Angora Update from D'Lynn Wooly Bunnies

by D. L. Deter
(Indianapolis, IN USA)

Actually, some information about German angoras isn't quite current. German angoras DO matt if they go beyond 4 mo. The coat will begin to "slip" (not a full molt) and it will matt.

On the other hand, breeders of show English angoras have isolated a powerful non-molting gene, so that the rabbits require less care than Germans do, often getting quite long with no combing, blowing, etc. This was advantageous to the show breeder, because it kept a rabbit in "prime" coat for longer periods of time. Prior to the modern non-molters, your best rabbit might blow its coat right before a big show. This modern breeding eliminates most of that.

I personally have gotten pure English angoras to over 7 inches in length with no combing and no matting except a small spot behind the ears, and a little lump of matting on the cheeks right beside the mouth. Since English fiber is so much softer and modern production is very good in terms of fiber per oz. of feed, I eliminated all the Germans here and went to English only.

D. L. Deter
D'Lynn Wooly Bunnies