Color Breeding

Question
I would like to get into the Show end of raising Mini Trx rabbits and would like to know what colors can or should be bred together? I am interested in the Brokens, Tris , Castors Blacks etc. and am wondering do you interbreed these colors, or do you breed self to self? Many thanks for your help as I would like to purchase some only if compatible with each other color wise.

Answer
Hi Paul

The first thing you should do is join the ARBA if you are not already a member.  Once you do that you can join the national mini rex club and they send you a great book on color compatibility.

For now I can tell you that it is best to keep self to self, agouti's to agouti's (this is more complicated), and the tri's are just a big pain but if you can get a nice tri color to start and a harlequin colored rabbit they can be bred together.  The harley's are not a showable color but they produce very nice colored tri's.  You will get about half and half in your litters.

I have a separate breeding program for each variety that I show:

you can use a solid color to solid or solid to broken it is best to stay away from broken to broken combo's until you fully understand the genetics.  If you wanted to show brokens only then you can use a charlie to a self and that is the only guarentee that you will get 100% brokens.

black to blue
chocolate to lilac

occasionally I will do a chocolate to blue combo to get the dilute and chocolate carriers to improve my lilacs.

castors to castor or opal  (you can use black but it will darken your surface color)  you can use castors in tri's also but a nice clean red is much better.  A nice clean red can increase the rufus on your castors and make a much nicer ring color.


Basically if you don't already have your stock it is best to get them from a breeder that is willing to help you.  Most people that show rabbits are very willing to help others learn.  

If you have any more questions at all please don't hesitate to ask.  You can also visit  http://www.nmrrc.com

that will show you all the varieties.  I am also pretty sure that if you contact the secretary on the site that you can purchase the mini rex guide book without joining the club.  I know his e-mail address is linked to the site.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy your mini rex as much as I enjoy mine.

Sincerely,

Pam