. The rabbit's skin is large and pure white, and the meat is tender and delicious, making it a high-quality rabbit in terms of both fur and meat. By the end of 1987, the number of Japanese Lop Rabbits in the province was approximately 280,000, accounting for 15% of the total number of fur and meat rabbits in the province.
It is recommended that those who love rabbits can raise them. Japanese Lop Rabbit is a medium-sized breed of rabbit that was developed based on the Chinese white rabbit. Its main characteristics are a large body size, pure white fur, long and upright ears, narrow ear body, pointed ear tips, and thin ear roots, resembling willow leaves. The eyes are red. The female rabbit has a fold of skin under the neck, forming a dewlap.
1. Symptoms of coccidiosis in rabbits
When rabbits have coccidiosis, their expelled feces become watery without any blood. The intestinal mucosa of rabbits thickens and becomes congested, and the small intestine is filled with a large amount of mucus and gas. Additionally, the mucosa may have varying quantities of grayish-white nodules. Large numbers of coccidial oocysts can be seen in feces or intestinal mucus smears under a microscope.
2. Symptoms of rabbit salmonellosis
Rabbits with salmonellosis often have persistent diarrhea, with watery feces often containing jelly-like mucus. They also experience elevated body temperature and weight loss. The small intestinal mucosa becomes congested, and bleeding may occur, while the submucosa becomes edematous. Diffuse or scattered grayish-white, granular necrotic lesions can be observed in the jejunum, ileum, and cecum mucosa.
3. Symptoms of colibacillosis in rabbits
Rabbits affected by colibacillosis experience severe diarrhea, with feces appearing pale yellow to brown and watery. The feces often contain a large quantity of jelly-like mucus and some pointed, dry fecal pellets. The dry pellets are covered in a transparent, jelly-like substance. The stomach contains a large amount of fluid and a small amount of gas, while the contents of the ileum and colon appear as long, pointed, rat-like feces with a thick, grayish-white, sticky secretion covering the outside, giving a pearl-like appearance.
4. Symptoms of fungal enteritis in rabbits
Rabbits with fungal enteritis exhibit a pale yellow and hardened liver, congested intestinal mucosa, and no bleeding spots on the cecum serosa. These toxins can damage the liver and digestive system function of rabbits, leading to diarrhea. Additionally, liver touch smears, intestinal content smears, and cultures of rabbits with fungal enteritis all test negative.
There are many types of feed for Japanese Lop Rabbits. The way to raise commercial rabbits is quite different from pet rabbits. Commercial rabbits are usually raised in a rough manner, so they usually choose breeds that are more resistant to rough feed, and Japanese Lop Rabbits are a good choice for commercial rabbits.
1. Green feed
It has a high water content, low fiber content, rich in protein, vitamins, and minerals, and has a complete nutritional value. It has strong palatability and is easy to digest. It is the basic feed for raising domestic rabbits. There are many types, including cultivated forage, aquatic plants, weeds, wild vegetables, green leaves, and vegetable leaves.
2. Juicy feed
It includes various tubers, melons, etc. Juicy feed has abundant water content, low crude fiber, and high starch content, with a protein content of only 1-2%. It is rich in potassium and deficient in calcium and phosphorus, with a high nitrogen leaching content.
3. Rough feed
Its characteristic is low nutrition, high crude fiber content, and low protein and vitamin content. However, maintaining a certain amount of crude fiber is beneficial for the normal function of rabbit digestion.
4. Fine feed
It includes seed feed and processed by-products. Seed feed mainly includes corn, barley, wheat, oats, rice, and other gramineous plants, which contain a large amount of nitrogen-free extract, mainly starch. Processed by-products include soybean cake, oil residue, rice bran, soybean skin, powder residue, soybean residue, etc. These are all good feeds for feeding rabbits, and their characteristics are high nutritional value.
5. Animal feed
This type of feed mainly refers to by-products of the milk and dairy products industry, by-products of the fishery processing industry, and by-products of the meat processing industry. Its characteristic is high protein content.
6. Minerals
It refers to feed used to supplement the insufficient minerals in the feed. The mineral elements needed for the nutrition of the rabbit's body can generally be met by natural feeds, especially leguminous plants that are more resistant to mineral deficiencies.
Japanese Lop Rabbit changes its fur twice a year, in spring and autumn. It can be a quite troublesome thing as rabbit fur flies everywhere during molting. Therefore, the owner may consider buying a comb from a pet shop to help comb off the shedding fur, so as to avoid fur all over the floor.
When combing the rabbit's fur, the owner should gently hold up the rabbit (do not directly grab its ears, as they are very fragile), and start combing from the outer fur, then comb inward, one by one. Finally, use a broom (or tape for fine hair) to clean up, and the job is done.
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