I just aquired my first ej rabbit the other day! Her name is Zelda. Does she have to be bred to another rabbit that carries ej in order to have visual ej kits?
Be careful what you wish for.
Just as there are some horse spotting genes that can cause issues that go far beyond color, the broken gene is also a two-edged sword. The gene that causes the broken pattern (En) is involved in the formation of the nerves and muscles surrounding the digestive tract. Animals with one copy of En have a few less of the nerves than enen animals, but EnEn animals have a lot fewer, so their digestive systems are downright sluggish. In addition, there is a condition called megacolon, where at least part of the large intestine balloons into a shape that is more like a pouch than a tube. A few months ago, I read a study that examined this issue, using Checkered Giants as the test subjects (I'd hunt it up and do a link to it, but it has such a high fog index it could be a cure for insomnia). The study found a 1-to-1 correlation between EnEn animals and megacolon. At minimum, animals with this condition have difficulty absorbing nutrients; Charlies in general grow slower than their siblings. Depending how badly the animal is affected, it may seem otherwise fairly normal, but they are prone to GI stasis episodes, and eventually, you won't be able to get the digestive system going again. Some Charlies don't survive long enough to crawl out of the nest box. The condition seems to be progressive; animals that seem only slightly affected as youngsters get worse over time, so just being a Charlie pretty much guarantees a shortened lifespan. The issue is serious enough, a lot of breeders just don't do broken-to-broken breedings, simply to avoid the risk of producing Charlies.
