Meet The Hot Cross Buns
We would like to introduce you to the Hot Cross Buns. Each and every one of them holds a special place in our hearts and in our breeding programs. We love color and lots of it, which is why you will see a wide variety of colors in our herd. Even more important than the color of their coats is the temperament they each exhibit. We love our Buns and want the very best for them. That means we need to know each of them from tip to tail, inside and out. We welcome your questions about our herd and their care.
The Hot Cross Bucks are the building block of our rabbitry. Without great sires, we can't breed great kits. Since we breed for sound temperament, our boys have to be sweet, curious, and loving. It would be impossible to choose a favorite out of these handsome boys.
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Joshua is a very handsome chocolate buck who is gentle and loves the ladies. He is a compact little guy, with a bright outlook and inquisitive nature. He loves to scruffle up his towels and roll around on them as soon as he is placed in his freshly cleaned cage. Joshua may not win the rabbitry's Tidiest Bunny award, but he his loving and kind to everyone he meets, human and rabbit alike. |
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Little Boy Blue is a gorgeous solid blue buck who loves treats and head rubs. He is absolutely yummy with his fat head and chubby cheeks! Little Boy can be a bit shy around people and the does (which can be a turn-off for some of them) but we are hoping age and experience will help him become a more eager breeder. We really want to bring more of his correct Holland Lop type into our lines. |
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Luigi caught our attention a long time ago. Born and raised by the wonderful folks at Hook's Hollands, this gorgeous chestnut charlie buck came to live with us on his first birthday. We are so blessed to have this friendly, well-socialized little man in our lives. Tiny and of excellent type, Luigi is absolutely delightful and loves cuddles and attention. Because he is a charlie, every time he is bred to a solid colored doe, all of his kits will be broken patterned. |
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Gulliver is the newest buck to be added to our rabbitry. Hailing from Cranberry Trails, he is a junior broken magpie who is already bringing much joy and laughter to Hot Cross Buns. He is going to give Wee Walter a run for the money on being the rabbitry Energizer Bun! During his first photo shoot, he has tried to climb UP the wall and has decided to try bonding with our laser printer several times, which makes getting some decent photographs very tricky. Gulliver is very sociable and friendly, when he takes the time to notice that there are people nearby.
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Joey has taken his sire's place in the rabbitry. This son of Wee Walter and Dulcie (and brother of our doe Primrose) is sweet and playful. He lacks Wee Walter's impish streak, but did inherit his wonderful litter box habits. Dulcie got carried away when cleaning him up at birth and nibbled a couple of his toes off, so his feet are a bit wonky. We have a soft spot for this little buck and enjoy his quirky temperament.
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The Hot Cross Does are the ladies who do all the real work in the rabbitry. They have to deal with pregnancy hormones, build a nest, give birth, nurse multiple babies at once, deal with babies climbing all over them and eating all the food in their bowls, go through weaning...we get tired just thinking about it! We enjoy our special Hot Cross Does and provide them with lots of TLC.
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Goldilocks is a very special girl to us. Gifted to us by our dear friends at Hook's Hollands, she has become a favorite in the Hot Cross Buns rabbitry. Ever sweet with an incredibly gentle and nurturing attitude, she is made to be mama and loves her babies to distraction. Usually devoted mama buns tend to be a bit overprotective (in other words, willing to defend offspring and cage space from any perceived threats, which could result in an unexpected nip as a warning) but Goldi was sweet and welcoming any time we needed to check on her or her babies. We are her friends and she knows it! :) Goldilocks will do just about anything for a Sherwood Digestive Tablet and goes wild when she catches a whiff of one. We absolutely adore this darling doe!
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Cake Pop is the daughter of Sweet Tart and Coconut Cream. A beautifully typed broken sable point, Cake Pop won Reserve Champion at our county fair in August 2017 when she was three months of age. She has only gotten better with time. In 2018 she won Best of Breed at the same fair. From her parents she inherits a sunny, joyful disposition and loves to give kissy licks to her favorite people...who seem to be just about everyone. She has enough spunk to keep her from being boring, but is filled the rest of the way with love to give to every person she meets. |
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Sweet Tart is a broken sable point senior doe. She is a sweet, loving false dwarf girl who is a born mother. Ever attentive and affectionate, she has produced some beautiful, winning kits, including our own Cake Pop. Sweet Tart officially belongs to our youngest son, so all decisions regarding breeding and placing her kits rest with him, although he is always open to help and suggestions. |
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Mrs. Rachel Lynde - This lovely Blue-Eyed White doe has earned herself the name Mrs. Rachel Lynde, after the beloved character in the Anne of Green Gables series. Mrs Lynde is a kind-hearted busy-body who must stick her nose into everything, whether her advice and opinion is wanted or not. Mrs. Lynde the bunny is the Holland Lop equivalent of the character and, as soon as we had an inkling of her temperament, no other name would suit her. She is lively, opinionated, and as inquisitive as a rabbit could possibly be, and we love her for it! Taking photos of such a busy bunny is never easy, but we did the best we could! LOL
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Molly is another doe out of Tootsie and Hamlet's litter. Sister of Dulcie and Tabitha, Molly appears to be a broken frosty, but is possibly Vienna Marked.*** Usually broken patterned rabbits have solid-colored ears, but Molly has a streak of white on her right ear that leads me to suspect that she may carry the Vienna gene (the gene that presents blue eyes in rabbits). She is more reserved and slower to warm up to people than her sister, but is curious enough to stick her nose out to see what's going on. When she has playtime in the exercise pen, she most frequently hunkers down, muffin-style, and enjoys watching the goings-on around her. She is definitely an observant bunny!
***Vienna carriers are not supposed to be bred to a broken patterned rabbit because it makes it difficult to tell which rabbits are true Vienna Marked rabbits as opposed to non-vienna carriers who are simply broken patterned. Molly and Tabitha prove this point. Their sire, Hamlet, was a beautiful broken blue-eyed buck, so it was easy to tell that he carried the Vienna gene. |
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Tabitha is a broken frosty doe with very nice type. She has a warm, loving temperament, although can be a bit hesitant to try to new things. Tabitha is Molly's sister and is most like their mother Tootsie. We will be working on getting some new photos of her as the current ones don't do her justice. |
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Isla (pronounced EYE' luh ) is another darling junior harlequin doe we added to our our rabbitry from Cranberry Trails. She is a gentle, quiet girl with a temperament very similar to Trixie's, but Isla has more of a quiet dignity about her, while Trixie is a bit of a clown. We have all fallen in love with this little girl and her lovely symmetrical facial markings and honeybee stripes.
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Beatrix (Trixie, for short) is a lovely little harlequin girl, with a gentle nature. She can be a bit shy, but she is curious and wants to be kept in the loop. She hops to the front of her cage every time the door is opened, ready and waiting for love, nose rubs, and playtime. Trixie is a possible VC, so we will be very careful about always placing her kits in pet-only homes, so as not to throw any breeders a Vienna gene curve ball. Her head is on the narrow side, but we will pair her with a buck who will bring the potential for more width to their kits' crowns. This little girl loves to eat and munches her hay and pellets with gusto. We are already quite fond of this wee girl. :)
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Primrose is a gorgeous, compact chinchilla born to recently retired Wee Walter and Dulcie. She has a wonderfully inquisitive temperament, with a love for cuddles (short ones!) as she hops off to explore new things in her environment. She has a gloriously thick coat, which will mean extra-care during her molts, but we can't resist sinking our fingers into it. With her wonky ears and happy demeanor, she had us wrapped around her wee paws very early in her life. We hope to breed Primrose for her first litter this spring.
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Cupcake is our little doe from Cake Pop and Little Boy Blue. She has a wonderfully cuddly disposition and loves to snuggle. She will happily play and bounce, too, but she always comes back to our laps demanding more cuddle time. We fell in love with this little girl and plan to pair her with Luigi when she is old enough to breed. She carries sable and dilute, so her babies could be a fun mixture of colors.
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Meet Sukie! She is the official "Bun Warmer" of Hot Cross Buns. A lovely harlequin French Angora, Sukie provides extra-warm wool to help line the nests of the Holland Lop mamas who don't pull enough fur of their own to keep the little Buns cozy. Sukie joins the rabbitry as a pet and will be spayed as soon as she is old enough to undergo the surgery. She is a spunky little girl (although she weighs almost eight pounds, more than twice the weight of a Holland Lop!) and loves to binky and play. She has a wonderful temperament and will be a delightful companion as she fulfills her very important job as Chief Bun Warmer. :) |