Rex Colours for a new person in the breed

Frabo · Jan 6, 2013

I am hooked on Rex!

Just wondering if there are “easier” colours to work with as far as showing/breeding.

Right now I have black and broken black only because that was my only option but I have since found a couple of other breeders and they have some more choices for me.

Now I have choices of:

White
Chocolate
Castor
Chinchilla
Red
Tri
Otter

and the dilutes of above.

I will keep the Black and Broken and was thinking of maybe getting one other variety to focus on in the future as there are not common in my area. Any thoughts on the above varieties? Pros and cons of each?

Dood · Jan 6, 2013

I don't breed Rex but from a breeding stand point, if you want to be able to mix the varieties then stick to selfs (black, chocolate, blue) since adding agouti (castor, red, chinchilla, tri colour) and to a lesser extent tans (otter, marten, tan) to the self line will result in mixed up colours that cannot be shown.

Stay away from white as any colour genes can be hiding under that coat.

lonelyfarmgirl · Jan 6, 2013

If you want something that will work with your black and broken black, then choose the otter and the chocolate. Nothing else.

Chin only works with white. Castor and red go together. I have no experience with tri's. They are difficult at best and you rarely see them.

Chocolate tend to have density issues, so breeding to your blacks will help that. Blues and lilacs also have density issues, but lilacs most of all.
Tan and martin are not rex colors. Otter works fine with any self (black, blue, choc, lilac)

With white, you really need to know what colors are in the pedigree. You should not really breed white to selfs. To much risk of stray white hairs, although many have white in their blue program. I do. Helps immensely with density of fur.

White works good with chin. It makes no sense, but they do. My chins had BANGIN fur.
So white to chin, white to white, white to blue or white to californian. Otherwise, leave it until you have more experience with genetics.

Frabo · Jan 7, 2013

Thanks to you both for the info. I appreciate it.

Devon's Mom Lauren · Jan 7, 2013

Colour has nothing to do with density or texture of fur. However with your blacks and broken blacks the chocolates and the otter are excellent choices to add. Nothing beats a black otter for looks!! I always say that REX fur was made for the black colour as black Rex look awesome!!

skysthelimit · Jan 11, 2013

I would say not, but my REW and blacks always have the best fur, and the dilutes always the worst. Probably because those colors are most common in Rex, and so they are the best developed of the varieties as far as fur and other traits.

I would really recommend staying away from castors, reds and tris as beginning. Those are hard colors to get right for the table. Castor to red works, but red to castor, may give you smutty reds, that have the wrong undercoat color.

chelciebry · Apr 20, 2013

I had a tricolor and castor breeding pair of mini rex. They threw many varieties, mostly tris, but I had very few instances where the kits were unshowable. example colors thrown: tricolor, castor, black, opal, broken black, broken castor, & harlequin. Harlequin were the only kits I got that were unshowable.

lonelyfarmgirl · Apr 24, 2013

It's not that they would be unshowable, but castor competition is stiff, and breeding castor, red or especially blue into the castor because you don't know any better or how to cull can and will give you faded ring, smutty ring, diluted ring, wrong size ring, too dark of top coat, etc... They are still showable, you just will never win.

I disagree that color has nothing to do with density. It is a rarity to find a dilute that has better fur than an castor. REW or black. These colors are more developed and have been around longer, but they didnt start out with fur as crappy as a lot of dilutes. Look at BEW mini rex. Bringing in the vienna gene always craps up the fur density and texture. That is why people breed BEWs to colored rabbits. To help the fur. A couple years ago, I owned a BEW mini rex buck that won his color class and was first runner up for Best of Breed at convention. My friend bought him at the auction that year for 250$. What a stunning animal. His fur still couldn't touch the castor minis I had. Not even close.

skysthelimit · Apr 24, 2013

Nothing in my barn has the fur density like the REWs and the Blacks, unfortunately for me, those are the colors I dislike the most. My castors are ok, but they tend to be gray, from not enough Castor to castor breedings, not the best rufus. However, the Otters have been bred with the Castors a lot, so they have very nice Otter markings, darker than the Castors!

I took a Blue doe to a show, and got rave reviews because as a blue, she was the darkest blue with the darkest black nails the old time breeders had seen in a while. Although she was a bit underweight, I was told to hold on to her just for that reason.

I am so glad the OP asked this question. It seems there have been a lot of Rex color questions asked here and FB recently. If more people did there research prior to buying and breeding, some of these color questions/problems would not happen. Colors are easy to create/distinguish when matched up properly. Some just go together better than others.

Devon's Mom Lauren · Apr 30, 2013

Density and texture is not affected by colour alone.. just because there are castors out there that are better does not make that a fact. The castors have better lines and have it to inherit, the rest have been introduced in later years by other breeds, so of course the density is not there, the colour itself does not affect it.One needs to "breed for it" no matter the colour. I watched my friend develop the BEW Mini Rex from nothing into BOB's. I am sure her lines are now in a lot of BEW's around.They have fur to rival anything out there. I have blues and lilacs in our barn now that have amazing density and texture. They are no less than the blacks because they were bred to accomplish that.

skysthelimit · Apr 30, 2013

That's what I mean. Because REW and Blacks are so common, they are more developed and have better texture, density and type. it's easier to find a good REW or black than the other colors.

Rex Colours for a new person in the breed

Help Support Rabbit Talk Forum:

Frabo

Active member

Dood

Well-known member

lonelyfarmgirl

Well-known member

Frabo

Active member

Devon's Mom Lauren

Well-known member

skysthelimit

Well-known member

chelciebry

Member

lonelyfarmgirl

Well-known member

skysthelimit

Well-known member

Devon's Mom Lauren

Well-known member

skysthelimit

Well-known member

Latest posts

Rex Colours for a new person in the breed

Help Support Rabbit Talk Forum:

Active member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Active member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Join the conversation!

Join today and get all the highlights of this community direct to your inbox. It's FREE!