Sarah, I asked on my genetics list, and the replies were:
"Opal is the dilute of chestnut agouti (lop) / castor (rex) / copper (satin) â A_B_C_ddE_ Lynx is the dilute of chocolate agouti â A_bbC_ddE_ Breeding your Opal buck to your Lynx doe you will get opal carrying the chocolate gene, and whatever else pops up from the unknown recessive genes. Breeding to the black â aaB_C_D_E_ you will probably get chestnut agouti and some surprises due to unknown recessive genes. If your black chin is self â aaB_c(chd)_D_E_ you will probably get chestnut agouti and then the surprises. So to answer your question is the person right about breeding your opal buck to only blue does is NO! You obviously like the buck; so use him, and see what you get."
and this:
"First of all, is your 'lynx' a dilute chocolate agouti (A_ bb C_ dd E_) or a dilute fawn (A_B_C_dd ee)? If it's a true lynx (dilute chocolate agouti), you *can* breed your opal to it, BUT....many Lynx have a white base color on the coat, and the odds of getting decent Opals from such a cross are slim.
If the 'lynx' is actually a dilute Fawn, you can breed them together and see what you get. You can get some nice Opals from such a cross, but you also run the risk of Blue Cream (dilute Tortoiseshell) either now or in the future.
I also raise Rex, and Opal and Lynx are two of my favorite colors! Here's another BUT, though...If you want to keep ANY color, from ANY parents, keep only those which show proper banding and shading and overall coloration from the very beginning.
If you get Opals which start with white base color and moult out to something reasonably close to the Standard, you're not keeping the best animals possible. You want SLATE/RED/BLUE/RED-BLUE (ticking rings) from the base to the tip. The 'red' portion of the hairshaft can vary from a pale fawn color to a bright and gorgeous red-orange. Don't settle for less just because someone tells you that it can't be done!
(Living proof...my opal Rex have orange rings comparable to most Castors...and so do the Lynx)
I'd say try a breeding with each of your other rabbits and see what you get that is dead-on correct in color as well as good in type and fur. Depending on what recessives you have floating around, you might have something really nice coming out of there."
So I think it comes down breeding for color. Right now I'm breeding to get a good quality show rabbit...colors, while fascinating, aren't a top priority. Eventually it would be great to have a superb rabbit that's as close to the true color as possible. And I think that's where your rex color breeding chart would come in extremely handy!
