Rex furred bun from normal litter??

[Celice]

This has happened to me twice now and I just can't understand how it's happening!! I have 2 rex furred does that are not related in anyway that were born from normal furred parents.

The First doe, Yuki.

Her father a dutch/Netherland dwarf/satin was headed for the pot, because he belonged to someone that bought some of my rabbits a long time ago and let them breed with whoever to be meat buns. But this buck was good looking and had a nice personality so I bred him once with a New Zealand doe of mine. The doe (her name was Nibbles) had 2 kits, both REW, both doelings, but one looked like this:

[album]3077[/album]

The other is Umi. She belonged to a person that bred normal meat rabbits: New Zealand, Californian, and Satin. Out of all her litters that she ever had, this happened:

[album]3019[/album]

So, my question is how can a rabbits with no rex breed lines have rex kits?

 

[Zass]

Rex genes are recessive, so both parents have to be carriers to produce rexed kits..

Someone in your area could have been crossing rex with their new zealands and calis, satins, or all three, it could have even happened a generation ago.
Lots of people will call anything rew a New Zealand, and anything big and himi colored a Cali.
An old farmer we know keeps asking us for rew kits because he says those one will be "pure new zealand." We keep telling him they are mutts with very little new zealand genetics, but he seems to believe that new zealand describes a color and not a breed.

With that mentality...It's no wonder breeds get so mixed up.

 

[Celice]

Rex genes are recessive, so both parents have to be carriers to produce rexed kits..

Someone in your area could have been crossing rex with their new zealands and calis, satins, or all three, it could have even happened a generation ago.
Lots of people will call anything rew a New Zealand, and anything big and himi colored a Cali.
An old farmer we know keeps asking us for rew kits because he says those one will be "pure new zealand." We keep telling him they are mutts with very little new zealand genetics, but he seems to believe that new zealand describes a color and not a breed.

With that mentality...It's no wonder breeds get so mixed up.

very true! there has to be some rex in there some where but it must have happened long before I got them. I'm running an experiment to see if the rex gene will give me better angoras, so far the kits are REALLY soft but it looks like they are getting longer fur from the 50/50 angora mother.

 

[skysthelimit]

I'm running an experiment to see if the rex gene will give me better angoras, so far the kits are REALLY soft but it looks like they are getting longer fur from the 50/50 angora mother.

Hmm. Why?

 

[Celice]

I'm running an experiment to see if the rex gene will give me better angoras, so far the kits are REALLY soft but it looks like they are getting longer fur from the 50/50 angora mother.

Hmm. How would Rex fur give you better Angoras? They are polar opposites as far as fur length, and Angora fur is softer than Rex fur is, or at least proper Rex fur is smooth and resistant, like velvet, not soft. T

I remember hearing a rumor that someone was crossing rex with angora to get a better coat, and they seemed to have been succeeding.

The doe I have is 50/50 angora she had an english angora sire and a NZ/mutt mother, her fur is longer than normal but not angora. I bred her with a Mini rex and the kits produced were denser with longer fur and thicker than normal, but I'll wait until they get their adult coat in to see how it really is.

I'm really after a thick furred rabbit to survive the cold. I've lost a few last winter because it was so cold, and I worry about my rexes but I just LOVE the feel of their velvet fur.

I know it's not supposed to feel soft but I guess to me anything that feels like velvet is soft.

I'm also doing it for plain curiosity, just to see what I get...

 

[skysthelimit]

One of the reasons it's denser, is a Rex coat usually has more hairs per square inch of skin, and being the same length of undercoat and guard hairs gives it that appearance as well.

Are you trying to get better coat on the Angora or the Rex? Or just a hybrid with a thick coat? Both breeds by themselves have sufficient coats to survive a winter, you should be ok with what you get from the breedings.

But don't worry about the Rex. A healthy normal furred rabbit will survive below freezing temps under normal circumstances, Rex and Angora do fine. Got a barn full of them, didn't lose a single one last year during the straight days of negative temps.

 

[Celice]

One of the reasons it's denser, is a Rex coat usually has more hairs per square inch of skin, and being the same length of undercoat and guard hairs gives it that appearance as well.

Are you trying to get better coat on the Angora or the Rex? Or just a hybrid with a thick coat? Both breeds by themselves have sufficient coats to survive a winter, you should be ok with what you get from the breedings.

But don't worry about the Rex. A healthy normal furred rabbit will survive below freezing temps under normal circumstances, Rex and Angora do fine. Got a barn full of them, didn't lose a single one last year during the straight days of negative temps.

right now I'm just kinda playing with the idea of denser angora rabbits, but I'm working on the hybrid now. I have 2 Flemish Giant/French Angora mixes with the Flemish as the sire and the Angora the dame. they also have a longer coat toward the back, even thicker that the doe with the angora sire. I'll be crossing their offspring next year, and introduce a standered rex buck into the gene pool. I know Flemish are not good meat rabbits but I like the personality and size, I'll work on meat later.

I know rabbits are better in the cold but last winter I lost two healthy bucks to the cold and they were normal furred. I may just put a heating lamp just in case for the rex. I never worry about the angoras they seem to like the cold weather, I catch them laying in the snow often.

 

[PSFAngoras]

I think I remember hearing about someone else crossing rex to angora, they were calling them oppossum rex and they were a nightmare to groom from what I've remember. If your looking for denser furred angora coats, I would simply get my hands on the densest coated angoras you can find, and work from there. I have one doe now who's loads denser than either of her parents were, and I'm very proud of her, though she's and ermine and unshowable.

It would be easier to start with angoras too, since when the gene is crossed with short haired kits you tend to lose a lot of the modifiers that make the angora coat what it is even when bred back to try to get that recessive out.

 

[skysthelimit]

Which got me thinking...
I bet ya those oppossum Rex, come from Rex with the astrex gene. Basically there is little evidence and information, and what there is of it is so far back, have not heard anyone do it successfully in recent times. Which would explain why it would be a hard to find thing, and why it didn't work out well.

 

[Zass]

Which got me thinking...
I bet ya those oppossum Rex, come from Rex with the astrex gene. Basically there is little evidence and information, and what there is of it is so far back, have not heard anyone do it successfully in recent times. Which would explain why it would be a hard to find thing, and why it didn't work out well.

Yeah, it has been noted how some of the longer furred astrex kits resemble old photos of opossum rex.

The old study Dood posted on my thread mentioned that they found the curl genes in English Angora as well as rex.

 

[skysthelimit]

Which got me thinking...
I bet ya those oppossum Rex, come from Rex with the astrex gene. Basically there is little evidence and information, and what there is of it is so far back, have not heard anyone do it successfully in recent times. Which would explain why it would be a hard to find thing, and why it didn't work out well.

Yeah, it has been noted how some of the longer furred astrex kits resemble old photos of opossum rex.

The old study Dood posted on my thread mentioned that they found the curl genes in English Angora as well as rex.

I am not surprised with the way the fur mats on jr French and Jersey woolies.

 

[Celice]

Which got me thinking...
I bet ya those oppossum Rex, come from Rex with the astrex gene. Basically there is little evidence and information, and what there is of it is so far back, have not heard anyone do it successfully in recent times. Which would explain why it would be a hard to find thing, and why it didn't work out well.

Yeah, it has been noted how some of the longer furred astrex kits resemble old photos of opossum rex.

The old study Dood posted on my thread mentioned that they found the curl genes in English Angora as well as rex.

I am not surprised with the way the fur mats on jr French and Jersey woolies.

Huh, I never heard of the opossum rex. is it a new thing?

My french angoras never mat like my english. They need regular grooming all the time!! it may have something to do with just how thick the fur is but most of the time I have to shave the english and pluck the french.