Bunnylady
Herd Master
Both parents must have the dwarfing gene for peanuts to happen. Sadly, there are plenty of other reasons for babies to fail, not all of 'em genetic; that this baby lasted 6 days makes me suspect that there was something other than two copies of the dwarfing gene wrong with it (peanuts usually die in 3 days or less, because their incomplete digestive systems mean they starve to death).
Creating peanuts is what may be illegal. A number of years ago, I read that some European countries were enacting anti-cruelty legislation that would make it illegal to deliberately breed animals that would suffer or die as a direct result of their genetic heritage (experiments done for the purpose of medical research being exempted). Peanuts cannot live, and while you might luck out sometimes, doing true-dwarf-to-true-dwarf breeding will lead to some peanuts getting born at least some of the time. Knowingly creating a life that doesn't stand a chance of living is what I referred to as a dirty trick.
Interestingly, going by the same logic, doing broken-to-broken breeding could also be illegal. Animals with 2 copies of the broken gene (Charlies) have digestive issues that interfere with their ability to absorb nutrients, and the almost inevitable GI stasis episodes could certainly be interpreted as "suffering."
Steel is a gene that will drive you totally bonkers (in my case, that ain't a drive, it's a putt).
Steel is dominant, but it takes a certain combination of genes to even know that it's there. Agouti pushes the dark pigment off of certain areas of the hair shaft, allowing light/white areas to appear; Steel pushes back, allowing more of the dark pigment to appear, thus creating a darker version of the Agouti pattern. I've long heard that you can't see Steel on a self-patterned rabbit, because there aren't any areas of light color to counteract. Some people will tell you that Steel puts white ticking on self colored rabbits, but I think they are confused about what they are looking at. In order for a Steel to look like a Steel, the Steel gene (Es) needs to be paired with the normal extension gene (E); any combination other than than EsE won't look like a classic Steel. Even an animal that is actually a genetic Agouti that has two copies of Steel (EsEs) will look like a self patterned Black; a thing that someone dubbed a "super Steel." Steel combined with non-extension (Ese) or harlequin (Esej) may have some ticking, or may once again look like a self-patterned rabbit.
If you want a Steel, one of your breeders must have it. When Ben was born, I thought he was a self Black. As he grew and matured, I realized I was seeing hints of lighter areas under his jaw, on his belly, etc; these are the areas of lighter "trim" on the Agouti and Tan patterns, but they shouldn't be there on a Self! His father was a Chestnut, and even though there were some Steeled versions of some colors on his pedigree, I knew that buck didn't have Steel, because Steel can't hide behind Chestnut. Ben's mother, though, is a REW, with a lot of other REW's on her pedigree, so there is no telling what she has. I've never seen a description of how Steel appears on a Tan patterned rabbit, but, since a Tan is basically a Self with the Agouti trim package, and I know how Steel looks on an Agouti, I figured a Steeled Otter would probably look pretty much like Ben - turns out I was right.
So without an obvious Steel as a breeder, you'd need a rabbit that is at least carrying Steel, plus a rabbit with the right genetics to bring it out, plus just plain dumb luck (and ooh, I got chocolates to boot!!!) You need the Agouti pattern (A), plus either full color (C ) or Chinchilla (cchd) to get enough dark pigment, and that all-important normal extension gene (E) to go with the Steel gene (Es), to get a Steel rabbit.
Creating peanuts is what may be illegal. A number of years ago, I read that some European countries were enacting anti-cruelty legislation that would make it illegal to deliberately breed animals that would suffer or die as a direct result of their genetic heritage (experiments done for the purpose of medical research being exempted). Peanuts cannot live, and while you might luck out sometimes, doing true-dwarf-to-true-dwarf breeding will lead to some peanuts getting born at least some of the time. Knowingly creating a life that doesn't stand a chance of living is what I referred to as a dirty trick.
Interestingly, going by the same logic, doing broken-to-broken breeding could also be illegal. Animals with 2 copies of the broken gene (Charlies) have digestive issues that interfere with their ability to absorb nutrients, and the almost inevitable GI stasis episodes could certainly be interpreted as "suffering."
Steel is a gene that will drive you totally bonkers (in my case, that ain't a drive, it's a putt).
Steel is dominant, but it takes a certain combination of genes to even know that it's there. Agouti pushes the dark pigment off of certain areas of the hair shaft, allowing light/white areas to appear; Steel pushes back, allowing more of the dark pigment to appear, thus creating a darker version of the Agouti pattern. I've long heard that you can't see Steel on a self-patterned rabbit, because there aren't any areas of light color to counteract. Some people will tell you that Steel puts white ticking on self colored rabbits, but I think they are confused about what they are looking at. In order for a Steel to look like a Steel, the Steel gene (Es) needs to be paired with the normal extension gene (E); any combination other than than EsE won't look like a classic Steel. Even an animal that is actually a genetic Agouti that has two copies of Steel (EsEs) will look like a self patterned Black; a thing that someone dubbed a "super Steel." Steel combined with non-extension (Ese) or harlequin (Esej) may have some ticking, or may once again look like a self-patterned rabbit.If you want a Steel, one of your breeders must have it. When Ben was born, I thought he was a self Black. As he grew and matured, I realized I was seeing hints of lighter areas under his jaw, on his belly, etc; these are the areas of lighter "trim" on the Agouti and Tan patterns, but they shouldn't be there on a Self! His father was a Chestnut, and even though there were some Steeled versions of some colors on his pedigree, I knew that buck didn't have Steel, because Steel can't hide behind Chestnut. Ben's mother, though, is a REW, with a lot of other REW's on her pedigree, so there is no telling what she has.
I've never seen a description of how Steel appears on a Tan patterned rabbit, but, since a Tan is basically a Self with the Agouti trim package, and I know how Steel looks on an Agouti, I figured a Steeled Otter would probably look pretty much like Ben - turns out I was right.So without an obvious Steel as a breeder, you'd need a rabbit that is at least carrying Steel, plus a rabbit with the right genetics to bring it out, plus just plain dumb luck (and ooh, I got chocolates to boot!!!) You need the Agouti pattern (A), plus either full color (C ) or Chinchilla (cchd) to get enough dark pigment, and that all-important normal extension gene (E) to go with the Steel gene (Es), to get a Steel rabbit.
Last edited:
