The Bunny Chat Thread - For Bunny Owners

[ChocolateMouse]

A couple photos of our non-keeper kits from Donuts litter. Still cute, but not what we're looking for. I've put an ad on CL for them. We got a new litter from Stripes today (six), waiting to see if we get a new litter from Donut.

 

[Compost King]

A couple photos of our non-keeper kits from Donuts litter.

Your Culls look better than my breeding stock! Actually they all look the same to me which is why I can never be a serious breeder. Just pet Quality animals as well as meat, fur and compost production. Is that Rex fur on those rabbits? The darker one behind the white rabbit looks real smooth.

My Castor female is going to give birth real soon, I believe on Halloween. Her breeding mate is a white rabbit. Am I going to get half white half castor or am I going to get a rainbow of colors? Although I have bred rabbits before I have very little experience with breeding colors.

 

[Fishychix]

Your Culls look better than my breeding stock! Actually they all look the same to me which is why I can never be a serious breeder. Just pet Quality animals as well as meat, fur and compost production. Is that Rex fur on those rabbits? The darker one behind the white rabbit looks real smooth.

My Castor female is going to give birth real soon, I believe on Halloween. Her breeding mate is a white rabbit. Am I going to get half white half castor or am I going to get a rainbow of colors? Although I have bred rabbits before I have very little experience with breeding colors.

I hear ya. I get so lost with all that. I understand rabbits better than birds, but when it gets to recessive vs dominant, forget it!

Off topic: should I cover my compost?

 

[Compost King]

Off topic: should I cover my compost?

Depends on what you mean by cover, as far as covering it from rain or elements.. no. If I cover mine I cover it with Carbon to keep odors from escaping. Odors = Nutrients escaping. If your concern is about water the only water you need to worry about is a compost pile in standing water. I alway put my composts on high ground so it drains. It doesn't hurt to cover it provided it doesn't become too dry. Compost piles need moisture. Some people do cover their composts and maybe they have a specific or good reason for it but I do not see the benefit in it.

For the record, I am not an educated master composter or an expert in perfect composts. I am great at containing odors though. I just love composting and have a giant pile each year.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Your Culls look better than my breeding stock! Actually they all look the same to me which is why I can never be a serious breeder. Just pet Quality animals as well as meat, fur and compost production. Is that Rex fur on those rabbits? The darker one behind the white rabbit looks real smooth.

My Castor female is going to give birth real soon, I believe on Halloween. Her breeding mate is a white rabbit. Am I going to get half white half castor or am I going to get a rainbow of colors? Although I have bred rabbits before I have very little experience with breeding colors.

They're all rex furred from rex furred parents only.

https://thenaturetrail.com/rabbit-genetics/color-c-series-chinchilla-sable-himalayan-rew/

So, the short answer is there's no way to tell what the babies will come out like without a thorough color pedigree of both parents.

The full color gene that produces most colors like castor, black, red, etc. is a simple dominant gene on the C locus and is THE most dominant gene - only one copy is needed to express it.

The albino gene is a simple recessive, and is THE most recessive gene on the C locus. So if a rabbit carries one copy it looks like a normal rabbit, and if it has two copies it is Red Eye White. REW can sneak in a single unexpressed copy for generations and then pop up at random. Some people prefer it because it prevents chinchilla colors from cropping up in your "full color" rabbit lines and it's easy to work with.

So if your full color rabbit (the castor) has one copy of recessive white (C/c) you'll get about 50/50 split full color and white. (At random of course.)
If your castor is hiding a different C locus gene (C/???) like Himalayan it's a total wild card. There's several genes here it could be. But they will all have SOME color.
If your castor has only full color genes (C/C) they will produce only full color kits and the kits will all carry one REW gene and one full color (So all kits will be C/c)

Of course, it's not going to give a perfect split in any case because it's random, and REW can be hiding any host of colors and patterns, even broken, and you have no way of knowing how that will interact with the castor, but that should give you a broad idea of what to expect.
The only thing a REW can't be hiding is himilayan, chinchilla, sable, or other c locus colors.

 

[Compost King]

They're all rex furred from rex furred parents only.

https://thenaturetrail.com/rabbit-genetics/color-c-series-chinchilla-sable-himalayan-rew/

So, the short answer is there's no way to tell what the babies will come out like without a thorough color pedigree of both parents.

The full color gene that produces most colors like castor, black, red, etc. is a simple dominant gene on the C locus and is THE most dominant gene - only one copy is needed to express it.

The albino gene is a simple recessive, and is THE most recessive gene on the C locus. So if a rabbit carries one copy it looks like a normal rabbit, and if it has two copies it is Red Eye White. REW can sneak in a single unexpressed copy for generations and then pop up at random. Some people prefer it because it prevents chinchilla colors from cropping up in your "full color" rabbit lines and it's easy to work with.

So if your full color rabbit (the castor) has one copy of recessive white (C/c) you'll get about 50/50 split full color and white. (At random of course.)
If your castor is hiding a different C locus gene (C/???) like Himalayan it's a total wild card. There's several genes here it could be. But they will all have SOME color.
If your castor has only full color genes (C/C) they will produce only full color kits and the kits will all carry one REW gene and one full color (So all kits will be C/c)

Of course, it's not going to give a perfect split in any case because it's random, and REW can be hiding any host of colors and patterns, even broken, and you have no way of knowing how that will interact with the castor, but that should give you a broad idea of what to expect.
The only thing a REW can't be hiding is himilayan, chinchilla, sable, or other c locus colors.

So I should expect anything. That is actually a positive for me. I get to keep the colors I like and sell the others.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

So I should expect anything. That is actually a positive for me. I get to keep the colors I like and sell the others.

https://www.nationalrexrc.org/varieties

You might be interested in the recognized varieties list.

 

[Compost King]

https://www.nationalrexrc.org/varieties

You might be interested in the recognized varieties list.

Thanks, I will check it out.

 

[Fishychix]

Depends on what you mean by cover, as far as covering it from rain or elements.. no. If I cover mine I cover it with Carbon to keep odors from escaping. Odors = Nutrients escaping. If your concern is about water the only water you need to worry about is a compost pile in standing water. I alway put my composts on high ground so it drains. It doesn't hurt to cover it provided it doesn't become too dry. Compost piles need moisture. Some people do cover their composts and maybe they have a specific or good reason for it but I do not see the benefit in it.

For the record, I am not an educated master composter or an expert in perfect composts. I am great at containing odors though. I just love composting and have a giant pile each year.

Thanks
Mine doesnt usually smell. Ive actually never had an issue until the other day when I too nearly all of it and put it in my garden, and it had been raining for about a week. It wasnt too bad, but noticeable.
I never saw the sense in covering a compost pile, but it seems to be a thing with some people here and there.

 

[Compost King]

Thanks
Mine doesnt usually smell. Ive actually never had an issue until the other day when I too nearly all of it and put it in my garden, and it had been raining for about a week. It wasnt too bad, but noticeable.
I never saw the sense in covering a compost pile, but it seems to be a thing with some people here and there.

It wouldn't hurt to cover it provided it does not dry out completely before its finished composting, Give it a try if you feel it might help and see if it does. From my experiences with composting there is no absolute correct way to do it just incorrect ways. There may be a perfect way of composting but I will never achieve it because it would hurt my head measuring out all the components for that perfect ratio and then turning it at the right times the right way... I just pile up what I have and provide air pockets (I use old bamboo) and let it sit for 6 months. Usually works out fine but I have weed issues from being too lazy to turn it. It would be more work to turn a pile the size I make them than it is to do weed control in a garden.