Hi, I´m new to the forum, but been lurking a bit... I´m wondering if you can help me determining colors of my kits..

not-so-brief story..lol

dad is a castor rex
mom is a chestnut angora/dwarf mix

first litter they had a chestnut and an orange kit

dad had a blue sibling or maybe opal.. not sure.. mom had black siblings..

this litter.. few days old contains 3 chestnuts, 3 oranges.. 2 seem to be blue.. but have lighter inner ears which makes me think opal but not sure.. then one light cream one.. like a very diluted fawn.. almost going on white..

I need to get pics for you to see.. I tried but lighting was not cooperating and colors were not showing too well..

what I wonder most.. besides correct color names is parents genetics.. I know dad had to carry a dilute gene for either blue or opal or whateveras well as the non-extension for the oranges

and mom also the non-.extension.. but where did the cream come from?

hopefully I can get pics tomorrow.. any help is greatly appreciated

Cream is the dilute of the orange. Both parents have to carry dilute for it to show.Lighter ears/ belly indicate an agouti or otter pattern.

thank you!!.. now I know not only dad carried the dilute but also mom..

so it seems both carry the dilute and the non-extension gene.. hmm.. I´m loving all the surprises they are giving.. hehe

the "blues".. I think are either opal or lynx.. as they have lighter inner ears but are solid colored (they don´t look agouti like the chesnuts).. maybe otter as you mentioned.. as they don´t seem as dark as the blues I´ve looked online..

That does sound like otter pattern then. If you blow into the fur on their backs do you see "rings" of different colour? If you do then its an agouti if not an otter. Lighter blue may mean lilac which is the dilute of chocolate, both parents would have to be carrying it for the chocolate colour to show ,as it is recessive to the black/blue colour gene.

mom if def agouti... I´ll post pics for you to see
she is more grey than brown.. and her first chestnut baby is def more brown.. here are a few pics as babies too

mom n dad as babies


grown up mom


grown up dad


mom n dad


first babies (red/orange and chestnut)




this time babies (8 but we lost the cream one I´ll still add a pic for you to see color)



bigger chestnut


smaller chestnut


darker chestnut (almost looks like dad)



darker orange


lighter orange


bigger blue?




smaller blue?


RB cream baby (color is almost white)

No clue on colors(I am also learning) but PRETTY rabbits!.

What pretty rabbits!

thank you

I´m leaning on opal now.. just not sure if opal otter or plain opal.. lol.. this has had me googling for quite some days now.. lol

The dad has some awesome colour there! Amazing litter colours considering the parents are both the same colour1 BUT agouti being the most dominant can hide EVERTHING!! LOL. You do seem to have an opal there but further down they do look otter. Very close but opal will have the fur rings in the body and the otter pattern won't.Dad seems to have a lot of rufous , would love to see a pic of his ring pattern!:)

thank you!!.. wow I wasn´t that off.. lol.. will take a look to see if opal or opal otter.. would it still be opal otter? or just otter something else?..

will try get a pic of dad´s ring pattern.. he sure is an awesome bun... he´s just very weird..lol.. he let´s me pet him but shakes it off like 1 sec later..lol.. always been like that.. I´ll get the pic while he´s eating.. then he´ll be still

in case they are otter do both parents have to carry it for it to show?.. now I know that they both had to carry the dilution and the non-extension (for reds/orange/cream and opal)... but is it the same with otter?

__________ Sat Sep 11, 2010 11:14 am __________

as far as ring pattern for the opal/otters go.. one seems to have lighter gray-whiteish undercoat... that I can see..lol.. fur is so tiny.. and the other one seems same color all the way...

the undercoat seems like 2mm.. so barely barely there.. not sure if it´s just fuzzyness or the agouti pattern.. will keep checking to see if I see any changes

Opal is the dilute of castor/chestnut and is agouti. Otter is a pattern and is dominant to self, so you can get any self colour like black, blue chocolate, lilac in the otter pattern. Only one parent needs to carry it as long as the other parent contributes the self gene,if they contribute the agouti gene then you will get opal or castor carrying for otter. So either both parents have otter or one or the other does and the opposite parent gives self. However I do think they are opal.It is very hard to tell when the kits coat is so short but it will only take a couple more weeks to be sure!

now I´m either confused.. or my mind/eyes are playing tricks on me.. lol..

now the undercoat seems darker.. all the way down.. I see no fawn ring so far.. unless it´s very very tiny and faint.. lol

one thing I´ve noticed though is that the reds.. first and this litter seem to have fluffier/softer coats than the others.. could it be the angora part from mom ¿¿??

and... they all seemed like girls to me.. even if I´m new to sexing them.. they all seemed girls.. until today... appears two of the chestnuts are boys... they surely seem different than the rest.. lol.. a wee tiny different.. but clearly not like the others

I´ll keep checking in a few days to see if I was right..

__________ Wed Sep 15, 2010 8:23 pm __________

now I´m either confused.. or my mind/eyes are playing tricks on me.. lol..

now the undercoat seems darker.. all the way down.. I see no fawn ring so far.. unless it´s very very tiny and faint.. lol

one thing I´ve noticed though is that the reds.. first and this litter seem to have fluffier/softer coats than the others.. could it be the angora part from mom ¿¿??

and... they all seemed like girls to me.. even if I´m new to sexing them.. they all seemed girls.. until today... appears two of the chestnuts are boys... they surely seem different than the rest.. lol.. a wee tiny different.. but clearly not like the others

I´ll keep checking in a few days to see if I was right..