What color are these guys?

[dayna]

The fur band goes "light dark light" and the bellies cream. The mother is a black English Angora and the father is a gold tipped steel new zealand mix. Their fur is so much softer than all the other kits we've ever had born here. I know they won't have angora fur but it's soooo soft and fluffy. They feel like clouds.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I don't know about the color, but they do look like they have "wool" in their coats.

You only have the Angora doe, no buck, right? Maybe you could keep a little buck and breed him back to his mom. You might be on your way to your own woolly rabbits!

 

[dayna]

Yeah no buck, the buck I bought ended up being a girl! lol I just sold her today.

They do feel like they have wool. But the fur is not very long. I guess I could wait and see if the fur gets longer.

 

[Zass]

Could you post a really good pic of the whole belly?
For some reason, I'm thinking wideband agouti or chestnut with rufous.
Where's Dood to help with this?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

They do feel like they have wool. But the fur is not very long. I guess I could wait and see if the fur gets longer.

I think if they were going to have long wool they would already have it. :? But they definitely have more of the woolly undercoat than normal furred rabbits.

 

[Dood]

Look like regular chestnuts (Aa B_ C_ D_ E_)

Angoras are bred for reduced guard hairs along with ever growing undercoat, especially the English, and this explains why the kits are so soft, their mum must have very stong modifier genes that limit guard hairs in the pelt.

The guard hairs are also the ones that have the distinct black ticking so a lack of them reduces the typical agouti pattern.

Wideband is a possibility but with a black mom and a mixed breed dad the chances are slim. A good picture of the whole belly area would help.

 

[skysthelimit]

Even at that age and an angora, you would still see the tipping.

Angoras aren't bred for reduced guard hairs. The amount of guard hairs produced within each breed of Angora does varies, the less guard hair the easier the coat matts. It's what makes an English matts much easier than the other breeds (or one french matt more than the other).
Guard hairs are what causes the famous Angora halo when spinning, so reducing guard hairs would be counterproductive.

What they are bred for is more follicles per square inch of skin, so you get a more dense coat. The guard hairs carry the most intense color on the hair shaft, the wool is the undercoat. That is part of the the reason Satin Angora have more vibrant color, because the ratio of guard hairs to undercoat is higher. English have more wool per square inch, French are in between. <br /><br /> __________ Thu Mar 27, 2014 7:34 am __________ <br /><br /> You do not have proper ring color yet. Chestnuts go through some pretty rough stages. More than likely, the kit will darken as it gets older .

 

[dayna]

I usually either sell or eat the kits, but I'm going to keep these two around for a while to see what they turn into. Mostly out of curiosity since they are going to be too small to really fit into my breeding program. They are not that old yet, just a couple months.

__________ Thu Mar 27, 2014 7:16 am __________

I'll go out and get a photo of the belly now. <br /><br /> __________ Thu Mar 27, 2014 7:31 am __________ <br /><br />

 

[Zass]

Oh ok. When you said the belly was cream it confused me a little.
I'd call it a chestnut

 

[Dood]

Me too.

A site with pictures to explain variations of chestnut rabbits - http://www.nockrabbits.com/chestnut-agouti.html

 

[skysthelimit]

Me too.

A site with pictures to explain variations of chestnut rabbits - http://www.nockrabbits.com/chestnut-agouti.html

I always want to hide away the chestnuts as they grow. I am so impatient and they look sooooooo hideous to me. Especially because chestnut in Rex doesn't look like other breeds, and I don't like it in any breed but Rex, though the Chestnut I have pictured is mine (SMH). The 5 week old kits I have now look like someone spilled a can of Halloween paint.