Rabbit Colours

[HorsesRMe123]

Hello! I have four rabbits currently and all are Mini Lops. I have a question about three of them. So two of my rabbits are sisters and we believe very well that they are REWs what do you think?

Now our other rabbit is our rabbit named Oscar who is in this last pic with them. We believe he is Opal coloured with agouti. What do you think?

We’ve had him for over 7 years and he will be 8 next month! He’s neutered and bonded to our two REWs Ruby and Aurora.
Here’s our other rabbit named Thunder isn’t he stunning?!

He’s a Blue Harlequin!
Also another question: when we breed Ruby and Aurora to Thunder, what colours do you think we’ll get??? Any help appreciated!!!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

You have REWs, an opal and a blue harlequin. No aguti coloring in opals, it's just an opal

 

[HorsesRMe123]

You have REWs, an opal and a blue harlequin. No aguti coloring in opals, it's just an opal

Ok great thanks! Also, what colour would he be if he had no brown around the neck and it was white instead? We had a doe who was that kind of colouring and aren’t totally sure of what colour she was. How do you tell if there is agouti markings? And what colours do you think we’ll have when Thunder and Ruby breed and when Thunder and Aurora breed? Sorry for all the questions! Just curious.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I think a blue chin or blue creme. Never reared one of those so I'm not sure. Not sure on harlequin color genetics outside of the actual breed either.

 

[HorsesRMe123]

I think a blue chin or blue creme. Never reared one of those so I'm not sure. Not sure on harlequin color genetics outside of the actual breed either.

Ooh interesting colours! Thank you for your help!

 

[Bunnylady]

You've given your location as Washington, so I'm not sure why you are spelling "colors" with a "u." The reason I mention that, is because in the U.S (where we spell it "color"), we consider Agouti to be a pattern and not a color, while in some other countries (where they may use the alternate spelling "colour"), Agouti is also used as the name for the color that we call Chestnut. An Agouti-patterned animal has light colored rings around its eyes, light color inside of the ears, around the nostrils, under the jaw, on the belly, the underside of the tail, and between the toes. The body hairs of an agouti patterned animal are banded, usually dark at the tip, then a lighter band (usually white or yellow), and then another darker band (usually a grayish shade) next to the skin. The classic example is the wild-type color, what we call Chestnut in most breeds. Opal is also an Agouti-patterned color, as is Chinchilla. With Chestnut, the dark tips are black, whereas on an Opal, they are blue. With Chinchilla, the tips of the body hairs are black, and the middle band is white.

BTW, it's a little hard to tell from pics sometimes, but I think Oscar is a Blue Otter, not an Opal. Otter is the Tan pattern rather than Agouti; while Tan-patterned animals have the light eye rings, bellies, etc., like Agoutis do, their body hairs lack the clearly defined bands, being more or less one color from tip to skin. Tan-patterned animals that lack yellow pigment are called Silver Martens, so if you had a doe that was pretty much the same color as Oscar except that her "triangle" was white, she was a Blue Silver Marten.

Rabbits have a lot of different genes that determine their coat color. Ruby-eyed Whites are true albinos, and therefore tell you nothing about most of the color genes that they have. If you breed your Blue Harlequin to your REW's, the color you are most likely to see would be Chestnut (which might or might not show some leakage of Harlequin patterning). Believe it or not, Harlequin is an Agouti-based color, so I know Thunder has an Agouti gene, but I don't know if he might have a Self or Tan gene, and I know nothing at all about what the girls might have in that gene series. Likewise, I know Thunder has two copies of the dilution gene (since he's blue) but you can't tell whether the girls have dilution genes or not, and since a bunny needs to inherit a copy from both parents to be a dilute color, I have no idea whether dilutes are possible. If you have pedigrees on these rabbits, that may give you some clues about what might be lurking in their respective gene pools, but just looking at them, there is simply no telling what colors you can get, or even what colors you could rule out.

 

[HorsesRMe123]

You've given your location as Washington, so I'm not sure why you are spelling "colors" with a "u." The reason I mention that, is because in the U.S (where we spell it "color"), we consider Agouti to be a pattern and not a color, while in some other countries (where they may use the alternate spelling "colour"), Agouti is also used as the name for the color that we call Chestnut. An Agouti-patterned animal has light colored rings around its eyes, light color inside of the ears, around the nostrils, under the jaw, on the belly, the underside of the tail, and between the toes. The body hairs of an agouti patterned animal are banded, usually dark at the tip, then a lighter band (usually white or yellow), and then another darker band (usually a grayish shade) next to the skin. The classic example is the wild-type color, what we call Chestnut in most breeds. Opal is also an Agouti-patterned color, as is Chinchilla. With Chestnut, the dark tips are black, whereas on an Opal, they are blue. With Chinchilla, the tips of the body hairs are black, and the middle band is white.

BTW, it's a little hard to tell from pics sometimes, but I think Oscar is a Blue Otter, not an Opal. Otter is the Tan pattern rather than Agouti; while Tan-patterned animals have the light eye rings, bellies, etc., like Agoutis do, their body hairs lack the clearly defined bands, being more or less one color from tip to skin. Tan-patterned animals that lack yellow pigment are called Silver Martens, so if you had a doe that was pretty much the same color as Oscar except that her "triangle" was white, she was a Blue Silver Marten.

Rabbits have a lot of different genes that determine their coat color. Ruby-eyed Whites are true albinos, and therefore tell you nothing about most of the color genes that they have. If you breed your Blue Harlequin to your REW's, the color you are most likely to see would be Chestnut (which might or might not show some leakage of Harlequin patterning). Believe it or not, Harlequin is an Agouti-based color, so I know Thunder has an Agouti gene, but I don't know if he might have a Self or Tan gene, and I know nothing at all about what the girls might have in that gene series. Likewise, I know Thunder has two copies of the dilution gene (since he's blue) but you can't tell whether the girls have dilution genes or not, and since a bunny needs to inherit a copy from both parents to be a dilute color, I have no idea whether dilutes are possible. If you have pedigrees on these rabbits, that may give you some clues about what might be lurking in their respective gene pools, but just looking at them, there is simply no telling what colors you can get, or even what colors you could rule out.

Yes, sorry about that. My family is Canadian and they’re spelling habits have rubbed of on me anyway thank you for the help. That’s interesting to know. I researched a bit on Blue Otters and yes Oscar does look similar to it. It’s hard to say for sure because he doesn’t look quite that “blue” and he almost seems to be right in between Opal and Blue Otter. Interesting to find out. Thank you for the help!

REWs are kind of like a wild card so it will be interesting to see their babies. Their mom was a broken grey and their father was chocolate. We also have Thunder’s full pedigree and he has a bunch of harlequins, blues, tri-colours, oranges, and cremes. It will be exciting to see their babies!

 

[Bunnylady]

Their mom was a broken grey and their father was chocolate.

Just a heads-up - if their dam is a broken, one or both of them may be, so you might see some broken babies.

 

[HorsesRMe123]

Just a heads-up - if their dam is a broken, one or both of them may be, so you might see some broken babies.

That would be great to have a few brokens! Thanks for the help.