Welcome to Icebox Rabbitry's web site. Throw on a coat and let us take you on a walk through our wintery wonderland. Owned and operated by Cindy Servis and family and located in Northern Minnesota we have been raising rabbits since 1992.
Up to this point, it has been our motto that we work on type so that you don't have to. Well, this is still the case, but we have also begun to really take advantage of our tundra like landscape to develop the best possible coats that we can. Here in the Icebox, we rarely peak above 80 during the summer and our winter temps can easily reach sixty below and colder with the windchill. We can tell you...it's getting to the point that if a bunny doesn't have a good quality coat here, that it's chances of making the cut are slim and none. We are currently carefully combining the coat types of four separate herds to develop what we feel is the ultimate Mini Rex coat.
Some new news for those tri fans. We recently aquired a broken black buck from Cresthill that throws incredibly patterned harle and tri colors. Tris have always held a special place in my heart and although his carrying tri was not really expected I have been considering getting back into tris anyway. This buck will give us one heck of a nice start. His offspring will be crossed into our fur and type lines to create what we hope will soon be some of the best tris we have ever produced.
Rabbits
Educational Tools
Castors coming soon
Otters
Tris coming soon
Others on Occasion
Our Colors
We breed for type so you don't have to.
NEW 2008
Well, with the introductions made, I hope you enjoy your journey through our website. You are welcome to leave your jacket at the door when you exit. Thanks for stopping by!
Rabbits
Educational Tools
Castors coming soon
Otters
Tris coming soon
Others on Occasion
Our Colors
We breed for type so you don't have to.
NEW PHOTOS coming soon!!!
I will be selling between 20 and 50 animals at both Nationals and Convention this year. This is the largest number of animals I have ever let go out of my herd. I want to build a new barn and once that is done, I will likely reduce the number of sales animals again. Be sure to reserve your choice early for first pick of what I have for sale.
NEW 2008
First and foremost, we do not "adjust" our photos on our website to make our rabbits look shorter or deeper or better. We also let the animals sit relaxed and hands free before snapping our photos to be sure that what you see is indeed what you get when you see them in person.
It is our goal to have type that is equal to castors on all of our colors. We work very hard on breeding for type and work hand in hand with anyone who has our stock to produce the best typed animals they can as well. We are out to better the BREED, not just the animals in our own barn. Read about our breeding philosophy.
We have several colors of Mini Rex in our herd. The reason for this is that I don't look at color when choosing animals that will stay in our herd. If it is good enough to stay...it doesn't matter what color it is. If it's good enough to add to improve a color I am working on, I add it...provided the genetics of the color won't do damage to the color I am working on.
I will take this time to say that I have spent many hours learning color genetics so that I am able to acheive what I want through the selective crossing of one color to another. As a result, for the first few years of my learning experience with rabbits, I bred soely for color, testing each line to see what the line carried and culling those with genes that I didn't want in my breeding stock. This got me nowhere on the show tables so I decided to develop a line of animals with excellent type that would help me no matter what color I chose to work on. I have been doing this for about 7 years now and it shows in the consistency of type throughout our herd and throughout the colors in our barn.
With type fairly set in my herd I have now moved to focus on developing a line of Mini Rex with fur traits that I feel are important to the breed while maintaining the type that I have strived so hard to create. For the last three years I have paid strict attention to what fur traits are winning on the show tables. I have had my hands on (with permission of the owners) some of the top winning fur animals at convention in both rex and mini rex and have begun to focus on the characteristics and genetic patterns of how those coats are passed from generation to generation. Although I don't have complete knowlege of how the genes work, I have a good handle on how to make the coat that I like through a combination of successful crosses.
I personally hand pick each and every animal that goes into my herd as it is imperative for me to maintain the quality of type that I have established along with bringing in the traits that I desire to quicken the development of the fur that I am working towards.
When you buy an animal from me, you can be assured that the genes are there to produce what it is you want as long as you let me know what it is that you want. You see, a herd is merely a genetic puzzle. It is up to you to find out what it is that is lacking in your herd and to go looking for those traits. I am here to help you find what you need. Even if I don't have it in my herd, all you need to do is ask and I will help you find what you are looking for. To me, it's not about making money...it is about bettering the breed, friendships and enjoying what you do.
