horrible at gentics...bunny color potential help? (mini rex)

[zzGypsy]

Just a little word of warning about harlequin. While it is recessive to the full color (E), it can "bleed through" somehow. I have had this happen a few times. What you wind up with is a rabbit that looks like a regular castor/opal, but with darker streaks or patches. It is particularly noticeable on the belly (it's also a DQ).

Yup, but this only happens with agoutis (castors, opals, etc) and tans (otters, martins). The brindling gene (ej) messes up the stomach color and ear lacing. It will also give agoutis a smutty sort of look. You can't show these animals, but if you're breeding for tri-colors, varieties like the castor are great for improving type.
Selfs, on the other hand, can hide the ej gene like no other lol. There is absolutely no way to tell if it carries it or not without knowledge of the animals background and test breeding. Breeding tris and selfs (which is ok) will get you torted tris, which aren't showable but you can still use them.
I've never seen a tort show the effects of the ej gene...I don't doubt that it does, but I'm wondering if maybe it's a gene that affects the distribution of color (i.e. very little black/choc/blue/lilac on a tri). That, paired with torting, could very well make a tri look like a tort with brindling. Just a thought.
As far as getting blue/fawn tris...it's a possibility. Is there any dilute in the does backgrounds? I have a doe that has almost entirely black/orange ancestors and 1 blue/fawn waaaay back there and she carries dilute and chocolate. So who knows!! LOL!! Rabbits are surprising animals. I do think it's more likely that the first set of litters will be castors/opals. You might get reds, depending, and maaaybe tris. Once you breed back a buck to a doe (son to mother, be not afraid of linebreeding!), you should get tris and start learning a little bit more about your lines.
Have fun, good luck, and keep us updated!

Edit: I'm pretty sure the tort wouldn't show any effects of the ej gene at all considering a tort is double non-extension. There'd be no ej gene to show through. I'd chalk up the problem with the tort to a.) smuttiness, which can probably be attributed to smutty ancestors, or b.) a torted tri/harlequin with poor color distribution.

ok, so I'm going to jump in on this thread, because some of this sounds like what I've got... y'all feel free to tell me to start a new thread if I'm not close.
first the disclaimer ... I'm reeeealy new to rabbits and even newer to rabbit color genetics.
what I'm wondering about is two of my does...

the first is maybe? tricolor? she's white with colored patches, the colored patches are dark brindle, heavy on the "dark". all the color patches are brindled, no solid color except the white. is this what you were talking about?

the other doe is black, but in certain light you can see she's got some brindled areas, very near black in color, and not distributed evenly - mostly they're on her sides and flanks, not over the top, which is solid black. the brindle is so dark that at first I wasn't sure it wasn't just a trick of the light and the shine from her fur, but no, it's brindled. what would be the gene pattern for this?

thanks for teach us so patiently!

 

[crazyturkeydesigns]

Here's an example of a properly marked tri mini rex: Briallu Mini Rex Tri
The broken doe could be a tri, a castor, or a tort. It's hard to tell without a picture though. Castors can have that brindle appearance for any number of reasons...do you happen to have pedigrees or know anything about their background?
The black doe is probably just that...was she kept outside at all? Sometimes rabbits will get "sunburn" and patches of fur will look sort of brown. She could also just be molting.
Hope that helped a little! It's hard without a picture lol

 

[yannimom]

Hi, I have a harli buck that is out of the same sire and dam as that tri and he is awesome! Best type on a harli I have ever seen! He throws only harli and REW so far and his REW kits do really well on the show table! And his harli kits are very pretty. I am careful who I put him to, though, because that harli genetics can make things get even crazier