Booted Rabbit Questions? : Rabbit Colours and Genetics

Hello, again! I'm kind of hopping all over the place trying to learn as much as I can about the rabbit fancy, and I have a few questions about "booted" rabbits. I understand that they are genetically brokens, but most commonly result from solid x broken pairs, rather than broken x broken.

I know that the En gene causes broken. (EnEn = Charlie, Enen = Broken, enen = Solid.) But what I'm curious to know is about other people's experiences with "booteds".

Are they showable in any breed, or is there a certain percentage of white required that prevents booteds from being able to show? I've only seen pictures of mini rex booteds, and I really love the look of them, for whatever reason! Also, can booteds produce show-quality brokens?

Thank you and have a great day!

Booteds are Enen like brokens, but they have modifiers that decrease the amount of white. If you breed these to well marked brokens, you can get often get some show marked brokens. Breeding them to solids, though, and you'll likely get more booteds; because while the solids have the modifiers that control broken pattern, since they aren't broken themselves you can't choose for one with proper markings.
The cutoff for showing a booted is more than 50% color = disqualification. A loose estimate is if the entire belly is white, they are likely light enough to be shown. In satins, you can show booteds (it states in their standard that booted is a fault, not a dq), I can't think of any other breeds where you can do that off the top of my head.

Thank you, SableSteel! I figured they wouldn't be able to show, but I'm still quite fascinated by some of the pictures I've seen of them!

We have a little booted castor Rex in our grow-out pen right now... I love the pattern, but he wouldn't do great in show just based on his type (not enough depth). That said, I've heard the 50% color rule a number of times, and I think that might be hard to achieve consistently in a booted line.

Sure is a cutie though, I'll try to snap a picture sometime if you'd like!

Interestingly, a rabbit that is a booted charlie (EnEn but with booted modifiers) may still have enough color to be show as a broken. I've also wondered if a booted charlie, might not suffer from megacolon that is common in regular charlies.

I've had solids to booteds consistently produce too much white. A solid is a mystery and could have the genes for booted or the genes to be nearly white. It just doesn't show with no broken gene so what you get when crossing solid x broken is quite random no matter what the broken is.

It's desirable to breed rabbits with known good pattern or solids from brokens that were show quality because of how variable it can be. Breeding booted brokens or unknown solids might produce some that can be shown but you'll have a bunch that are equivalent to an unrecognized color. How many depends on the exact modifiers in the pairs you breed. The more you keep booted offspring for your own preferences the less likely you will get show quality brokens of any breed that recognizes the pattern.

Thank you all, this is very helpful! @Nymphadora I would absolutely love to see some pictures of him if you have the time to take some!

Meo wrote:@Nymphadora I would absolutely love to see some pictures of him if you have the time to take some!

Here you go, Meo:


It's not the best picture, but I already had it on my phone... I'll take a better picture tonight when I get home from work! He looks like he stepped in spilled milk.

This is him as a baby.

@Nymphadora Oh, what a cutie! He's very beautiful, thank you for sharing!

My favorite mini rex was a booted broken castor that may not have been show quality type but I kind of preferred her look. She had a really cute head and refined look for producing pets.


Crossing her to different solids I got everything from near solid white to these things I was referring to as dalmation mini rex. Her kits had a tendency to get snotty noses with rapid weather changes their first few months though so while they always recovered without intervention and nothing else ever got sick around them I did not really keep anything from her and didn't want to establish a line around her offspring. She could foster anything though and had 3 ages including large meat rabbit offspring in the box one time.

Oh, those are just the cutest little buns! And she sure is goregous! Thank you so much for sharing your pictures and experiences!

Oops, I was having a bit of a brain fart. Talking to somebody about charlies, I just remembered; satins are the only one that accepts charlies, not booted. Booted is showable in more: american fuzzy lop, mini lop, holland lop, french lop, english lop and satin. Maybe mini satin too; my current standard is upstairs and Im reading from my 2011 standard right now so Im not sure.

@StableSteel Oh, that actually just made my day! I'm really loving the booted's and if they are showable in some breeds I'll definitely be taking a closer look at those! Thanks again!

I just got my first booted kits and I'm in love with them. I wish I could keep the booted blue but it of course had to be a buck

I hadn't expected them because the doe is a false Charlie who when bred to solids only produces false Charlie patterns. I bred her to my new REW rex buck and lo and behold, booted kits, as well as regular broken pattern! I'm very happy. Guess the REW has the modifiers. I'm excited to see what happens when he's bred to my show pattern broken rex doe.

And those booted castors are stunning! I'm a bit jealous