# If I breed my castor buck with my REW doe will any babies be REW?



## Tonya (Jan 29, 2016)

My buck i think is a castor mini rex & my doe is a REW with ruby red eyes with a hidden gene i dont know what it is shes a mini rex to, she had one litter all look like dad but with white legs, this is her second liter be due end next week was curious if any be white with red eyes like her? Just wondering Thanks


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## Bunnylady (Jan 29, 2016)

There are a whole bunch of genes that influence the color of a rabbit's coat; with Ruby-eyed Whites, the only genes you know for sure just by looking are two copies of the REW gene. In order for a rabbit to be a REW, it must have two copies - one that came from the mother, and one that came from the father. The only way for your doe to have REW babies is for you to breed her to a buck that has* at least one copy *of the REW gene. Since your buck is not a REW, we know that he doesn't have two copies of that gene, but he might have one copy - do you have a pedigree for him, by any chance? If he doesn't have any copies of the REW gene, you could breed these two together forever and never get a REW baby. The white legs on the last litter sound like the doe may have a copy of the broken gene, but it doesn't sound like the combination of this buck and  doe will produce babies with enough white on them to be "good" brokens.

I can't say for sure whether you might get any REW's in this next litter - sometimes, even though you_ know _ the genes are there, the color you are looking for just doesn't appear in the litter. But the more litters you have without at least one REW baby in it, the higher the likelihood that your buck doesn't have a REW gene. Does that make sense?


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## Pastor Dave (Jan 29, 2016)

I am just curious @Bunnylady, what is your scholastic or professional background? Science related?
As I said, just curious


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## Bunnylady (Jan 29, 2016)

Yeah. Things like genetics are home territory for me. Computers? Not so much.


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## Pastor Dave (Jan 29, 2016)

I have a secretary and tech guy for the computers. I think I can hold my own though. 
Before I studied ministry, I earned an A.S. in Conservation Law Enforcement. Yah, I wanted to be a possum cop. I did a lot of biology, wildlife management, forestry, and oh yah the criminalistics and law enforcement studies, but no genetics or husbandry. I would have to go back a little further to growing up on the farm and high school ag days for animal husbandry or Biology for basic genetics.
Today, I live on church property in the country with my wife and boys, lead a small church of around 100, and raise my rabbits and have a hay field behind the parsonage and shed. Still just guessing at genetics


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## Tonya (Feb 5, 2016)

Thanks, everyone I guess i will wait and see. I contacted the breeder we got her from and she said her hidden gene is a broken gene. So thats why last babys had white legs with brown spots. I dont have pedigree for him i bought him at pet store in another state. From what i searched on the mini rex colors online he looks like a castor!! When i go out today to feed them i will take a pic of him to post. If i dont get any white or broken colors thats fine im looking into another broken buck or REW for her! Thanks again


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## Tonya (Feb 5, 2016)

Here's a pic of my buck is he a castor? If not what color is he? Thanks


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## Bunnylady (Feb 5, 2016)

Yep, looks castor to me.


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## Tonya (Feb 6, 2016)

@Bunnylady Thank you!! Im looking into getting a broken or tri color buck to breed with her to!! Thanks again everyone will post pics of her babies!!


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## Bunnylady (Feb 6, 2016)

One word of caution when it comes to breeding brokens. The gene that causes the broken pattern doesn't just affect the coat color, it is also involved in the development of the digestive system. Rabbits with the broken gene have "reduced gut motility" - in plain English, the process that pushes food through the digestive system just runs slower than it does in rabbits without the gene. In rabbits that have one copy, it's just a little bit slower, but things go a lot slower in animals with two copies. 

There is a condition called GI stasis where the digestive system just shuts down completely. This is an emergency situation when it happens; it will kill the rabbit if it doesn't get corrected and can even kill in a matter of hours.  This could happen to any rabbit, but as you can imagine, a rabbit whose digestive system is already running slow is at greater risk of it. It is always important that a rabbit has access to lots of fiber (usually in the form of hay) and fresh water at all times, but for rabbits with two copies of the broken gene, it is of critical importance.

Some breeders think that the slow-running digestive system issue is important enough, they avoid creating such animals entirely by not doing broken-to-broken breeding.


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## Tonya (Feb 6, 2016)

Ok thanks for the info might just get her a REW buck instead to avoid that issue, she is fed hay & water & pellets that help in digestive system both my rabbits eat it. I just stick with my castor buck for now he loves her lol! Tommorow is day 31 i will post some pics!!


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## Tonya (Feb 7, 2016)

So i have a few questions, my friend is retiring from her mini rex rabbit bussiness she has a doe & buck left and she asked me if i want them i can have them. The doe is a harelquin & the buck is a himi looks like its a simese color. So my idea is to breed the himi buck with my REW will she have any white babys then? As for the harelquin doe i prob breed her with my castor buck. Would this set up be ok?


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## Bunnylady (Feb 7, 2016)

There are a bunch of different genes that affect coat color, and they are found in different location within the rabbit's gene pool. Some of these genes have several possible forms. Himi and REW happen at the same place, known as the C locus. Himi is dominant to REW, which means that if a rabbit inherits one himi and one REW gene, the rabbit will be a himi. A "good" himi has two himi genes; it will have relatively intense color on the legs, ears, and tail, and a good big splash of color on its face. A rabbit with one himi and one REW may be a little washed-out looking on the "points," and usually has only the nose or just a little bit more than the nose covered with color on the face. If the buck has a large splotch of color on his face, he most likely has 2 himi genes, which means he will give himi to all of his offspring, so when bred to a REW, all of the babies will be "poor" himis. If he is a "poor" himi himself (only color on his nose, little or none on the rest of his face), then he has one himi and one REW gene, so he could give REW to his offspring, and you could get REW's if you breed him to a REW doe.

Castor to a harlequin has the potential to be a problem. Depending on what else the rabbits have in their genes, there are plenty of perfectly good color possibilities that could come out of this cross, but sometimes you can get the harlequin markings bleeding through on a castor. I'm not sure how that happens, but I have seen it (I have several castors like that right now); it's a disqualification on a show rabbit.


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## Tonya (Feb 7, 2016)

Ok thanks so I went go see both my rabbits doe & buck, the himi buck has just color on nose, but the harelquin doe i decided not to get she had a pretty red castor doe so i decided i get her instead, will the red castor be fine for my castor buck? Im breeding for pet quality, but if someone wants to show i want them to be show quality to!! Thank you!!


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## Tonya (Feb 8, 2016)

Ok so I breed my REW doe & castor buck 32 days ago no babies, and no sign of babies in her i figure she didn't get pregnant,  so i put her back in with buck this mourning, this time i watched them from a distance i think it work this time, but to be sure I'm put them together again in mourning hopefully shes pregnant this time. Hopefully i will have some pics to post of second litter!!


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## promiseacres (Feb 9, 2016)

While Most does Kindle by day 32, they can Kindle later. I usually wait until day 35 or 36 to rebreed. I would at least keep the nest box in just in case. 




Tonya said:


> Ok so I breed my REW doe & castor buck 32 days ago no babies, and no sign of babies in her i figure she didn't get pregnant,  so i put her back in with buck this mourning, this time i watched them from a distance i think it work this time, but to be sure I'm put them together again in mourning hopefully shes pregnant this time. Hopefully i will have some pics to post of second litter!!


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## rabbitmeat (May 5, 2016)

My question is can I breed granddaughter to grandfather? Sorry this site is a little complicated for me. I tried to post a new thread and don't know if I did it or not and it asked me to invite others to look and I didn't have a clue who to invite so I found a thread that had something to do with breeding hoping to get some guidance. The Doe Hazel is the daughter of Ebony and Oso which are no relation to one another. Hazel's parents are Ebony a mix rex?? and Oso a Californian. Hazel's babies are huge and I would like to perpetuate that but want to be sure line breeding is ok in rabbits. Any guidance is appreciated I think it's ok with what I've read about dogs. Does it apply to rabbits.


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## Bossroo (May 5, 2016)

rabbitmeat said:


> My question is can I breed granddaughter to grandfather? Sorry this site is a little complicated for me. I tried to post a new thread and don't know if I did it or not and it asked me to invite others to look and I didn't have a clue who to invite so I found a thread that had something to do with breeding hoping to get some guidance. The Doe Hazel is the daughter of Ebony and Oso which are no relation to one another. Hazel's parents are Ebony a mix rex?? and Oso a Californian. Hazel's babies are huge and I would like to perpetuate that but want to be sure line breeding is ok in rabbits. Any guidance is appreciated I think it's ok with what I've read about dogs. Does it apply to rabbits.


  NO problem at all ... how do you think that Purebred  breed rabbits are first developed ?


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## rabbitmeat (May 5, 2016)

Thanks Bossroo. That seems logical to me but I'm inexperienced and wanted a little reassurance.


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## Tonya (May 8, 2016)

So after 3 times rebreeding she finally had babies just 3 days before Mother's Day!!


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## Tonya (Jan 4, 2017)

Not sure if this thread still open but have a question on this thread of mine, so I have a broken castor doe if I breed her with my castor Buck will any babies be white? Or what will the baby's look like? Im breeding the 2 tomorrow. Just curious what the baby look like. 
Thank you!


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## Bunnylady (Jan 5, 2017)

Do you have any reason to think that your buck has a REW gene? Have you had REW babies from him in the past? How about the doe - are either of her parents REW's, or has she had REW babies? The most likely result here is Castor and Broken Castor, but not knowing what other genes might be lurking behind all the dominant genes that Castors express, it's hard to say what other possibilities there might be.


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## Tonya (Jan 5, 2017)

The does mom is a REW with a broken hidden gene I have the does mom & dad he's a castor no REW genes in him. I bought another castor last month to breed my  broken castor doe, but his colors look like castor but lighter in color. They told me he was a choclate color but he looks like my other castor buck just lighter brown. Thank you


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## promiseacres (Jan 5, 2017)

The "c" gene or the REW gene can hide for several generations. So only way to know is to breed them and hope the correct genes combine. You do know the doe carries it since her dam was a REW. There is a chocolate version of castor, chocolate agouti or amber it's called. Check out http://wildriverrabbitry.weebly.com   it's got a very good color guide for mini rex.


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## Bunnylady (Jan 5, 2017)

Amber really doesn't look like a castor; it's more like a darker shade of red. This little guy is an amber:







This is a castor:





Castor isn't just the Mini Rex name for what other breeds call Chestnut, it's a darker, more intense color because there is much more of the yellow/red pigment in the hair on a Castor.

If your rabbit looks a lot like a Castor, just somehow lighter in color, it may be a Chestnut.

BTW, this is a Chocolate:


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## Tonya (Jan 7, 2017)

Aww your rabbits are pretty I like orange color rabbits there so pretty! He doesn't look amber color but he looks more towards chestnut color! Thank you for the info


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