What color mini Rex?

[Thoroughrbed lover]

I have a 14 week old Mini Rex. I was wondering what her exact coloring is. It appears to be lilac, lynx, or I think it might be Opal.

 

[Bunnylady]

Oh, gads, she's one of those "oops" colors. I can tell you this much, she's NOT a lilac, not a lynx nor an opal. I'm seeing an Agouti-patterned animal with a sort of mooshy, orangey body color, black ear lacing, and brown eyes. Lilac is a dilute chocolate self - she's full color, not dilute; black, not chocolate; and an agouti, not a self. In the Mini Rex, Lynx is a dilute chocolate agouti; once again, she's not either a dilute nor a chocolate. Opal is the dilute version of Castor, once again, she's not a dilute. By ruling out all of the things that she clearly isn't, what I'm left with is - smutty orange.

 

[Thoroughrbed lover]

I was afraid of something like that, so with that said, is it a bad idea to show her (4h level) or breed her if the male is good?

 

[Bunnylady]

It would depend on how your 4H program works . That's not a color that can be shown at an ARBA show, but some 4H clubs are so interested in getting as many people as possible involved, they aren't picky about the rabbits. Others are sticklers about adhering to the breed standard, so she would be DQ'd as an unshowable color.

She looks pretty typey, but whether she's breeding material is hard to say. Depending on what color the buck is, it is possible that you could wind up with babies that have good type, but are either unshowable colors or are not good representatives of a color that can be shown. Of course, you could get some perfectly good colors, too.

 

[Thoroughrbed lover]

It would depend on how your 4H program works . That's not a color that can be shown at an ARBA show, but some 4H clubs are so interested in getting as many people as possible involved, they aren't picky about the rabbits. Others are sticklers about adhering to the breed standard, so she would be DQ'd as an unshowable color.

She looks pretty typey, but whether she's breeding material is hard to say. Depending on what color the buck is, it is possible that you could wind up with babies that have good type, but are either unshowable colors or are not good representatives of a color that can be shown. Of course, you could get some perfectly good colors, too.

What do you mean she looks "typey"? I'm pretty new to rabbits, so I'm still learning some terminology

 

[Bunnylady]

That means that she looks like she has pretty good type. It doesn't mean that she has, like, show-winning type necessarily, just that her head, ears, body proportions, etc, look pretty close to what is described in the breed standard (it's almost impossible to judge this accurately just from pictures - you really have to get your hands on a rabbit to know for sure). A lot of people get so hung up on color, they forget about type, and while they may be breeding pretty colored rabbits, their animals bear little resemblance to the ones pictured in the ARBA's Standard of Perfection.

 

[Hens and Roos]

I was afraid of something like that, so with that said, is it a bad idea to show her (4h level) or breed her if the male is good?

Can you talk with the rabbit leader that oversees the 4-H program and see what they say. I know some 4-H shows have a pet class as well.

 

[Thoroughrbed lover]

Any idea what colors these are?

Little female (Liza)

Little male (Leo) I think he is otter

 

[Hens and Roos]

not sure but pretty neat looking!

@Samantha drawz

 

[Bunnylady]

Not quite sure if the doe has deep enough color for a proper Castor, or whether she'd be considered a Chestnut - she looks a little sun-faded, maybe? A lot of rabbits get deeper color when they get their senior coats.

You are right about Leo - he's a Black Otter.