Angora rabbits can be both a fun and rewarding pet, or the gateway animal towards a small homestead and self-sufficiency. There’s nothing like the novelty of raising a “fiber animal” from the comfort of your own apartment. If you’re already thinking about raising rabbits, here’s 5 reasons to consider raising an Angora.
1 – Fluffiness
Ok, let’s start with the obvious reason. Fluffy things are undeniably cute. Angoras are by purpose remarkably soft because they were bred for that simple purpose.
As a fiber breed, the quality and softness of their coat are paramount. While your cat or dog may also be fluffy, angora fluff is both valuable and useful. There’s also something to be said for an animal whose sole purpose in life is to produce fluff.
2 – Docile Nature
Don’t get me wrong, Angora rabbits are a lot of work. They do need daily grooming and affection to keep them in top condition and feeling appreciated. It took many generations of breeding to make a rabbit docile enough to both appreciate and tolerate this much handling.
If you’re looking for a lap rabbit, look no further. While many other rabbit breeds were developed for meat rather than temperament, angoras were bred specifically to enjoy petting and grooming.
One of our angora’s lounging in the yard. This is about 6 weeks after a plucking as his coat is growing back in.
3 – Low Food Consumption
Though they may not seem like it, angoras are relatively small rabbits. Under all that fur there’s an animal that’s barely larger than a guinea pig.
Most are only a few pounds, and once you harvest their fir you’ll be amazed at how tiny your little guy is under all that fiber. They have very slow metabolisms, and they’re mostly going to sit around growing floof and begging for love.
Our little guys eat only a few tablespoons of food each day, supplemented by treats such as apples, carrots, bananas and clover.
4 – Speed
Or lack thereof…our little guys are free-range in the yard on nice days. While many traditional pet and meat rabbit breeds are lighting fast, angoras just plod along.
Even with all that free-range and exercise time to build up muscle, I can still walk faster than they can run. After about 20 feet of angora “running” they tend to stop for a breather, huffing and puffing.
This animal was not made to survive in the wild, but luckily they don’t have to.
5 – Profit
If you’re going to keep a pet, it’s always a nice benefit if they can earn their keep. Most angora rabbit breeds produce between 16 and 20 ounces of angora wool per year.
If you know how to market angora fiber, you can sell that fiber for $10 to $12 an ounce. With a little value-add, like making your own felted wool hats, you can increase that considerably.
Because they can be income-producing, angora rabbit kits generally sell for around $50 each, meaning that even a small breeding operation could be quite profitable between harvested fiber and kits sold.
What do you think? Are you ready to add angora rabbits to your homestead?
Marcin
Those Informations are not True. You should t groom Angoras, this leads to felting. Angora rabbits are average sized rabbits with about 5lb not 2lb like guinea pigs. They eat a lot. A German Angora gives you about 25 and 50 oz wool per year and the wool is Mostly Sold for 4$ per ounce.
Mackenzie Jamieson
I’m trying to find angora rabbit breeders in the PNW and most charge around $200 per rabbit not $40 or $50.
Administrator
The pricing will definitely vary by region and availability as well as what the rabbits are bred for. For example, a rabbit that is bred for its fiber is going to be in a completely different price category than one that is bred for showing or competition just like any other animal. I hope you are able to find something more affordable in your area.
Jessica
I cannot believe how wrong this article is.
Hopefully you have educated yourself in the years following this. Because this needs some serious editing. They are not small rabbits. They have a super fast metabolism. They eat ALL DAY LONG!! Constantly eating. That is how their bodies literally work. Breeding is unethical. And the lives of animals shouldn’t be for profit. Especially when most of them end up in shelters/rescues/dumped on the streets.
Not a single good thing about this article
Administrator
This article was written based on actual personal experience with owning Angora rabbits not simply reading about them in a book. If you have specific information on the metabolism rates of angora rabbits please feel free to share. We are always willing to learn something new. There are multiple types of angora breeds of different sizes. The difference in size will of course impact the amount of feed that is required for proper care. The main point is that when the rabbits are offered clover along with other fruits and vegetables that the amount of feed required is minimal in comparison to other larger animals. This blog is about self-reliance which in many cases involves breeding and raising animals for fiber, food, profit or any other human need. As homesteaders, we don’t see anything unethical about that, but you’re certainly welcome to have your own opinion.
Tammy
I am new to angora rabbits. I enjoyed your article..Thank you for sharing your information.
Administrator
You’re very welcome. We’re so glad you enjoyed it.
Cora
I am considering raising and/ breeding Angoras for fiber, but I would love to get some more information about what I should expect and how to best care for them. I was wondering if you would know where I could get more information?
Administrator
Have you seen the two other posts that we have about raising Angora rabbits? https://practicalselfreliance.com/angora-rabbit/ andhttps://practicalselfreliance.com/selling-angora-fiber-from-backyard-rabbits/
Dina
Please post this corrected typo version of the previous post.
Both articles about angora rabbits are misinformed. Angora rabbits are not small bunnies. That is true. They can also run like the wind . As with most domestic farm animals, they have not originally been bred for pets but food and use of their coat. There would not be such a thing as an angora rabbit if they were not bred specifically for their coats. But their coat continues growing and they do not have to be killed to use it. Like most fur bearing animals that shed seasonally their coats keep them warm and they shed the coat with the seasons and climate. So the angora rabbit has been bred for its coat, and while they can be dual purpose for meat and fiber, they are more specifically kept and bred for their fiber. However their coat does not shed with the seasons like cats and dogs, but according to growth cycles. The fiber will shed naturally and for eons it was bred to harvest for its warmth. The coat will be prime at 13 weeks and will start to shed back after this so should be harvested regularly with the growth cycles. When prime and coat is just about ready to shed, it comes out easily and does not hurt the bunny. You can do the pinch test to tell . Take a few hairs between your fingers and give a little tug. If bunny flinches it is not ready. Bunny will not feel it and not move or flinch when it is ready . The true way to care for the coat is to breed for easy care because if it felts on the bunny it means there is not enough guard hair and will felt on the garment. The coat should NEVER be brushed because that loosens the fibers and contributes to wool block . (Wool block is like the cat hair ball except that the cat can regurgitate it to remove it but the bunny cannot. The best preventative for wool block is not to brush and to remove pellets once a week and feed hay on that day – called a pellet fast). The coat can be gently combed but the recent practices of people that show them is to blow the coat with a special blower to remove webbing. In recent times the coat has been bred to hold the length longer for showing and not to matt. Some varieties like German are so prolific fiber producers that the coat needs to be sheared.
Angora is 8x warmer than wool and it has amazing thermal properties that also will alleviate pain by increasing circulation and blood flow. It is the finest and warmest fiber on the planet by domestic fiber producers (only found finer on the wild vicuna). Even qiviut cannot match the fineness of Satin angora and the thermal capacity of all angora types. While they make good pets they are and should primarily be, a spinner’s pet. There is nothing wrong with turning that little bit of fluff into something warm and wonderful to wear. This is a labor intensive hobby and the angora fiber is often sold raw to pay for the expenses. But is has the best return by adding value with spinning it into yarn and knitting or weaving it into something beautiful .
The intense fiber producing angora rabbits, should not be kept just as pets, as the pet lover will soon grow tired of all the work of maintaining the coats. There are several pet varieties that are a much better choice like Fuzzy lops or Jersey woolies. But the main breeds of angora like French, English, Satin, Giant and German angoras should be kept for show and fiber passions not primarily as a pet.
If you think that these beautiful creatures should not be productive fiber producers for turning that fluff into something beautiful to wear or heal, you are misinformed and the animals would not survive for very long. Certainly not in the wild and not as pets. If you are PETA promoter please become better informed before making statements that will inevidably deny the existence of these beautiful animals.