Bunnies!

[Bunnylady]

Quote:
Try again. They are both A_B_C_D_E_. The difference between castor and chestnut occurs elsewhere, among the rufous intensifiers, which is also where the difference between a red and an orange happens. (These are not to be confused with the rufous gene, which is what puts red on the belly of the Tan.) Self(a) is very common in both breeds, as is chocolate(b), dilute(d) and non-extension(e). Without seeing the pedigrees of the parents, you cannot rule out the presence of such common recessives, in fact I would think it highly likely that they would both carry at least one that is the same. While Mendelian ratios indicate that the majority of the offspring should be agouti, the product of a single pair (or particularly, a single breeding) can be wildly skewed. And since steel is dominant to chestnut, it is quite possible that chestnut offspring, either broken or solid or Dutch-marked, could actually wind up a minority (particularly if any recessives turn up!).

Akane, I wasn't concerned about you flooding the market with the offspring of a single pair. I just wanted you to be aware of the fact that the market may already be flooded, it's good to know that you already have a contingency plan. There have been several local stories in the last few years of people discovering a number of rabbits that have been dumped in an unpopulated area. Sometimes it appeared that they are a single litter, other times it was clear there were too many for that. It doesn't take much creativity to figure out that someone found out they couldn't sell them, and was unwilling to kill them, so they tossed 'em out before they wound up being eaten out of house and home! If you are prepared to deal with any that you can't sell, I say, have fun - you may be pleasantly surprised at what turns up!

 

[Akane]

Getsuko's hair shafts are grey with tan tips. I don't know if this is the color you are talking about. I know odds are mostly for agoutis. Getsuko and Amako are not related at all. Amako is the offspring of 2 mini rex in the store but I would have to ask the color of the parents and other offspring. Getsuko is from a seperate breeder that they get dwarf rabbits from. I was told all their rabbits are dwarf but not the exact breeds. The rest of Getsuko's litter that I could see were all agouti with the dutch pattern ranging from his color to much lighter tan.

 

[SkyStorm]

I breed my Mini Rexes near at least 8 months old-9 months old. I like to ensure there growing has pretty much stopped before I breed them. They are very cute bunnies

 

[NewHopePoultry]

Sorry ment A_ B_ C_ D_ E_ (it gets confusing going from writing our mouse genes to writing out rabbits)

Red is: A_B_C_D_ee ww
Orange is Orange: A_ B_ C_ D_ ee + rufus modifires

 

[Bunnylady]

Thank you, marebear. I erroneously referred to it as the "rufous gene" in my previous post, the correct name is the wideband gene (I don't know why I can never remember that!). However, I disagree with this part of your post:

Red is: A_B_C_D_ee ww
Orange is Orange: A_ B_ C_ D_ ee + rufus modifires

The wideband gene by itself doesn't increase the red pigment production, it just expands the area where it appears. If you are dealing with a breed that requires the self phenotype (same color on the back and belly) for its "reds", then yes, you would need the wideband gene to meet the breed standard for a red. However, the A_B_C_D_eeww rabbit wouldn't be a red "red", it would be a more or less golden orange color, just with (possibly) an orange belly as well. You have to have the rufous intensifiers to get a real red. If you are talking about a breed that allows the lighter belly on the animals it calls reds, you can get perfectly acceptable reds without the wideband gene. A_B_C_D_ee, plus the effect of the rufous modifiers, wouldn't be orange at all, but red!

I still maintain that to get reds or castors, you must have the rufous intensifiers involved. Without them, you don't get the color described in the breed standard, you get something that is just sort of like it. Calling something by a name that almost fits, but doesn't quite, just because you don't have another name in the standard, doesn't make sense to me. Would you call a dilute chinchilla an opal, just because it's close? The visible difference between silver martens and otters is the color in an area about the size of a postage stamp. The difference here is a much larger area, and yet, you want to call them both the same. A person could breed animals the color of Amako together until the cows come home, and they wouldn't get real castor color, because the rufous intensifiers aren't there.

Mentioning which, we really need to stop this. As neither of these rabbits has either the wideband gene or the rufous intensifiers, this isn't something that the OP needs to be concerned about, so we have strayed awfully far off-topic!

Akane, I think Getsuko is a steel. If his hairs are grey, not black, he's a blue steel. The steel gene allows the black pigment that is typically restricted up near the tip of the hair to run down, over the area where the light band of the agouti would normally be found, right down to the blue-grey undercolor. The effect is almost that of the self coat, with light ticking.​

 

[ourlittleflock]

just wanted to say what cuties you have!!!

 

[Eggstra New]

Congrats on your new babies!!! Way to go on your cage, it looks great. I have a very similar ones that I made, and I love them.