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Coolest Rabbit Breed Out Of These?

  • Holland Lop

    Votes: 108 21.3%
  • English Spot

    Votes: 14 2.8%
  • American Fuzzy Lop

    Votes: 11 2.2%
  • Mini Rex/Rex

    Votes: 107 21.1%
  • New Zealand

    Votes: 95 18.7%
  • Polish

    Votes: 13 2.6%
  • English Lop

    Votes: 33 6.5%
  • Mini Satins/Satins

    Votes: 14 2.8%
  • Lionhead

    Votes: 112 22.1%

  • Total voters
    507
So, I have another genetics question. My friend bred two mini lops, a smoke pearl, and a broken steel. The babies don't look anything like the parents. The colors are as follows:
One solid that is grey with a white belly
Another solid that is dark grey with a white sheen to the fur
A broken that looks like a lighter black color (I'm thinking this one might be a steel)
And another broken, with grey colored fur
I don't know what was in their lines... Any idea what colors they could be?
I wouldn't breed a steel to a smoke pearl myself. There are too many possible combinations of genes that look like one thing, but may actually be another. The steel gene is the most dominant one in the E series, but it is a very strange gene. If a rabbit has one copy of the steel gene, and one of the normal extension gene, you get a steel (as long as the rabbit also has agouti at the A locus). Any other combination at the E locus, and you may get what looks like a self - which can be really confusing.

Offhand, I would guess that the grey with a white belly could be an Opal
The solid dark grey could be a blue
the lighter black color (?) might be a chestnut or steel

Without pictures, it's kind of hard to guess at what you are describing.
idunno.gif
 
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I wouldn't breed a steel to a smoke pearl myself. There are too many possible combinations of genes that look like one thing, but may actually be another. The steel gene is the most dominant one in the E series, but it is a very strange gene. If a rabbit has one copy of the steel gene, and one of the normal extension gene, you get a steel (as long as the rabbit also has agouti at the A locus). Any other combination at the E locus, and you may get what looks like a self - which can be really confusing. Offhand, I would guess that the grey with a white belly could be an Opal The solid dark grey could be a blue the lighter black color (?) might be a chestnut or steel Without pictures, it's kind of hard to guess at what you are describing.
idunno.gif
We also guessed Opal and Blue... I didn't have my phone on me so I was not able to get pics. I guess once they are older we will find out their true colors. Thanks for the help!
 
Seeing as how you guys are on the topic of color genetics...the breeder I got my hollands from might be interested in my Magpie kit. I told her it doesn't have a lot of markings, just over it's left shoulder and down it's left arm. Thats it. She actually purchased a magpie buck this weekend, the cutest thing too! If my magpie ends up being a doe, and she breeds the two, will the doe have only magpies? OR are other colors bound to show up from the parents backgrounds?
 
Magpie is harlequin at the E locus, and Chinchilla at the C locus (though I have seen some mags that were shaded at the C locus). Neither of these are the most recessive gene in their series, so it is possible to get some other colors. You won't get anything that has yellow/orange in it, for sure. If both are carrying the non-extension gene at the E locus, you might get frosted/ermine. REW, himi, and the shaded (light chinchillation, or sable) genes are all recessive to Chinchilla, so they might be lurking and pop up in future generations. Harlequin/magpie is supposed to be an agouti color, but it will also express over self (you get "smut" appearing at the places where torts are dark); if the parents are carrying self genes at the A locus, there could be self versions of these colors appearing in the kits. You could get a himi with very poor color on the points, or one dark and one light ear, for example.
 
I see, well the parents to this magpie she got (which I believe she also bought at the end of the weekend LOL) are Magpie and blue tort. The parents to mine are Chinchilla and Harlequin. But also, like you're saying with the chance of getting poor coloring within a pattern, maybe it would be best to not breed two magpies together. I just love the coloring of them for some reason. I'd love to have one with more markings than the kit that my doe is raising right now.
 

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