Color genetics in rabbits

KHoward

Songster
12 Years
Apr 28, 2011
302
99
226
Boston
I have a black NZ that came from a Chocolate NZ doe and a broken black NZ buck. I mated her with a Californian carrying a recessive blue gene. She just kindled and I have two solid black and four solid white. How is the solid white possible? :idunno
 
The dark 'points' on rabbits with the Himalayan pattern (like the Californian) are temperature dependent; they are not present at birth, but develop as the fur grows in. The skin in those areas is significantly cooler than the rabbit's normal body temperature. Himi babies that get chilled in the nest may develop a dark band in the part of their body hairs that was developing at the time the chilling took place, which later disappears as those hairs molt out.

Apparently, your black NZ doe is carrying a gene for REW, which she might have gotten from either her mother or her father. A rabbit with one copy of REW and one of Himi (chc) will have smaller, less intense markings than one with two copies of the Himi gene. The Cali markings on your white kits should develop within the next week or so. If they never appear, well, your Cali would have to have a NZ somewhere in his family tree for that to happen.
 

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