Picking a variety of Rex

[BlueHaven]

My husband has really been zooming a lot faster on the rabbit project than I ever dreamed he would. I think this is something we are both going to really enjoy.
Its time to solidify what varietie(s) we want. I am thinking both chocolate and castor, solid or broken.
Since we will only start with breeding one pair, and hope to add another doe(as soon as he gets another cage together, which may be pretty quick) I would like opinons on weather to just go with one color or both, and if they are compatible to breed. Since I do want to show a few of my juniors
I don't want non showable colors. I know a Charlie buck would give us brokens all the time, but I don't now if I always want brokens, some solids would be nice too. So I am thinking solid does with broken in their backgrounds and a broken buck in chocolate or caster.
Would love advise on this. Thanks in advance.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Here is a great resource regarding what varieties can be bred together:

http://mr-colors.tripod.com/

I am leaning toward getting heavily into otters myself. They come in black, blue, lilac, and chocolate, yet are all shown simply as "otter". This allows you to rack up the points in the variety while still being able to play around with all the pretty colors. The same applies to broken.

I have Opals (dilute of castor) as well in my barn, which I really love, but mine have poor ring definition. They have great type, though, so culling out the line is going to be a hard decision to make.

Ring definition is a big challenge in castors, too. I personally would steer clear of them for now unless you are completely smitten, and concentrate on easier colors to work with at first.

 

[Pepperoni]

It won't matter if your solid does have broken in their background or not, because the English spotting gene that causes broken pattern is dominant. In other words, it's not a trait that can be "carried" or hidden. If a rabbit had it, it would be broken itself.

enen = solid rabbit
Enen = broken
EnEn = charlie

 

[BlueHaven]

I think I have decided to go with all chocolate for now. Perhaps in the future I would go for broken castor. I want fur and I think solid brown will make a nice throw and/or bed spread.