what color bunnies are these?

[SpotTheCat]

Steels is caused by the steel gene.
Yes they should know what is showable and isn’t but a pet quality Rex is still called a rex if you take a bad quality castor or as you call it a chestnut and keep the redder ones you can in years get showable castors.
I will not argue with you anymore.

You know what the more I think about it the more I like the chestnut/castor thing.

 

[SpotTheCat]

As someone who has bred Mini Rex for more than 30 years, I can assure you, this won't work. Rufous may be considered a modifier, but it is a gene (or rather, a polygene), and if you haven't got the genes to make it happen, it won't. Granted, you might just luck out and buy an animal of another color that just happens to be carrying rufous modifiers hidden under some color that doesn't use them (like maybe Black or Chocolate), and, by selectively breeding its offspring together, arrive at a showable Castor, but unless the modifiers are in there somewhere, you can breed Chestnuts together until the cows come home, and never get to a Castor. Without the rufous, you won't have "redder ones" to breed together, all you'll have is Chestnuts.

That’s interesting and makes sense.
Thank you for that info it answers some things I did wonder about,
Then I agree castor is black agouti plus Rufus
that was not how it was explained to me unfortunately

 

[tielie135]

so the spots were just normal. all of them are looking great!