Rabbit Terms
When you hear rabbit people talk, you may hear things like - buck, doe, kits, kindle, lagomorph, variety, etc. Is this a new langauage? No..., It's rabbit speak.
Here are the meanings of some different rabbit terms...
ARBA - American Rabbit Breeders Association
BIS - Best in Show
BOB - Best of Breed
BOS - Best of Opposite Sex
BOSV - Best of Oppostie Sex of Variety
BOV - Best of Variety
Broken - When the solid coat color of a rabbit has white patches or large white areas.
Buck - un-altered male rabbit.
Butterfly - A dark colored area around the rabbits nose- on a broken colored rabbit- that resembles a butterfly.
Charlie - A Broken patterned animal with less than 10% color on white fur.
Condition - the physical shape a rabbit is in.
Culling - When you remove less desirable rabbits from your herd, either by selling them or killing them, so you do not breed down undesirable qualities in your rabbits.
Dewlap - Thick folds of furred skin under a rabbits chin, mostly on does.
Doe - un-altered female rabbit.
Eye circle - Even markings around both eyes.
Faults - Imperfections on a rabbit that bring down the number of points a rabbit may win for show, but does not disqualify it from showing.
Fly back - After brushing the coat in the opposite direction it is going in, it falls back in place quickly.
Four Class - Show term for rabbits weighing less than 9 lbs at senior weight.
Guard hair - the longer, coarser hair of the coat which offers protection to the undercoat and providing wearing quality and sheen to the coat.
Inbreeding - mating closely related pairs of rabbits such as mother to son.
Junior - A show term for rabbits under 6 months of age.
Kindling - When a rabbit gives birth to babies.
Kits - A baby rabbit.
Lagomorph - The technical name for a rabbit
Lapin - The french word for "rabbit".
Linebreeding- mating rabbits that are descended from the same family line, but are related several generations back, such as first cousins or uncle to niece.
Litter - Baby rabbits born to the same mother at the same time.
Malocclusion - An inherited defect where the upper and lower jaws do not let the teeth meet, allowing either the bottom or top teeth to grow long and unevenly out of the rabbits mouth.
Molt - When a rabbit sheds it's hair.
Nest box- Where a doe kindles its kits.
Outbreeding - Mating two totally unrelated rabbits.
Pair - A buck and a doe.
Palpate - To feel a pregnant does underside to determine whether or not she is pregnant, usually not less than 12 or more than 14 days into the pregnancy.
Pedigree - A chart showing the descendants of a rabbit, three to four generations back.
Rabbitry - A place where domestic rabbits are raised or kept.
Rollback - After brushing the coat in the opposite direction it is going in, it falls back in place slowly.
Saddle - The rounded colored portion at the rear of a dutch rabbit.
Senior - A rabbit that is over 6 months of age or older.
Six class rabbits - A show term for rabbits over 9 lbs. at senior weight.
Smut - Slate grey fur that is not supposed to be on a standard color for a rabbit.
Tattoo - a set of numbers and or letters tattooed into a rabbits left ear for identification.
Trio - One buck and two does.
Type - Denotes body conformation or the shape of a particular breed of rabbit.
Variety - A rabbit's color.
Weaning - The process of getting a baby rabbit to go from drinking its mother's milk to eating solid food.
