# Chameleon rabbit



## yannimom (Sep 6, 2010)

This buck is a year old (this week).  He started out with dark brown fur all over.  During the winter, he went to an orange-y color seemingly overnight.  This summer, he started to go back to brown.  He got spots on his back and now it looks like a saddle.  He also looks like he has a moustache.  Is he just getting ready for winter?  He is an outside rabbit.






[/img]


----------



## Mea (Sep 6, 2010)

What a neat colored rabbit !    By any chance have You bred him ??  Do his kids have similar coloring changes ?   That would be fun to raise !!


  I know that the Himalayan rabbit is temperature sensitive...( if You were to pluck some of their white coat out in cold weather, it would grow back in colored.)      I wonder if this  rabbit is temperature sensitive as well ?    At any rate he sure is  purdy !!


----------



## RabbitMage (Sep 6, 2010)

The paler coat is just the old coat-which might be sunburned. The darker color is the new coat. It's not genetic, just an unfortunate trait of many chocolate colored rabbits.

Here are a few examples on other colors:


----------



## Bunnylady (Sep 10, 2010)

Most rabbit colors sun bleach, even those that aren't exposed to direct sunlight. As RabbitMage said, it is particularly true of chocolate based colors. Every time a rabbit molts, he will change shades at least a bit, sometimes a lot, depending on how faded his old coat was.

Stresses of various sorts can inspire a rabbit to molt. Normally, molting begins at the nose, and gradually works its way down the back and sides. The OP's rabbit seems to be wearing parts of at least three different coats (going on the amount of fading) and seems to be starting a molt yet again (looking at his nose). Sudden weather changes might account for it; rabbits often molt when temperatures or day length change. However, bad genetics can play a part in this, too. You want a good, prime coat on a show rabbit (also on breeds used for fur) so rabbit breeders usually breed away from a tendency to molt at the drop of a hat. Some rabbits are bad about not completing a molt, and wind up with very faded hair that remains in patches, mainly on the sides of the rabbit.


----------

