# A mate for a tri color mini rex



## yannimom

Hello all,
I am new here so please bear with me on this.  I am still trying to get a grasp on the color genetics.  Is it a good idea to put a tri color mini rex doe (all tri colors in her pedigree) with a red buck or is it better to put her with a broken red buck?  What about a black buck?
Thanks!


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## kbhear80

Depending on the shading of the rabbit is how i would choose the color on the buck and also the body type.  It the rabbits red is a little smutty i would breed it with another red as long as it will improve the body type of the doe.  But having a black in the barn is always a safe bet for newbies cause they are pretty neutral.  I normally will stick to breeding rabbits of the same variety if i can (again depending on the body type of the animal).  its improtant to bred to improve the rabbits.  Good luck and love pictures!


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## bellasrabbitry

Breeding a Red(solid or broken) to a Tri is fine, I breed reds and actually have a doe that is a genetic Tri that I use in my red program. If you breed her to a black you will most likely get blacks, and broken blacks, if you breed her to a red or broken red you will probably get reds, broken reds and maybe Tris. Are you looking to buy a buck to breed to her?


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## yannimom

Thanks for your suggestions!  I know my best bet would be to breed her to a tri color buck, but I can't seem to find one!  I thought a red might give me more options as far as the kits go.  I thought the broken red because broken to broken.  She has a really nice body and nice fur (ears are a little longer than I would like, but only a little).  I will put up some photos of her when I figure out how to do that (I seem to be a little technically challenged these days).


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## Bunnylady

Do NOT breed a tricolor to a black. Tri, of course, is a rabbit with broken and harlequin genes. Harlies should be agouti-based. Black is a self-based color, if you introduce self genes into a tricolor breeding program, you run the risk of getting self-based harlequins, which look like torts with a harlequin overlay. When that happens to a tri, you get a lot of smut on the nose and ears, and a savvy judge will DQ it. I can think of a number of non-showable "whoopses" that could come from such a cross, so yourself a favor - don't go there.

Red is an agouti-based color, so you are safe in that respect. Since agouti is dominant to self, it is possible that both parents may carry (but not express) self genes, but the likelyhood of getting self colored offspring is much less. In addition, harlequin is dominant to red, so you will see for sure whether any bunny inherits the harlequin gene. If the doe comes from an all-tri breeding program, she may well be homozygous for harlequin, so it is possible that _all_ of the babies will either be tri's or harlequins. 

Whether you breed to a solid or a broken red is entirely up to you. I personally do not breed broken to broken, because roughly 1/4 of the offspring from that sort of breeding will inherit the broken gene from both parents, and be what we call a "Charlie." Charlies have very little color on them, so they are not showable. The gene that creates the broken pattern also is involved in the development of the digestive system, and rabbits that are brokens have "reduced gut motility" (their digestive tracts run slower). The normal brokens usually don't have problems, but those that got a double dose of the gene (Charlies) have noticibly sluggish systems, and are more prone to G.I. stasis. Whether you breed to  a solid or a broken, only about half will be showable brokens (tri's). If you breed to a solid, all of the other half will be solids. When you breed broken to broken, as I said, half should be showable brokens, roughly 1/4 will be solid, and 1/4 will be Charlies. [Those numbers depend on a large number of offspring being produced, of course. In a group as small as a single litter, you could have (for example) all solids, even if both parents were brokens!]


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## yannimom

Here is a photo of my tri color mini rex doe named Dorothy.  She is 5 months old.  She was not happy about posing.






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## xoxocammyxoxo

Since we are on the topic of color genetics and breeding....

Can anyone suggest a website for learning about Mini Rex color genetics? Or Mini Rex genetics in general. I'm really interested in genetics and would love to learn.


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## yannimom

I consider myself still new at this, but have learned alot from this forum as well as some other sites.  Raising rabbits.com has good information.  Devonglen rabbitry has some good articles and links.  Those are just two off the top of my head . If you google rabbit genetics, you can find tons of info.  It can get complicated, but just keep plugging away.  Good luck!!


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## yannimom

I have a little moe experience now, and looking at this photo again after a long time, I can see where Dorothy's faults lie.  Part of that is the fact that I did not take a good photo of her (haha)!  I think, for example, she is long and does not have great shoulders.  She is not as pinched as she looks in the photo (it was on a slant and I think she was trying to compensate).   However, I have found a harli buck for her, and he has AWESOME type!  I am eager to see what they produce together.


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## MiniRexGirl

Where did you find a Harli buck? I have a Harli doe that I would like to breed to a Harli buck if possible. 

My Harli Doe Metta (She did NOT want to pose)


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## yannimom

MiniRexGirl:  I PM'ed you about the harli buck.


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## WhatTheFluff

Bunnylady said:


> Do NOT breed a tricolor to a black. Tri, of course, is a rabbit with broken and harlequin genes. Harlies should be agouti-based. Black is a self-based color, if you introduce self genes into a tricolor breeding program, you run the risk of getting self-based harlequins, which look like torts with a harlequin overlay. When that happens to a tri, you get a lot of smut on the nose and ears, and a savvy judge will DQ it. I can think of a number of non-showable "whoopses" that could come from such a cross, so yourself a favor - don't go there.
> 
> Red is an agouti-based color, so you are safe in that respect. Since agouti is dominant to self, it is possible that both parents may carry (but not express) self genes, but the likelyhood of getting self colored offspring is much less. In addition, harlequin is dominant to red, so you will see for sure whether any bunny inherits the harlequin gene. If the doe comes from an all-tri breeding program, she may well be homozygous for harlequin, so it is possible that _all_ of the babies will either be tri's or harlequins.
> 
> Whether you breed to a solid or a broken red is entirely up to you. I personally do not breed broken to broken, because roughly 1/4 of the offspring from that sort of breeding will inherit the broken gene from both parents, and be what we call a "Charlie." Charlies have very little color on them, so they are not showable. The gene that creates the broken pattern also is involved in the development of the digestive system, and rabbits that are brokens have "reduced gut motility" (their digestive tracts run slower). The normal brokens usually don't have problems, but those that got a double dose of the gene (Charlies) have noticibly sluggish systems, and are more prone to G.I. stasis. Whether you breed to  a solid or a broken, only about half will be showable brokens (tri's). If you breed to a solid, all of the other half will be solids. When you breed broken to broken, as I said, half should be showable brokens, roughly 1/4 will be solid, and 1/4 will be Charlies. [Those numbers depend on a large number of offspring being produced, of course. In a group as small as a single litter, you could have (for example) all solids, even if both parents were brokens!




So, I was also trying to find the best colors to breed with my tri buck and also what to breed him with to get potential harlequins when I came across this thread. You said to breed with agouti based colors but on another site I read where it said SPEFICIALLY to NEVER breed a tri with an agouti colored rabbit....??? So now I’m just more confused. Here is the site:



			COLOR CROSSING RULES FOR MINI REX RABBITS


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