Few hobbies can count fending off coyotes among their perils. For seniors Danielle Ciarelli and Kim Deichmann, however, the possibility is not out of the question.
The two biology majors both bred, raised, and showed rabbits at various fairs and competitions throughout grade school and high school, something they both said is far more complicated and rewarding than simply keeping a rabbit as a cute pet.
Ciarelli got started breeding rabbits on her family farm in late grade school, when a family friend gave her a pair of lionhead rabbits. Her uncle suggested that they attempt to breed the rabbits so that they could show the offspring.
“We already did stuff through 4-H, and so this was just another thing to do,” Ciarelli said. “But then I really liked it, so it was like, ‘Oh this breed is cool, let’s get some of these ones,’ and it went from there.”
Deichmann told a similar story about her start, despite growing up more than 800 miles from Ciarelli.
“As a kid, I did a lot of 4-H stuff … and I always saw the rabbits and thought that they were cute and would be fun to show,” she said.
“I told my parents, and they took me over to a breeder, and I picked myself out a bunny.”
The whole process, however, is not as easy as it may seem. In fact, judges at shows look for very specific traits particular to the various breeds of rabbits, such as size and shape of body, face, and ears, according to Ciarelli. In order to be competitive, breeders must be careful when deciding which rabbits breed together. This can be tricky — despite the idiom — due to the “temperament and moodiness” and delicate health of rabbits.
“Even though the saying is ‘breeding like rabbits,’ breeding them isn’t that easy,” Ciarelli said. “… Even if you breed two show-quality rabbits, you might only get half of a litter that can show.”
Both girls said they came to realize that — in addition to being cute and fun to show — rabbits were enjoyable to raise because they actually have personalities. Ciarelli compared rabbits to “little dogs.”
“Some of my rabbits are just happy to sit there and cuddle, but some of my sister’s like to just be playing and running around all of the time,” she said. “The more you play with them though, the sweeter they are.”
For Ciarelli, raising rabbits is a family affair. She is the oldest of eight kids and her sister and two of her brothers also show rabbits, each focusing on a different breed. According to Ciarelli’s father Mike Ciarelli, Danielle’s example played a huge role in her sibling’s involvement, even after moving to Hillsdale from her hometown of Milford, Michigan.
“She is the oldest, so she kind of set the way,” he said. “And with the way that she does it — always enjoying it, having fun with them, protecting them if anything comes after them — it got them excited, and then she could help them once they were involved.”
Danielle Ciarelli said she has always loved animals and that it has always been easy to be passionate about them. As further proof of this, she plans to attend veterinary school after graduating from Hillsdale.
For Deichmann, moving from Central City, Nebraska, to Hillsdale meant that she could no longer raise rabbits, but she said she would love to get another pet rabbit when she is able. For the time being, she plans to go into some form of scientific research after leaving Hillsdale.
Although both Ciarelli and Deichmann said they enjoyed their time raising rabbits, not everyone has the time or space to do so. Both, however, said people should consider getting rabbits of their own as pets, especially since they don’t take much more care than a guinea pig or a hamster, but make significantly better pets, according to Deichmann.
“There is so much more variation in rabbits than you may think,” Deichmann said. “You can get anything from the little tiny ones to the huge, 16-pound Flemish rabbits. But they are pretty easy to care for, they are really cute, and they have a lot of personality.”