Mini Rex Breeding Compatibilities.

Question
Hello,

I will tell you what I have and I would like your opinion on the best possible combinations and genetic compatibilities.

I have the following colored bucks.

Black, Blue, Black Otter, Blue Otter, White (REW), Chocolate, Red, Tort.

I have the following colored doe's

Black, Blue, Chocolate, Castor and Broken Lilac.

I also have a few broken's in the other colors mentioned also.

Can you tell me which animals are best to breed with each other.  I messed up last time and bred a chocolate to a castor and ended up with a chocolate tort.  I don't know why it happened but I was told by the judge that this is an unshowable color.  Since I am very strict about culling and make sure that all my culls go to pet homes rather then pet shops I have to be careful about what crosses match.

Thank you anything you can do to help me I would appreciate.

Thank you  Colleen

Answer
Hi Colleen

Without their complete genetic background I can't tell you but I can give you a few tips.

Remember its type/fur first.  Color is always last, however I just recently got a 2nd place at a show because one of my chocolates had poor color.  The sad thing was that her type and fur were far better than the 1st place rabbit.  Unfortunately some judges get hung up on markings and colors and if that is ever the case for you just ignore them.  As long as you are producing nice type and fur then you should be achieving some wins.

You technically shouldn't breed chocolate to castor because you can end up ruining the ring color on the castors and producing un-showable animals.

If I were you and this is without knowing your pedigree's this is what I would do:

Black otter to castor (it will improve the demarcation line and the triangle behind the ears)

Broken Lilac can be bred to chocolate since lilac is a dilute chocolate.  It can also be bred to otter's either black or blue.  Lilac otters are beautiful.  If you breed to blue just make sure that its a true lilac and not just a diluted (bad) blue.

If you don't know the genetic background on your REW its a crap shoot.  Technically its not a white rabbit but it has the c gene which means lack of color.  Genetically its truly a colored rabbit.  If you want to be safe breed it to black.  Anything can be bred to black.  If you know its genetic background try breeding it to a color that crosses well with what it is.

The blue can be bred to black, blue, both otters, rew and chocolate.

Red's and torts should only be bred to rabbits of the same color or black to darken up the color.

Remember that the blacks and castors generally have the best fur density.  To improve fur density use the blacks and castors.

Find your most typey rabbit and use that one for type.  If a rabbit doesn't have the true dwarf gene make sure you don't breed it to another rabbit that doesn't have the true dwarf gene (these rabbits will be over the weight limit).  

Honestly if you are serious about breeding you really should join the National Mini Rex Rabbit Club.  Its worth the money.  I think it costs about $17 per year but when you sign up they send you an awesome book that tells you how to get the best outcomes and what colors are showable and what aren't.  It also will give you an idea of what colors you should breed with each other.

One other thing to consider.  It sounds like you are kind of new to this.  You have quite an assortment of varieties.  Until you get really good at it, unless you can afford a huge barn and a huge feed bill, its better to pick a few varieties and stick with those until you get your desired fur and type.  I would say try showing a few colors until you feel comfortable and then you can expand or even switch varieties if you like.

If you need anything else please let me know

Pam