What color

[sagewoman]

I am new to breeding Lionheads and the color combinations are something I have to learn.. I would like to know what color the following would be. I have a little doe whose mother is chestnut and father Vienna marked tort otter. She is all black except for her underside which is grey. what would her 'official' color be?

 

[Bunnylady]

Black with a white belly is most likely a Black Otter - is there a lighter eye ring and lacing around the nose, under the jaw, and white underside to the tail?

 

[Alicia G]

She could be seal, they are all black with grey
http://magichatrabbitry.com/storage/IMG_7643.JPG?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1304384737084

 

[Bunnylady]

She could be seal, they are all black with grey
http://magichatrabbitry.com/storage/IMG_7643.JPG?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1304384737084

I'm sorry, but that picture could be confusing, and that's not a good description of a Seal. Seals are the result of a self-patterned rabbit getting two copies of the Light Chinchillation (shaded) gene (cchlcchl). A Seal is not really black, it is a very dark brown and even darker on the points. The difference is subtle; an inexperienced person might need to put a Seal beside a Black to see the difference.

This is one situation where pedigrees can be really helpful. While there are genes that can be carried but not expressed through several generations, knowing the colors of the ancestors previous to the parents can give you clues about what colors to look for in a litter, and which you can rule out as impossible.