RLR's Red Project to the End of 2021

People often ask me who I got my first red Holland Lops from and the answer is: ME. So I created this page to share how my red project began and to follow how it progresses.

I have always been a very competitive person, and I have never been one to back down from a challenge. It is why I am so passionate about breeding tricolor, because people have often told me they are not worth breeding for show, so I had to prove people wrong.

When I first saw a red Holland Lop at a show, I absolutely fell in love with the color and knew I needed to have many at home to harass with too many smooches (yep, I smooch my rabbits, and right on the face too!). I of course begged this breeder to sell me something, which didn't happen. I waited for a year for one of these reds and unfortunately never got one, so, living up to my competitive nature, I just decided to do it myself. This is how I ended up with Moonglow's Kindle, my beautifully red Thrianta.

At the time my daughter was still breeding Dutch rabbits and we did attempt to try to get red Dutch, but that program never took off, but I want to share pictures of those as well in case it can be helpful to anyone reading this.

Now I have this Thrianta and determination and literally no idea what to do next other than breed to my best buck. Pride & Joy's Cozmo, a broken tort buck, was the only grand champion buck I had at the time, so he was the obvious choice. It would have been nice to have a solid buck to start with, but even though I am a tried and true color breeder, I will always try to prioritize type over color.

Out of the many breedings from Moonglow's Kindle and Pride and Joy's Cozmo, I kept ONE doe to breed back into the Hollands. Only one single doe was of good enough type to work with out of at least 4 litters of Thrianta/Holland Lop crosses- just one. RLR's Ember shockingly enough came out looking like a red Holland Lop of almost show quality. I did actually show her once for the comments, and she got DQ'd because she was too big, but it served its purpose and I got my second opinion on her before I bred her back to my Holland line. Ember was a solid red doe and a fantastic mom, but since she was only half Holland Lop, she threw a lot of tight crowns, larger babies and other less than desirable traits in a lot of her offspring. Out of all of the litters Ember gave us, we kept 3 of her babies. RLR's Lumos- broken red buck, RLR's Nova- solid red doe, and RLR's Six- booted red tort doe.

This whole process took years and was kind of the definition of "cull hard." I had learned from a lot of the struggles I had with breeding tricolor at this point and knew that I would not accept anything to breed that I would not put on a show table (except Six, who I would if her color was showable- that girl is a tank!) At this point, I actually took a break from breeding and showing rabbits for about a year, so everything that came after was sheer luck! Six and Nova could have easily lost their ability to breed in that time without having their first litter, or I could have lost any or all of them- rabbits can be so fragile sometimes. By the grace of God, Lumos and his beautiful sisters are still here and what they are producing so far, along with our new red additions from Laplop are very encouraging.

When I started breeding again, the first person I contacted was Linda Hibbert of Laplop, hoping she would have something available and would take pity on me and help me get some outside blood for this project. Thankfully, she was impressed with my progress so far and I acquired the handsome Laplop's Cyrus- booted red buck, Laplop's Anala- solid red doe, and Laplop's Ash II- solid red tort (false dwarf) doe. Lumos, at that time was also used for some Laplop red does, but unfortunately no babies survived from those breedings, so when I went back to breed Lumos again to some of these does, I acquired Laplop's Taco Party- solid red buck, because how could I leave without that beautiful boy?

Laplop's Cyrus produced so many nice Reds, Booted Reds and Red Torts and he has now moved on to help another breeder, but his contribution to this project cannot be overstated. He is a compact buck with so much going for him (especially things that complemented my existing red line) and he really did pass on his great qualities to his offspring, but as Laplop's Taco Party neared senior age, it became our priority to focus on bringing in more solids to the red project.

There were things that have not worked out along the way though. I got the idea that I could bring in a red mini lop with good color in an attempt to fix the color I have lost by breeding for type. I got a beautifully colored red mini lop doe from Jody Rosnik, who was kind enough to humor me in this somewhat bizarre request, but unfortunately we were never able to get a litter out of her. I do wonder what it would have been like trying to correct the Holland Lop type with these mixes, but I have to assume it would have worked better than bringing in another Thrianta though, right?

Our most recent acquisition is a false dwarf solid red doe, Laplop's Siren, and with the many current red grow outs we have and the newly senior RLR's Cayenne and her litter of 6 babies, I am really excited going into 2022, as we will be temporarily shifting our focus from tricolor to red for this year. My main goals are to get more solids, with a focus on good rufus/coloring, and to get more consistently correct ear placement without ear control, as well as having more consistently short limb. I think overall that has been the biggest struggle to breed out from the Thrianta but we have really gotten some nice crowns also so I am very hopeful.

I want to take this opportunity to really focus on setting type for what I want my red line to be. 2021 blessed us in this project, and I plan to really put the work in through 2022 to make sure I make the most out of this amazing opportunity.

Our First Generation

Moonglow's Kindle, this little Thrianta was the start of something beautiful.

GC Pride & Joys Cozmo was everything this project needed to get off the ground.

Our first generation attempt at Red Dutch Rabbits. This project did not end up being continued.

Our first generation of red holland lops. Blaze was fairly typey for a mixed breed, and her rufus was fantastic, but she didn't quite make the cut.

Another first gen rabbit. We got a lot of this red chestnut coat and to this day I am not sure why.

Ember was our first Red Project brood doe. I wish she had more rufus modifiers, but she was red and she looked like a showable Holland Lop.

Contributions From Laplop During F2 Phase/F3 Phase

Laplop's Cyrus, a handsome booted red who gave me my favorite 3rd gen red doe so far, RLR's Aditi. Pictured as a Jr.

Laplop's Ash II (false dwarf) is a torted red doe. My favorite offspring of hers is the beautiful red RLR's Solar Flare.

Laplop's Anala may not have the best crown, but she really is a beautiful rabbit. We have several babies out of this girl that were keepers

Laplop's Taco Party is the first solid red buck to contribute to the project. RLR's Ravi is my favorite of his offspring.

Laplop's Siren (false dwarf) is a BIG girl with really good rufus. She turned senior recently and we are hoping she can help with color

Third Generation (F3)

RLR's Cayenne (false dwarf) is not really much to look at, but she is an amazing mom who produces several showable babies.

Helios

RLR's Solar Flare (false dwarf) has all the longer features like a BUD, but she is still fantastic! I cannot wait to see what this girl produces!

RLR's Shine is full sister to Solar Flare and if she weren't booted she would probably be a show girl.

RLR's Aditi is absolutely gorgeous! Her first litter unfortunately did not survive, but we want her here for several more chances.

RLR's Lumiere is our secondary red buck, as much as we are trying to focus on solids, we seem to only get good type in broken/booted.

Fourth Generation (F4)

RLR's Cayenne (false dwarf) is not really much to look at, but she is an amazing mom who produces showable babies.

Helios

RLR's Solar Flare (false dwarf) has all the longer features like a BUD, but she is still fantastic! I cannot wait to see what this girl produces!

RLR's Shine is full sister to Solar Flare and if she weren't booted she would probably be a show girl.

RLR's Aditi is absolutely gorgeous! Her first litter unfortunately did not survive, but we want her here for several more chances.

RLR's Lumiere is our secondary red buck, as much as we are trying to focus on solids, we seem to only get good type in broken/booted.

Realm of Lapine Rabbitry

Dedicated to raising high-quality show rabbits, especially of color.

RLR's Red Project to the End of 2021

Our First Generation

Our Second Generation (F2)

Contributions From Laplop During F2 Phase/F3 Phase

Third Generation (F3)

Fourth Generation (F4)

Realm of Lapine Rabbitry

Dedicated to raising high-quality show rabbits, especially of color.

RLR's Red Project to the End of 2021

Our First Generation

Our Second Generation (F2)

Contributions From Laplop During F2 Phase/F3 Phase

Third Generation (F3)

Fourth Generation (F4)

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