California Rabbit fur color change.

[araeihrig]

This is what my California Doe looked like when I got her. She is a couple of years old.

Now this is what she looks like

I didn't know they could change colors...

 

[araeihrig]

Ok... so I just learned that California rabbits have "heat sensitive" pelts. That is very interesting.

 

[VKat]

What a lovely doe you have!
I have a California cross buck, and he has seasonal changes with his marks too. Over the summer his nose will lighten until it's almost silvery. Right now he looks like your girl in the top photo. Neat!

 

[araeihrig]

This is the doe kit that came with momma bunny. The baby is the sweetest little thing. She is now 4 months old and greets me every time she sees me.

 

[araeihrig]

I wish she would have stayed the lavender color. It was beautiful. But she has a beautiful personality.

 

[Bunnylady]

The gene that causes the "pointed" pattern on Californian rabbits is often called the Himi gene, named for the Himalayan rabbit breed that it comes from. As you said, the expression of it is temperature sensitive; dark pigment gets deposited in hair growing where the skin is cooler. Himi babies are indistinguishable from Ruby-eyed White babies at birth; as they get bigger and their fur grows in, the darker points gradually appear. Kits that get chilled during their growth often show some dark pigment in the part of their coats that was forming at the time the chilling took place. Depending on how cool they got, it can be just a vague tinge of color (like your younger doe), or it can be pretty intense. I have seen himi-patterned babies that had such a dark band in their hair, they looked a bit like light Chinchillas!