Well I promised pics as often as I could to help us all figure out this situation. Sorry I didn't get anything posted yesterday but it was a big day at the county fair. I'll start off with a pic of the pinkish or cream baby in the litter. I checked it out and can't say for sure that the spot on it's back is not a "broken" spot, but I can say that this kit does have a lot of urine stains on it, and that appears to be what's on its back too. I couldn't get a shot of its back because I was in the barn by myself and couldn't keep the youngin' still enough to get anything but blurry blobs. In this one pic, however, it's fairly obvious that it has urine stains, and I'm "FAIRLY" sure that's what's on its back as well. By the way, it's starting to look whiter, since its catching up to its sibling with hair growth. But I'm going to definitely keep an eye on this one.
Now that I've said all that, I may have a possible new theory here, but I'm really not sure about this one. First of all it needs to be said that I was not in the barn the day the does delivered. I had bred 4 does the same day, and they all delivered the same day. But I was really sick that morning and my husband was the one finding all the newborns. (You have to know I was really sick because I wouldn't have missed a kindling otherwise.)
Now the first doe to kindle was the neighbor of the doe we've been talking about. This doe's name is Tiny, and she has some Californian in her. Just enough that on some days she shows her "spots" depending on the light, etc. So I decided to breed her with a black buck that we figured out here on this group probably has the "ch" been in him to, but dark spots can't be seen because he's black. We found this out by the kits he threw. Well Tiny had her babies on the wire. It's her first litter, and she's very shy and easily scared. My husband put them in the nest box, along with a little fur she was pulling out in the cage. We really didn't want to bother her much due to her personality and it being her first litter, so he put them in the box so quickly he didn't even count them. He guessed there were 6 - 8 of them, part dark and part light. Well itturned out she had 7 but one died. When we'd check them it was mostly by feel, and for several days never got any of them out of the box at all.
Later that day Floppy (the doe we've been discussing) delivered her first two. She also had them on the wire, and hubby did the same thing, quickly scooped them up and put them in the box. But he didnt hang around, and didnt pay much attention to them at all except to say they were both light colored. (Well one of thoses was our little silver guy as you might recall.)
OK to try to shorten this story a bit, yesterday I got Tony's whole litter out at the same time, and was astounded! The "light ones, that look white in the nest, and I expected to eventually show Californian markings, were guess what.........yep SILVER! But don't jump to conclusions too fast!
First of all, the babies all being born on the wire, and side by side, one might conclude that our little silver baby got into a box with the wrong mommy. But....it could NOT have gotten through the wire because the wire is the kind with 1/2 by 1/2 inch square holes. Nothing could squeeze through that. I've examined the cage really well and there are no holes or rips in the wire whatsoever. The only way it could have gotten in the wrong cage is if someone put it there. My husband wouldn't have done that, and it was some time in between the births of the two litters. I do have grandchildren that live with me, but they weren't here at the time. I started feeling better later in the day and couldn't wait to get out there to see the babies, and by the time I did the little alien was there with one white sibling.
Secondly, the babies in Tiny's litter are much lighter than our silver guy. I have pics comparing them, and there's a big difference. The one's in Tiny's litter aren't evenly marked, with more color in some places than others, especially on the head and back. Now I have no idea of the ancestry of either the doe or the buck, except what I said about them both probably have some Californian mixed into them somewhere. The dark ones in her litter seem to be normally black, except one little one with a ring half way around its neck and down one leg, and a tiny little white spot on top of its head. I'll include a pic of it at the end. Also, in the next to last pic I put in a white baby at the bottom of the photo to show the difference between the "silvery ones" and pure white. The pic of the belly of the kit is from Tinys litter which shows that their skin isn't as dark as our first silver guy.
So what I'm trying to say is that even though it seems to make sense that a baby got switched somehow (I don't know how), there is also reason to think that's not the case. Let me know what you all think, and also what color this second litter's silvery babies might be. Thanks again! More pics to come. I can only add 5.
__________ Sat Aug 08, 2015 10:39 pm __________
A few more pics.
__________ Sat Aug 08, 2015 10:52 pm __________
Please note, the dark areas on the first to pics are distortions from lighting.....not a daor color on the rabbit. <br /><br /> __________ Sat Aug 08, 2015 10:55 pm __________ <br /><br /> Also note in the pics of our silver alien, how he's starting to get some white above his eyes and between the ears.
