Is light grey a dilute color genetically?

[Juci]

I’ve been wondering if light grey is the same genetically as chinchilla light or squirrel, which carries the dilute gene.
I have a mixed breed doe who looks like this, but I have no idea if she’s squirrel/chinchilla light or light grey, or if there’s even a visible or genetic difference. Is it just a breed thing? Is it the same color that’s called squirrel in the chinchilla breed and light grey in Flemish giants?

I recently kept an interesting looking buck from another doe’s litter who I think is a Vienna marked lilac. I’m curious if I were to breed him to this doe in the future, if the whole litter would be dilute colors.

I’m still pretty new to rabbit genetics but learning a lot thanks to so many knowledgeable people on here and online.

 

[Cosima]

the buck is a gorgeous Vienna sallander. the doe is very light and the ear tips are black so a I have no idea if she is dilute or not.

 

[Juci]

the buck is a gorgeous Vienna sallander. the doe is very light and the ear tips are black so a I have no idea if she is dilute or not.

Ohhh, sallander makes sense! I was wondering why his ears turned a darker color lol. Thanks for clearing that up.
Yeah I thought her ear tips looked black rather than blue. Maybe that’s what separates a light grey coat color from a blue chinchilla…

 

[Alaska Satin]

I’ve been wondering if light grey is the same genetically as chinchilla light or squirrel, which carries the dilute gene.
I have a mixed breed doe who looks like this, but I have no idea if she’s squirrel/chinchilla light or light grey, or if there’s even a visible or genetic difference. Is it just a breed thing? Is it the same color that’s called squirrel in the chinchilla breed and light grey in Flemish giants?

I recently kept an interesting looking buck from another doe’s litter who I think is a Vienna marked lilac. I’m curious if I were to breed him to this doe in the future, if the whole litter would be dilute colors.

I’m still pretty new to rabbit genetics but learning a lot thanks to so many knowledgeable people on here and online.

In Flemish Giants, "light gray" is chinchilla, produced by the gene known as chinchilla dark <cchd>. Some breeds have different names for this color; in most other breeds it called chinchilla but in Dutch it's called simply "gray." Yours is a light one, but she is not a squirrel (aka dilute chinchilla or blue chinchilla), going by the black lacing on her ears. That is not to say that she does not carry dilute behind her full color.

As far as I know, "chinchilla light" only refers to <cchl>, the genetic indicator for the gene that produces sable. It doesn't really have anything to do with chinchilla other than being another allele on the "C" locus. So it's a bit of a misnomer, but that's what it was called when it was discovered and it's what we're stuck with.

There's not much color to go on the little buck, but it does seem to be shaded. Cosima might have got it calling him a sallander. That's also a chinchilla, but in addition it has recessive self <aa> and non-extension <ee> genes. It's quite light, so it could be dilute, aka blue sallander, but it doesn't seem actually blue to me; in fact from these photos it looks like it might have a sable influence.

If you bred these two you would likely get chinchillas, possibly squirrels if he is a blue and she carries dilute.

 

[Juci]

In Flemish Giants, "light gray" is chinchilla, produced by the gene known as chinchilla dark <cchd>. Some breeds have different names for this color; in most other breeds it called chinchilla but in Dutch it's called simply "gray." Yours is a light one, but she is not a squirrel (aka dilute chinchilla or blue chinchilla), going by the black lacing on her ears. That is not to say that she does not carry dilute behind her full color.

As far as I know, "chinchilla light" only refers to <cchl>, the genetic indicator for the gene that produces sable. It doesn't really have anything to do with chinchilla other than being another allele on the "C" locus. So it's a bit of a misnomer, but that's what it was called when it was discovered and it's what we're stuck with.

There's not much color to go on the little buck, but it does seem to be shaded. Cosima might have got it calling him a sallander. That's also a chinchilla, but in addition it has recessive self <aa> and non-extension <ee> genes. It's quite light, so it could be dilute, or a blue sallander, but it doesn't seem actually blue to me; in fact from these photos it looks like it might have a sable influence.

If you bred these two you would likely get chinchillas, possibly squirrels if he is a blue and she carries dilute.

I remember hearing something about the chinchilla gene turning off yellow in a video on basics of rabbit coat genetics, so it makes sense that the grey would stem from that same gene on the C. That’s good to know!

Yeah, I was trying to compare the buck to different pictures of light colored rabbits and that’s why I originally thought lilac was the closest. But hadn’t heard of sallander before Cosima mentioned it. It also seems to make sense with what I know of his parent’s colors. I think his sire is a self chin and possibly shaded.
The little buck’s sibling is a frosty, so also non extension genes (I think).

Thank you for your input! It really clears some things up for me.