What Colour?

[myrkari]

Hi all - I will preface this by saying I have no idea whatsoever when it comes to rabbit colours, and I don't breed for specific colours or anything like that. So my knowledge on the matter is maybe... two out of ten? And that's just what I've picked up very briefly by looking around here (and the very few things that carry over from cat genetics!)

So. My Californian doe gave birth to a litter of seven from my NZW boy. Well, I say they appear Cali and NZ but I don't know their genetics, as they're not pedigree; they're healthy and give me nice meat babies and that's where my interest lies. Anyway - six of the kits are white (or pointed but still showing as white at this age), but one is... not. She's an even brindle-y grey. In cats we'd call the pattern ticked, I suppose. But I have no idea what colour/pattern she is - maybe a pale chinchilla? I thought they had black eyes though.

I'm interested to know! It's probably very obvious to people who know what they're talking about, so please enlighten me if you know... or take a guess if you don't, that's also fine by me

I brought kit inside and plonked her on a piece of white paper to try and get the best representation of the colour. There's a faint yellow tinge to some of her fur, but I can't tell yet whether her nestmates have just peed on her :shock: Kit has red eyes, in case it's not clear from the pictures.

 

[Zass]

Is it possible the little one was chilled at some point early on?

 

[Dood]

I agree it could be an agouti based California /Himalayan coloured kit that was chilled as a youngster and will eventually shed out to pointed white.

The only other possibility is a new colour mutation

 

[myrkari]

It's possible, but I don't know...I didn't ever spot anyone out of the nest as a teeny. The red eyes are what threw me from recognising her colour on Google, so a "chilly Cali" makes sense!

I'm in England, where wire cages are not the norm (annoyingly - I would like to have wire cages for hygiene purposes but they're just not gettable here and even if I made them my neighbours would definitely raise eyebrows as they would look so unusual to them) so my rabbits are all in wooden hutches, so even if she was born out of the nest she would have been on a layer of shavings and hay rather than on the wire, which is a bonus.

I will keep an eye on her and see if her fur changes as she grows. She is no smaller or less vigorous than her siblings so fingers crossed if she did get chilled it was only for long enough to affect the heat-dependent fur and not the kit herself. <br /><br /> __________ Thu Jun 25, 2015 11:35 am __________ <br /><br /> Just a follow up question - what timescale am I looking at for hair regrowth? When would I expect to see her colour start to go back towards "typical Cali" if we're correct in thinking she got chilled? Presumably three months or so?

She's destined to be a freezer camp baby, as almost all mine are, but if she shows no change in fur colour I'll probably make space for her to stick around and have a test litter back to her sire out of interest. I just don't know how long the first coat change takes in bunnies - I'm thinking it'll likely be longer than her currenly projected 10/12 week lifespan?

 

[alforddm]

That is really interesting looking.

 

[ZachsRabbits]

It is a cold Himi or Californian. It will have the best white color of the litter.

 

[twr]

Regarding timescale for moulting, according to Robinson "Young ... rabbits commence the first moult around the age of 4 weeks and [it] is completed about the 12th or 14th week. A second begins usually around the 10th to 13th week and ends about the 21st to 26th week of age." Please do keep us updated if the colour does start to change.

Not very relevant but that rabbit looks steeled (dark inside the ears). Are the belly and underside of the tail also ticked or are they white?

Is the red eye the same shade as your himi kits? It looks a little dark in the photos and if that is real it may indicate this is something more than a chilled himi.

 

[myrkari]

Ooh, another UK person! *waves*

All the kits are out of the nest and nibbling at food and coming to the door to see what I have for them when I visit now (last time I took the picture, I had to swipe the kit out of the nest when momma wasn't looking) so it should be easier to look for any of the things you've mentioned... On the flipside, she's more mobile now and less keen on being picked up for a photo shoot or belly-inspection. I'll see what I can see re: comparative eye colour etc and report back!

She is still grey though, I can tell her apart from the other six at a great distance. I guess we'll see what starts to happen after the 4 week mark, too. <br /><br /> __________ Tue Jun 30, 2015 2:36 pm __________ <br /><br /> Update after afternoon water refills and dishing out of apple-peelings (I made jam): Yes the ticking is on the belly and under the tail as well as far as I can tell, but I have no idea what I'm really looking for/at as I don't "do" colours, so I might just be seeing it because I think it should be there. And the eyes seem pretty similar to her siblings to me - I've got a couple of dark noses showing up now amongst the rest, so I seem to have about half Himi and half REW in the litter, which is normal for my lot. The last litter from a doe that I was told was this one's full sister but possibly isn't (no pedigrees), and the same buck, gave me all REW.

Comparing her against the photos I took the other week though, she's already paler. Against the others she's still very grey, but when I look back at the pictures she's not as dark as she was. Her fur is white at the base and ticked on the tips, or at least that's what it looks like when you stroke along her back or blow a puff of air onto her to part the hairs - so it appears that new, white fur is growing through and fewer old "cold" hairs are there. So you guys were right (which I thought you would be, as the other option was a mutation!) - but I'll keep you posted anyway

 

[FourRingCircus]

Oh wow, that is wild looking! I had no idea getting chilled could temporarily change coat colors... interesting!

 

[Dood]

Only this drastically in himilayan coloured rabbits

Sable/light shaded rabbits can darken with the cold as well chinchilla/dark shaded but to a much lesser extent