So many colors in one litter, please help me identify.
- Thread starter Willow Blue
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Willow Blue
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Willow Blue
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Willow Blue
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Willow Blue
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RabbitsOfTheCreek
Netherland Dwarf Breeder & Well-known Member
Looks REW or BEW
Tort or Harlequin I'm pretty sure
I don't think there's enough color for a broken
Maybe
RabbitsOfTheCreek
Netherland Dwarf Breeder & Well-known Member
Looks like Blue, REW or BEW, Black, Tort/Harlequin, and Brokens
Willow Blue
Well-known member
Thanks so much! I'm new at this and only have 2 does and a buck to start. The first pairing produced mostly grey like the mom, but the second pairing produced so much variety.
RabbitsOfTheCreek
Netherland Dwarf Breeder & Well-known Member
You're welcome. Do you have their pedigrees?
Two colored rabbits can produce a ruby-eyed white if they both carry the gene for REW (same with Blue-eyed White, aka BEW) So, yes, this rabbit could be either one of those. The only way a white rabbit generally develops color later is if it's a himalayan, and then it will start darkening on its tail, nose, ears and feet. It could possibly be a color called ermine (non-extension chinchilla), which often looks white but has dark eyes (either brown or blue), but I doubt it since there's no evidence of chinchilla in your litter. However, they're nearly all selfs, so chinchilla could be hiding in there. You'll know more when it opens its eyes.
If both parents were brokens, you certainly could get a charlie, but its extremely uncommon for a charlie to have no color at all.
That's called a tort, short for tortoise. That one is either a blue (which is a dilute version of black) tort or lilac (dilute version of chocolate) tort. Since your litter includes a black and a blue and no evidence of chocolate, I'd expect it's a blue tort.
Torts are very interesting in that they are genetically a self (solid) rabbit with an additional set of genes (called non-extension) that eliminate most of the surface color. In a black tort, those genes prevent the extension of the black color along the hairshaft, leaving the reddish color underlying the black to show. The shorter hairs on the extremities are less affected so you see some of the darker color appearing around the eyes, on the ears, nose, flanks and tail.
Given that both parents are broken colored, this could be a charlie. Basically a charlie is a rabbit that carries two copies of the broken gene. Since you can't see the genes themselves, the tendency is to call any very lightly marked rabbit a charlie.
The classic explanation is to think of the broken gene as a can of whitewash tossed over a colored rabbit. One gene covers up some of the color with white; two genes is like two cans of whitewash, so more of the color is covered up and the rabbits ends up mostly white, usually with color remaining on ears, eyes, nose (looking a bit like Charlie Chaplin with his mustache and heavy eyebrows). This one looks like it's another tort, with the color "broken" by white.
This is yet another broken tort; notice that the darker color is in the areas where you'd expect shading on a tort. Tricolor is a broken harlequin, and usually the coloring is more distinct spots than shaded-looking.
Finally, it looks like all of the brokens are torts except for the one at the very bottom, which is known as orange (or possibly fawn). I suspect that's the same color as the parent you identified as broken blond. Orange (and fawn), like tort, is another "non-extension" color, so it's not surprising that you got so many torts in the litter.
What a gorgeous batch of bunnies!!!
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Willow Blue
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Very helpful, thank you!
looks to me like white... or could be pointed. Tort. Broken tort, broken tort.
Willow Blue
Well-known member
What’s pointed?
Pointed is a white (or light-colored) rabbit with dark coloration on the extremities, i.e. ears, nose, feet and tail. Californian and himalayan are pointed varieties that have white bodies and ruby eyes. Their coloration is caused by the himalayan gene <cch>. This is what your white bunny might be. The coloration is heat-sensitive and develops over time, usually starting when the kit begins to leave the very warm nest bowl, allowing its extremities to get chilled and develop the darker colors.
Sable point is an example of a pointed rabbit that has a colored body and dark eyes. That coloration is caused by different genes called non-extension <ee>. These points darken over time too, but not as dramatically as the himalayan markings. This coloration is related to tort, which is also due to non-extension <ee>, though it is generally called "shaded."
This is Sleeping Beauty, who is a sable point. She's a bit dark, but still shows the "pointed" pattern.
Willow Blue
Well-known member
Ah ok, so if it's pointed then it won't show up till later. Guess I'll have to wait and see.
My goodness, I saw black, red or fawn broken, probable chocolate broken, a blue, aa chocolate tricolor? a white or charlie? Beautiful!
Willow Blue
Well-known member
So they are starting to open their eyes! I saw enough through the slit of the white one to know it's not a REW. The eyes were dark and hard to see, possibly blue? If so it's a keeper, a BEW was on my wishlist.
Willow Blue
Well-known member
dark eyes in my herd mean one of two things.... a sable pointed or an ermine.
That looks like an ermine. So that means there's chinchilla in your line, too, along with all the other colors! (I am guessing it's not a sable point because the points would generally be showing up by now.)
A chinchilla is a chestnut with a gene blocking expression of the yellow pigment, leaving pearly white where the tan rings would be.
An ermine is a chinchilla, with two "non-extension" genes blocking the black pigment - leaving an almost completely white rabbit (even though it's an agouti "underneath"). Sometimes ermines will get a little shading or frosting - black tips on some of the hairs - like torts, which have the same genes blocking the black but nothing blocking the tan.
