Color ID Help

HappyFarmBunnies · Aug 27, 2011

First up I have my first litter from my import ND buck, Chesty (black silver marten) and my new chestnut Cameo. A first for both, at least in my barn.
I....cannot figure out what we have. A solid black and a chestnut? The color calculator says we should mostly get chestnut, followed by black and black otter. I just don't see enough brown on that chestnut yet. But they're only a week old as well.

And then, we have this: a rescue litter. We had a lady call us the other day, panicking, because her pet store bunnies had had a litter. So she gave us the Mom (pictured first) and the litter of babies. I have no idea what the breed is, or what color the father was. The mom's looking pretty rough (had two litters back to back, this is her second) but she is black, missing a lot of fur from nesting and some sunburning. Almost looks like a little bit of Polish in her?

Then we have the babies. All I can tell is three blacks and maybe two blue torts? Maybe one blue and one...frosty? Pointed white? I'm not sure.

hillrise · Aug 27, 2011

I think your mystery ND is a chinchilla.

Silver Martens are technically tans with chinchilla genes. Crossing that with a chestnut, you SHOULD get chestnuts. If the chestnut carries chinchilla, sable, himi or REW, you'll also get chinchillas. If the chestnut carries tan or self, you'll get black otters. If the otter and the chestnut both carry self, you'll get blacks. Since it looks like you got a self black, both must be carriers. So judging by the breeding, in the future you should expect:

1/4 Chestnut
1/4 Chinchilla
1/8 Black Otter
1/8 Black
1/8 Black Silver Marten
1/8 Iron Gray

unless the black is really a chestnut (I would think it would be getting the other colors on it by now though), in which case you might be looking at only chestnuts and chinchillas.

As for the other litter...it looks like the mom is a VERY sun-bleached black, although she could be a seal. The babies do look like 3 blacks...a couple dilute (blue or lilac) torts...although they could be dilute sables...or frosties. I think the one you think is a blue might actually be an opal (is it's belly white or blue? that would be the best indicator). Opals have white bellies. Pointed whites usually don't get colored noses/ears until they're a little older (usually around when their eyes open up)...usually.

HappyFarmBunnies · Aug 27, 2011

EEEEK! We have been desperately wanting a chinchilla, so if that's the case I will be over the moon ten times over!

Let's see here, I have the pedigrees in front of me. The chestnut doe is out of a black (out of a black and a black himi) and a chestnut (out of a chestnut and an opal). The black silver marten is a Dreamcatcher Dwarf, out of a black otter (out of a blue and a black otter) and a black otter (out of two black otters).

So you're awesome, there is the himi on the chestnut's side. So I could get chinchillas. EXCELLENT. And the chestnut carries self, so I should also get black otters? EPIC.

As for the other litter, it looks blue to me (on the torts) but the blue on the solid could just as easily be a lilac, or an opal as you say. Those are the only two photos I have of them, but I will be getting more next weekend (and they'll be a little older by then) so we can have some better guesses.

Thank you hillrise!

mistyjr · Aug 27, 2011

I see some maybe sable points! :heartbeat:

HappyFarmBunnies · Sep 7, 2011

I have some updated photos! Turns out that the mystery Netherland was a chestnut, I'll post pics of them in a minute.

What is boggling my mind now is the rescue litter of Mini Rex mixes. What I thought were two dilute torts have now developed some sort of gold ticking, so now I'm thinking maybe Siamese Sable? And the lighter colored one also seems to be a shaded, perhaps a smoke pearl? And what I originally thought was a blue might now be a blue otter or an opal. And of course one of the blacks turned traitor to become a chestnut. They are just ten days old in this picture, eyes are starting to open. I know nothing about shaded MR so any help would be appreciated.

From left to right: the blue otter/opal, the Siamese sable (?) and the smoke pearl (?).