Agouti by any other name...

[Schipperkesue]

OK, help an old gal out here!

Agouti...is it the same as Castor? How about Chestnut? Does it have any other names in different breeds?

How about those rabbits that look like they are agouti but only grey and white...no brown? What are they called?

I am sure I have asked this before but sometimes I have to hear it several times in several different ways for it to make sense!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Wheels]

someone correct me if I'm wrong - Here's my best go at explaining it.

Agouti - refers to a gene that makes the hair shaft banded - Genes that dilute and modify colors do affect how the Agouti gene is expressed and you can get a rainbow of colors.

Castor and Chestnut are two terms for the same Agouti color-

Chinchilla is an Agouti color where there is no yellow/brown pigment.

Steel is a color where the agouti gene has been modified and you only get the tip of the hair shaft a different color.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Agouti - refers to a gene that makes the hair shaft banded - Genes that dilute and modify colors do affect how the Agouti gene is expressed and you can get a rainbow of colors.

That's it in a nutshell.

Agouti...is it the same as Castor? How about Chestnut? Does it have any other names in different breeds?

Castor and Chestnut are both black agouti. In Rex it is called Castor, but most other breeds call it Chestnut, I believe. In Satins it is called Copper. :roll:

The dilute version is called Opal, at least in Rex.

As for the rest- and if Wheels needs "correction", lol- I leave it to someone else.

 

[Schipperkesue]

OK, I am getting this. I have an Agouti buck I think. Brown hair shaft with black bands. His color is that of a wild rabbit. I also have an Agouti Flemish doe. In that breed they are called sandy. All correct?

So here is my next question:

How does agouti relate to red?

If I want to get more red kits out of a red doe, who do I breed her to? I have fawn, harlequin, and agouti bucks.

 

[Wheels]

The fawn - they essentially have the same genetic color make-up and you should get all red/orange/fawn colored kits... I think... LOL I'm just now trying to figure out color genetics and really don't know much more than you!

I bet Dood would know more about it

 

[akane]

A red is a chestnut or castor that has the e gene which removes the dark pigment. A red also usually has the wideband gene that makes the color go across the belly. Otherwise the belly is white like in most other agouti colors. Fawn is used for a couple possible colors. In some breeds fawn is the same as red in other breeds. More often it is the dilute of red like blue is the dilute of black. So a red and fawn will produce reds, possibly fawns, and possibly torts. The reds will not be show quality. Red should be bred to red with proper color to make show quality rabbits.

 

[Dood]

Agouti is not a colour but a pattern modifier that breaks up the fur into bands and creating "rings" or "ring colour" and technically your "agouti" buck is a black agouti. Because black agouti is the most common colour in wild rabbits - all wild mammals actually - the word "agouti" gets missused

The red is an agouti with non extension (which minimizes the black band in the fur) and wideband which extends the yellow / red band in the fur and gives the illusion of a self red.

To get more reds you must breed her to someone who carries non extension (possibly the harlequin) and wideband - impossible to determine in full extension or steel rabbits but if any of the bucks had a red parent they will be a carrier.

 

[Schipperkesue]

Well, the fawn has a red grandparent.
Perhaps too much to ask that that particular gene was passed down...

 

[skysthelimit]

Fawn is a non extension color, so you have the e gene.

 

[akane]

Fawn should have all the genes for basic red. Just breed to a red because fawn is usually a dilute so you need the dominant non dilute gene to turn the fawns in to reds. You might get some fawns if the red carries dilute. You might get torts if they both carry self. That's the most likely outcomes. The only problem might be if you are aiming for wideband and proper rufus factors to make show quality reds. I'm not sure if the wideband gene is bred for in fawns. The whole fawn, red, orange, cream situation is rather confusing between breeds.

 

[skysthelimit]

For lynx the wideband is present in fawns, because most times a lynx is a sooty fawn. The wideband removes the gray undercoat.

 

[Schipperkesue]

Well, no worries for show quality because these are just my meat cross rabbits and I am having fun playing with delicious color. I shall see what I have in a couple weeks because I did indeed breed her to a fawn a week before I asked the question!