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Sav

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I've recently been trying to tackle breeding sable points in Mini Rex (being that it's a very uncommon color in my area, yet one of my favorites). The closest I've come to finding one was a Sallander that was listed as a Sable Point (had chinchilla gene in pedigree; no sables at all). Being that they've been close to impossible for me to find locally, I decided to pick up some colors that would help me along the way. I currently have a Sable doe (carries Himalayan, not sure on non extension), A Himalayan buck (not sure on non extension, chch), and a broken Tort buck that carries REW (Cc) that I'm using in this project.

I recently bred the sable doe to the broken tort, and the resulting litter was four kits : 2 presumed Himalayans (never bred them before, but at a week old, all are practically solid white) and 2 black kits. I'm sort of crossing my fingers that one, or both, of the Himalayans end up being non extension himi. I'm just curious as to how others may think to proceed? My thoughts are to keep one of the Himalayans, being that they now carry the non extension gene (Ee) - or even potentially (ee) if they, themselves, are non extension. However, I'm also torn because I know that a repeated breeding between the pair could result in a Sable that carries non extension, which may be even better, as it wouldn't completely throw out the sable gene.

I was honestly hoping for something a little more telling in this litter as to whether or not my doe carries the non extension gene herself, as she does have a tort grand sire on one side of her pedigree, so there's definitely the chance. I also may end up attaching images as the Himalayan (presumed) kits get older, to get some help confirming whether or not they'd be considered non extension (though, it may be a tad tricky if either are genetic brokens).
 
If either of the blacks turns out to be a doe, you could try breeding them back to the broken tort. There is a chance they carry sable (either sable or himi), and they must carry nonextension. If they did carry sable, there would be a chance of sable point from being bred back to the tort; if they didn't carry sable, you'd more likely end up with some more himmies - only this time with the black guaranteed to carry nonextension a higher chance for non-extension himalayan. Non-extension himalayan can be pretty difficult to tell apart from himalayan, from my experience.
 
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If either of the blacks turns out to be a doe, you could try breeding them back to the broken tort. There is a chance they carry sable (either sable or himi), and they must carry nonextension. If they did carry sable, there would be a chance of sable point from being bred back to the tort; if they didn't carry sable, you'd more likely end up with some more himmies - only this time with the black guaranteed to carry nonextension a higher chance for non-extension himalayan. Non-extension himalayan can be pretty difficult to tell apart from himalayan, from my experience.

That had completely slipped my mind! I’d figured the blacks might have been a lost cause due to being full color (Cch or Cchl), however you are correct! It would be a one up from using the sable doe, being that her extension gene is still unknown (though, depending on how the himmies turn out, my guess is EE). It would also eliminate the chance of getting REWs (trying to avoid these for now, as it can be hard to tell what they are genetically, and figured it may complicate things this early on, especially with the non extension gene). Goal for now will be to keep a black doe, if one turns out to be a doe, and if not, perhaps rebreed the pair and hope for a keeper from there (another black doe, or even a Sable doe).
 
Just wanted to give an update to everyone! Babies are all doing well, and genders are official! 1 Black doe, and 3 bucks (1 black, 1 Himalayan, and 1 broken Himalayan)! I’ll be retaining the black doe and rebreeding her to the broken tort buck this coming fall (between October and December), as well as rebreeding the original pair that produced this litter.
 

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