Hmm...that can't be right...

[clevername]

Hey everyone,

I've begun acquiring foundation stock for satin angora. Since they are a rare breed its been slow going but I was fortunate enough to do business with a breeder who has a good reputation within our region.

Anyway, we purchased two 8 week kits from her. One Broken red (or tort) buck, one chestnut doe. They are beautiful rabbits and I'm happy with their progress. But I'm a little stumped when it comes to the chestnut's pedigree. It says she had two chinchilla parents.

Okay, so I'm running through what I know about coat genetics in my head and I can't really figure out how 2 chins can spit out a chestnut. Chestnut requires a C which I thought was always dominant over c[sup]chd[/sup] and c[sup]chl[/sup]. So how could two parents who display the chinchilla coat pass on a C to their offspring?

Now I've been watching this little doe grow. And she really does look like a chestnut to me. Her fur has gray and tan banding with an overall chestnut luster. Her guard hairs are black tipped and she's got black ear lacing. Here's some pics from when we first got her...

I didn't get to see the parents and the breeder admitted she didn't give much thought to color genetics outside what was showable and what wasn't. So my only guess is that she guessed wrong on the coloring of the parents.


Any thoughts?

 

[pamnock]

You are correct. Chin x chin can't produce chestnut. Angora breeders are notorious for their mis-identification of varieties.

You'll run into some weird stuff with the Satin Angoras due to the wide band gene. I once saw a litter off all red kits and one chestnut out of 2 "reds". Not possible. On closer inspection, one of the "reds" was really a wide band chestnut. One clue was the darker undercolor on the chest.

Good luck with your Satin Angoras! They are a beautiful breed - but those coats are tough to maintain. :shock:

Pam

 

[clevername]

Thanks Pam,

Since I didn't see the parents myself, I'll just have to assume the breeder was mistaken.
I'm terribly anal about pedigrees, myself, so don't be surprised if you see a lot of "what color bunny is this?" posts from me in the future.

 

[BSAR]

Good eye! I didn't think that chestnuts could come from chins. So is your bunny a tort then?

 

[pamnock]

From the photo, she appears to be chestnut. Definately not tort.

Pam

 

[BSAR]

pamnock wrote:

From the photo, she appears to be chestnut. Definately not tort.

Pam

Whoops, I was confused at my colors. I was thinking you guys though she was an agouti chestnut. I am so sorry.:?

 

[pamnock]

chestnut = agouti chestnut