BEW and Vienna Marked Genetics Explained

[cowgirl9768]

What do you want to know about BEWs? My paper was far to long to post on here but I can answer questions and rewrite in shorter forms.

Well, I don't even know what to ask, haha. I mean I know it is homozygous Vienna...but that's all I know. Any way you could email me your paper? I'd LOVE to read it!!!!!!

I'll see if I can find it. No promises though.... It was from 2 years ago.

I will express the Vienna gene as lowercase v and the none Vienna gene uppercase V. Genotype is the set of genes inherited from both parents. Phenotype is how the gene is expressed.

The Vienna gene is very complicated due to the fact it is not dominant or receives. It is true that you would think the Vienna gene was a receive gene because a rabbit needs to have a homozygous Vienna genotype (expressed as vv) to be a true BEW phenotypes. Yet if the Vienna gene was truly recessive the result when a BEW (vv) was bred with a solid colored rabbit (VV) the babies' phenotypes would all be that of the dominant solid colored parent (V).To make that a little more clear to understand here is an example. Let us say we were to breed a solid black buck (VV) to a BEW doe (vv). In theory if the Vienna gene was recessive all the babies would be solid black because of the dominant gene passed on to them by their father. The babies’ genotypes would be Vv their phenotype would be V.

Well of course it could not be this simple because kits with the genotype (Vv) can appear as a solid colored rabbit called Vienna carriers (abbreviation VC) or oddly marked rabbits called Vienna marks ( abbreviation VM) rabbits. VM rabbits express the Vienna gene through odd markings such as violet or blue eyes and white spots ( this is why the Vienna gene can not be considered recessive because it can" pop" through the dominant gene).

Now breeding either a VM or a VC can be terrible to your solid lines. Even if your rabbit with the Vv genotype appears to be a solid colored rabbit it still carries the Veinna gene. That Vienna gene can be passed on for generations causing Vienna marked kits which are unshowable.

So now that is kind of the basics... Uhm some breeders suggest never to breed 2 rabbits with the genotype Vv because 25% of the offspring will be true solid colored rabbits (VV) and you won't be able to tell them apart from the Vienna carriers (Vv).... Unless they are bred with a BEW and have BEW kits. Then you know they are Vienna carriers.

So now if you breed a solid to a BEW what happens? 100% Vv (50% VM and 50%VC)

What about a BEW and a BEW? 100% BEW

What about a VM/VC to a VM/VC? 25% BEW, 50% VM/VC, and 25% solid


Now if you breed REW or shaded rabbits to BEW it can cause other color situations. Let me know if you want to know about that. Sorry this is ruff it is all from memory and I'm writing it on my phone.

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

That is awesome! Super informative...thank you so much!!!!!!

Now if you breed REW or shaded rabbits to BEW it can cause other color situations. Let me know if you want to know about that. Sorry this is ruff it is all from memory and I'm writing it on my phone.

WOW, you type on your phone better than I do on mine, LOL!!!!

I actually would LOVE a crash course on REW + BEW because I am eagerly awaiting a litter of kits...from my BEW doe and my REW buck. :mrgreen:

 

[Bunnie]

Subbing to this.... I Really want BEW mini rex!

 

[Bad Habit]

REW is dominant. So a cc vv rabbit would be rew, with bew underneath, with something else underneath that.

Mixing BEW with shaded gives the eyes a pinkish red cast.

Mixing BEW with dilute can give the eyes a grey cast, rather than the clear blue that you want.

You also don't want chocolate under the BEW, but I'm not 100% on why.

There is some debate about how best to achieve BEWs for health. In my research, I have found that it is best to use VM or VC rabbits to get BEW, and to breed your BEW out to a solid rabbit for more VM/VC. There are several known health issues for BEW, including an issue with the blood-brain barrier that can cause them to be overdosed on Ivermectin - the medication can pass into the brain but cannot pass out, causing issues. Also, there is a seizure disorder, probably linked with the blood-brain barrier issue.

 

[Disney]

Where can i read more about the health issues and the seizure possibility?

I never had problems with them until now but 1 of the polish doe's, does occasionally have a "freak out" moment.
Though i think it might have something to do with her pregnancy.

 

[Bad Habit]

I just searched BEW rabbit seizure on google. There has been discussion on it here, as well. I can't direct you to specific locations, because I am lazy

You should see my vienna kit from Crystal. It's only 2 days old, and I'm in love, lol.

When Archer had his seizure, he stiffened up, and his head pulled to one side, and his eyes got all twitchy. He froze like that for about 10 seconds, maybe 15 seconds, then relaxed, and couldn't stand up, and his eyes were rolling around, and his head kept pulling to that one side. It took a good long while for him to get complete control of himself, but he's back to normal now. He was getting a bum bath in about an inch of luke warm water, because he had a messy bum when it happened. He wasn't struggling before hand, but he did seem a little twitchy right before it happened. I also don't know if he was dropped on his head or something, because he had been out on a rental.

 

[cowgirl9768]

I actually would LOVE a crash course on REW + BEW because I am eagerly awaiting a litter of kits...from my BEW doe and my REW buck. :mrgreen:

Bad habit basically summed it up haha but ill rack my brain to see if I can remember anything else more specific!

Also when my BEW had seizures what happened is he stopped all movement, his face muscles tightened and it made him look kind of scary the he fell over on his side, stood up, ran around, and hit into the sides of the cage then layed down again. After a few second he was normal again.

 

[Disney]

Oh, i would be scared if one of my bunnies ever did that, that's horrible!

About the bew x rew. I have done that.

You get the color that both adults are underneath.
So if the rew doe is a black tort and the bew buck is an orange carrying self, you'd get both orange and torts.

 

[Bad Habit]

Oh, i would be scared if one of my bunnies ever did that, that's horrible!

About the bew x rew. I have done that.

You get the color that both adults are underneath.
So if the rew doe is a black tort and the bew buck is an orange carrying self, you'd get both orange and torts.

I think they meant a cc vv rabbit, not breeding a cc to vv

 

[cowgirl9768]

Epiletsy/seizures in rabbits can be cause by many things. It has been found that BEW rabbits are more prone to epileptic behaviors then other colors of rabbits. There are many hypothesis to why these seizures happien but it is believed to be a gene defect from to much inbreeding of the BEW lines. When there was too much inbreeding without the culling rabbits who suffered from epileptic episodes this gene got past down by many founding BEW bucks and does to the BEWs you may own today.

What are seizures? Well to understand what seizures are we must know a few basic things (you guys probably know all this). The brain controls every movement a rabbit (or a humane or almost all living things for that matter) make through millions of electric "pathways". When the brain sends signals down these pathways it causes the muscles and tendons to contract. These signals control everything in happing in your rabbit's body from the beating of its heart to the movement of its toes. Well seizures ,or any form or epileptic activity, happens when the brain send the roung signal or send to many signals to quickly to the body causing uncontrolable spasms. These spasms can be so small they go not notice or so large they cause sudden death so it is hard to list all the symptoms but here are a few

1.Repetitive movement of extremities
2. Rolling eyes
3. Collapsing
3.Loss of apatite
4. A loss in crontrol of urination
5. Random "hyper" sessions
6. Heart attack
7.Stroke(causing brain damage witch can lead many things such as the complete loss of us in extremities)
8. Sudden death
9. Rolling of the body
10. Mental confusion
11. Loss of site
12. Head tilt
13. Loss of muscle tone


 

 

[Disney]

I have one doe who has the random hyper sessions.. does this mean she is prone and sensitive to other symptoms aswell?

 

[cowgirl9768]

I have one doe who has the random hyper sessions.. does this mean she is prone and sensitive to other symptoms aswell?

Well if she is having random hyper session due to epileptic activities she could have other symptoms arise......But rabbits can randomly be hyper, jump around, spin, etc cause they just want to get energy out and have fun. This activity is called a binky.

Quote from fuzz rabbits.com "A binky is an expression of joy from a rabbit. When a rabbit binkies, it jumps into the air, often twisting and flicking its feet and head. Unfortunately they often don't judge where they are going to land properly, and binky into the wall, furniture etc!"


I'd look up "rabbit binkies" on YouTube and see if that is what you mean by "hyper sessions".

 

[Bad Habit]

If random hyper activity was a high sign, then all my rabbits should be falling over dead from epileptic fits. They all go nuts at random points during the day, usually right before I let them out.

 

[Disney]

With random hyper i didn't mean the playful, innocent "binky"..

She has spaz attacks where she dashes around not able to stop herself and breathing heavily.
I pick her up and she kicks like crasy, i push her on my lap and close her eyes until she calms down.

 

[cowgirl9768]

With random hyper i didn't mean the playful, innocent "binky"..

She has spaz attacks where she dashes around not able to stop herself and breathing heavily.
I pick her up and she kicks like crasy, i push her on my lap and close her eyes until she calms down.

I don't know... it doesn't sound like a seizure the way your explaining it.... Maybe something is scaring her a lot? With seazures they ushualy are very unbalanced, fall over, tilt their heads, convulse, or trimmer they don't just run around. They can spaz out and run around but they usually only do for a few seconds then freeze and fall over. And it would not stop when you held her and closed her eyes. It sounds more like she is being extremely frightened or something from that description.

 

[Disney]

Doesn't look like a seizure indeed but i thought that's what you meant with the "random hyper" sessions.
I have seen her do it atleast 5 times in 3 weeks and i have her for 5 weeks now.

I don't know how long she takes to get out of it since i always intervened.
I'm assuming she will go for 3/5 minutes when i'm not there.
Oh and she is pregnant, so i thought that it maybe had something to do with it.
Since she makes grunting noises all day long which my other doe's never did before.
Bew polish are the weirdest, craziest rabbits that i ever seen.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

are BEWs also more prone to things other then seizures?
i got a BEW lionhead buck and he was all dirty from being in a solid bottomed "overflow cage" that wasnt kept up with. he seemed fine, just dirty. and then the evening i got him he started with sneezing fits. i got him 3/10 and now its 3/22 and he still does it /: but no boogers or eye gunk or anything else. just sneezy and dirty. lol like a BEW hiding out as a BEY hahahhaha dirty yellow...

 

[ckcs]

Are non white rabbits with blue eyes Vienna Marked?

 

[Disney]

Are non white rabbits with blue eyes Vienna Marked?

Probably not. They should have darker blue eyes than the usual vienna marked rabbit who has clear blue eyes.
If they have a white marking or just a white nose snip, then they're vienna.
If they dont show any white, then it's very very very unlikely for them to have clear blue vienna eyes, which i have never seen on a fullcolored, non white rabbit.
They are usually dilutes or either chinchilla's with grey/blue eyes which have nothing to do with the vienna gene.

 

[Dood]

Are non white rabbits with blue eyes Vienna Marked?

Vienna and the Dutch genes can cause rabbits to have blue eyes but as Disney said, they almost always have some white on them somewhere and are not completely coloured.