Mini Rex: "The fur issue".

[Frosted Rabbits]

Devon, beautiful example of what to avoid!!! Sometimes, a very good indicator of density is lack of what I call 'cracking' in the visual appearance of the coat. A thin coat will crack, while a dense one will maintain a smooth surface.

Then, to top everything off, there is the 'texture' issue. That has to do with the actual quality of each individual hair. Texture can also vary within one coat...

 

[DevonW]

It can, as can length. I once had a beautiful broken blue buck, with one problem them. His blue fur was longer then the white!

Judge Allen Mesick wrote an article on texture for the National Mini Rex Rabbit Club's Guide Book, I highly suggest reading it, he sent samples of Mini Rex fur to a lab for fibre dimension measurements and it was through that he determined a good Mini Rex coat the hair shaft is the same diameter from root to tip measuring 16.5 microns across. Rabbits with soft fur had as much as a micron different from the root to tip (from 15.1- 16.0 microns), and they had hallows, were as Mini Rex with good fur did not.

It is also noted that the fur of Mini Rex is nearly the same width in Microns as Angora Wool (which is very close to cashmere)

 

[Devon's Mom Lauren]

Poor old Odie He's moulting in that pic! He's also a rank buck and doesn't groom himself lol, thinks the ladies like a pee-stained head or something..This is also a lesson in what happens when you shave a mini rex haha, its been a year and he still isn't normal

 

[DevonW]

That isn't Odie...

 

[Cspr]

I know this is an old post, but I just wanted to give you a big thanks for this. I'm very new to the whole rabbit habit, but I have a "breed quality" broken black right now, and I just did the tests on them (except for the dime bit--does that work for juniors?).

From what I can see, Basil, the rabbit, seems to have a very smooth coat. It looks like he's a stuffed animal made of velvet, but when I pinched his fur together at various parts, my fingers most certainly didn't touch or slip. Very thick, as I already knew, but glad to know it's "proper". His fur is springy, but sadly it stays hand printed and smooshed, so I'll have to look for does whose fur reacts correctly. And his fur is definitely like velvet. It sort of tickles your hand and makes it feel warm as you stroke him, catching slightly with each pet. It still feels like the backs of cat ears, though. Like that little thumb place right behind and under a cat's ears. I don't know how to quantify that otherwise.

As I'm going to start breeding Astrex, I'm like, "But I love curls!" XD But not on Mini Rex, certainly not. The only thing I'm a little worried about is that he seems to have a little tiny cowlick right behind his ears. Like it just looks a little mussed and thinner than the rest of his fur. Is that normal/bad?