Iris Heterochromia

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Ferra

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Just curious - Is anyone aware of the genetic underpinnings of heterochromia in rabbits?

I have a little sallander ?doe in this litter who has one blue iris and one brown and was curious if anyone had any links or knowledge as to what genes may be underlaying this phenomenon. My personal suspicion is that the white blazes/snoots in my herd are legitimate vienna genetics, and the one blue eye is vienna related.

This kit has a small nose mark, most clearly visible in the second picture, so she could plausibly be a vienna mark.

I'm not entirely fond of the lighting in these pictures, but it is pretty clear that the right eye is lighter than the left. In real life, that right eye is a clear blue color, and the left is a dark/muddied brown.

DSC_0365.JPG DSC_0362 (1).JPG
 
Vienna is what causes blue eye and it is comon for only 1 eye to be colored or half the eyes to be colored.

I dont have em anymore but I used to have bunnies where the top part of the eyes were brown with a blue stripe at the bottom.

This is normal and random so you cant control how the blue shows up too well
 
As KimitsuKouseki stated, Vienna is the gene that causes blue or partial blue eyes. Your girl also has the typical Vienna white nose.

Vienna is a semi-dominant mutation that can cause white markings and blue eyes in rabbits with only one copy of the gene. However, it can also "hide" for generation with some Vienna carriers showing no white markings at all. Two copies of the gene results in the Blue Eyed White phenotype.

I personally love the look with the white nose and blue eyes. You have a very pretty girl.
 
alforddm":imbp59gx said:
As KimitsuKouseki stated, Vienna is the gene that causes blue or partial blue eyes. Your girl also has the typical Vienna white nose.

Vienna is a semi-dominant mutation that can cause white markings and blue eyes in rabbits with only one copy of the gene. However, it can also "hide" for generation with some Vienna carriers showing no white markings at all. Two copies of the gene results in the Blue Eyed White phenotype.

I personally love the look with the white nose and blue eyes. You have a very pretty girl.
Click to expand...

I wasn't planning on keeping any out of this litter, but she is a very unique little rabbit. She's not my best growing kit (kinda middling for her growth numbers), but she's out of my favourite and best producing doe (I wanted to keep one of her kits as a replacement at some point anyways), and given her unusual colouring, she's been handled a lot, and is thus pretty friendly.

I'm thinking I might keep her around a little while to see if she's got what I want in a breeding doe.

I am pretty much convinced that my REW buck is a vienna carrier at this point: The white snoots and blazes are showing up consistently with both does in about 20% of the kits, and neither doe appears to be a visual vienna carrier themselves.
 
Do both of your parents have to be Vienna carriers for the eyes or eye to be blue or you can have a blue eyed rabbit with one carrier parent?
 

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