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Question about rabbit colourings

22 11:31:02

Question
Hi there,

I have a NZ rabbit who is a beautiful grey colour, and she has just had her first litter with a rex male who has white with black spots (looks like a dalmation!).  I would like to keep one of the females for breeding even though they aren't full breeds, and I'm wondering which of the colourings is more rare/desirable for breeding.  As most are male, I can choose between a jet black female or a white female with brown dalmation spots -- very nice and even symmetrical patterning.  Would you have an opinion about which would be a better choice?

Thank you in advance!!!
Lindsey

Answer
As far as breeding goes.  Black in a dominant color, so your little black doe would be likely to produce a higher concentration of black and black/white mix babies.  The "Broken" (the industry's name for the spotted rabbits) will be harder to find a mate for.  Breeding a broken to a broken will often lead to what we call "charlies" which are mostly white with very little color.  It is usually recommened to breed a solid buck to a broken doe, but if the solid has broken in his background (parents or grandparents especially) you may run into the same problem.  

For selling purposes, as pets there really isn't a rule about what people are looking for.  More often than not the only bunnies that I have trouble selling for pets are the red eyed whites (all white rabbit with red eyes).  Sometimes, brokens are more popular and sometimes soilds are.  There are two new colors emerging as hugely popular in the mini rex world called harlequin and tri-colors (harlequin is hard to describe, but tri's look like calico cats).

Anyway, I am not sure what your intentions are with your breeding program so I suppose I rambled a bit.  I don't want to sound rude or snobby, but since the baby is not a pure bred color marking really doesn't matter.  If by NZ you mean New Zealand, as a grey, the doe is not pure (there are New Zealand Reds and New Zealand Whites).  At any rate the bunnys are what the industry calls "pet quality" and are not elegible for shows unless your local 4-H organization has mixed breed classes.  You didn't mention the presence of another buck and I am sure you know, but I also want to mention that it is not advisable to breed father to daughter (especially a broken father to either of them).  The broken in the black doe's backgroung mixed with the fact that his is broken will result in many white babies.

Hope this makes sense and helps you out.

Brenda