Unique hairless rabbit emerges in Samara village as Russia's only one

«Meet our hairless rabbit Dobby. My daughter named him – she»s been a Harry Potter fan since childhood,« introduces her pet Galina Bazhaikina. She and her husband and children have been raising rabbits for 15 years. But in all this time, the family has never seen a hairless rabbit. The leathery, long-eared one is the only such in the entire country and the second in the world. How does this exclusive pet live? Why was it nursed by a Soviet chinchilla? And why has Dobby»s offspring already been nicknamed labubu? Read in the material from our Samara colleagues at 63.RU.

Now Dobby has grown to 5 kilograms, acquired a family, a funny wardrobe, a separate room in the house, and even his own telegram channel, but in autumn 2024, the baby was an orphan: his mother rabbit died after giving birth.

«Dobby was born on November 1, 2024. His parents are ordinary rabbits of the White Pannon breed. A foster mother nursed the little one: at the same time, a female of the Soviet chinchilla breed gave birth, and we placed the orphan with her,» says Galina Bazhaikina. «All rabbit kits are born without fur, by 10 days they grow fuzz, and by a month they become fluffy. Dobby also initially grew fur on time, but then he molted. It turned out that all two-week-old kits are sitting fluffy, and he alone is a poor hairless thing. To keep him from freezing, we took him into the house.»

The naked baby only «ventured» out of the house in Galina«s bosom and only to go to the farm – to drink milk from the foster mother rabbit.

«Rabbit kits undergo several molts as they grow. After the first molt, Dobby was hairless until three months. Then from three to seven months, he grew fur, but it didn»t cover his whole body, only his back, like a fur vest, so to speak. The last molt in rabbits happens before adulthood – from seven to ten months. It was during this period that Dobby lost his fur and it never grew back at all,« explains the owner.

At first, the Bazhaikins tried to find any mention of sphinx or hairless rabbits on the internet. Who knows – maybe some «naked» gene from distant foreign ancestors crept into Dobby«s lineage? But a thorough search showed: there are no such breeds. Such a hairless rabbit exists only here and in Australia. But the long-eared one on the distant continent has a bit of fur on its face, tail, and paws. Our unique one is completely naked.

«No one has registered a hairless rabbit breed, no one even tried to breed it. So, you could say we just had a miracle happen. When the vet saw him, he said: »Maybe you«ll become famous,»« smiles the owner of the unique beast.

Galina pampers and cherishes her pet: treats him with goodies and bathes him with baby soap. In the Bazhaikin house, the rabbit has a separate room with a litter box, water bottle, and food bowl. The floor is covered with straw, and a special lamp maintains the necessary temperature.

«Dobby is comfortable at +26 degrees Celsius (79°F), at +20°C (68°F) he freezes. His pink skin turns white, he curls up into a ball and sits motionless. His ears are straight-up icy to the touch. So, when I let the rabbit out of the warm room to run around the house, I dress him in little suits. In his wardrobe, there is custom-knitted clothing, outfits bought in stores for cats and dogs. But the rabbit is most comfortable in bodysuits that were left from my grandson,» says Galina.

The Bazhaikins« grandson and all the friends» children scatter with shrieks at the sight of the long-eared monster. Even teenagers reach out to pet him and immediately pull back in fear. But this doesn«t upset Dobby at all. The only one from whom he wants hugs and who can handle him is Galina.

«He»s our monster, but a kind one. His skin is warm and velvety. He never scratches or bites. I sit on the sofa and call: «Bunny, come here.» He understands and jumps onto my lap, he«d sit like that and not get down, just to be petted. Generally, Dobby»s intelligence is higher than that of other rabbits of his breed. He distinguishes my voice and responds only to it. If my husband, son, or daughter calls, he doesn«t react,» Bazhaikina marvels at the abilities of the exclusive beast. «In summer, in the heat, we go out for a walk with him. Our house is at the end of the street and there»s a meadow nearby. He«s without a leash. He follows me. He doesn»t lag behind more than two meters.«

Half a year ago, Dobby became the father of three daughters at once. They were born to a rabbit of the White Pannon breed. From the union of a mother in a fur coat and a naked father, half-hairless kits were born. Their muzzles, ears, paws, and tails are without fur, but their bodies are fluffy.

«Friends» children, when they saw them, said: «Oh, these are labubu!» So it stuck, we call them labubusi. They really do resemble those toys. But they have their own names: Winky, Linky, and Tinky. In the Harry Potter books, Dobby the elf«s friend was called Winky. Well, and Linky and Tinky – we just named them for the rhyme,» explains Bazhaikina.

The last molt before sexual maturity hasn«t happened yet for the labubusi. So, whether they»ll remain half-dressed like this, become completely bald, or, on the contrary, fully grow fur, is unclear. But the intelligence of the triplets, according to the owner«s observations, is definitely higher than that of other rabbits.

«They»ve developed such an interesting ability that I«ve never observed before in rabbits. They learned to carry food in their teeth. Usually, you put a piece of carrot for a rabbit and it will gnaw it right where you placed it. But here, first one learned to take a piece of carrot in its teeth, drag it to a corner, and eat it there. Then the second one did the same. Now the third, the smallest labubusya, drags treats in its teeth to not share with others. So they even learn from each other. I»ve never seen anything like this in rabbits. Imagine, they steal crackers, carrots, or even something tasteless from each other, hide, and eat. For now, they live together with Dobby, and he doesn«t have such behavior. But their brains work like that.»

Recently, the rabbit that strolls through the village in its birthday suit became known at the Moscow Scientific Research Institute of Fur Animal Breeding. They offered to buy him along with his family.

«I refused immediately, we didn»t even get to discussing the price. I«m terribly curious myself to see what will happen next,» admits Galina.