New Zealand White with Cali markings??

[tiffsvdbygrace]

Hi! I have a question for my son who is raising/breeding New Zealand White rabbits. The breeder he bought them from told him that his doe is a pure bred New Zealand White with California markings. Is this possible? Do purebred New Zealand whites ever get those markings or did her line have to have been bred with a California white at some point? Thanks!!

 

[Bunnylady]

If your rabbit has Cali markings, there's a Californian somewhere in its family tree.

 

[cassie]

If the breeder is giving your son that line of malarkey, either he or she is ignorant or is deliberately lying. In any case I would suggest you find another breeder.

 

[Tale of Tails Rabbitry]

I agree with @Bunnylady and @cassie.

A New Zealand White has to have two "cc" alleles on the C-locus, as do all Red-eyed Whites (REW). Those genes take ALL the color out of the coat and eye so they are completely albino, which make a NZW completely white with red eyes.

To have any color at all means that it is not a REW, therefore cannot be a purebred NZW rabbit. The breeder could have honestly said that he has a NZW cross doe, if one parent was a NZW.

For what purpose is your son raising them?

 

[Tale of Tails Rabbitry]

If you mean markings and not the eyes, yeah it's possible. But the eyes are definitely a californian trait.

Evergreen has the pattern just not the eyes. But she's pure new Zealand.

Your Evergreen probably is a purebred New Zealand with two broken genes as it looks like a Charlie. However, the OP was not asking if her son's rabbit could be a purebred New Zealand, but rather a purebred New Zealand White, which it cannot be a NZW or any Red Eyed White rabbit if it is showing any color.

 

[Bunnylady]

It isn't possible to have Cali markings without the eyes. The markings of a Californian are color on the nose, color on the ears, colored feet, and color on the tail. Occasionally you may see dark areas on the belly or dewlap when a doe has grown fur back after pulling it in cool weather, but besides that, the rest of the rabbit is completely white, and the eyes are red. This pattern is caused by the Himilayan gene, which should not be present in any rabbit of the New Zealand breed. If it is there, it is a sure sign of an outcross.

A broken patterned rabbit may or may not have a nose marking, or it might lack the eye circles, but it won't have colored feet. The brokens that have so much color as to not be showable still have white feet; which is why some people call them "booted" brokens.