colour of toenails

[Sabine]

I was just browsing through some colour genetics charts for ND and came across the note that this particular breeder would avoid crossing dilute x dilute for fear of mismatched toe nails.
I crossed my Siamese Smoke buck with my Siamese Smoke doe and repeated a similar breeding with the offspring being all smoke again. As I want to concentrate on smoke I am delighted with that. But I must admit I didn't even look at their toenails.
How important is their colour? I guess they are supposed to be dark and the white ones are wrong? Would it automatically disqualify a rabbit at a show even if all the other parts are perfect?
The only other colour I have available is Siamese Sable and REW. Would that be enough to correct any possible mismatched nails or do I need other colours. Am I limiting myself by just keeping those two colours?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Shaded Night Rabbitry]

Toe nail DQ's:
Missing toenail(s) including dewclaw.
Toenail too short to determine coloration.
Unmatched toenails on the same or corresponding foot, including dewclaw.
White toenail(s) disqualify in all color breeds and varieties, including Himalayan and Californian.
Colored toenail(s) disqualify in white or marked breeds and varieties in combination with white, unless specifically exempted in the breed standard.

So yeah. White toenails DQ. Light toenails are faulted.

Find a good siamese sable to correct both shaded and toenail problems. When you start doing too many dilutes to dilutes, that's when the bad toenails pop up.

 

[Sabine]

I am glad I found out about it. I was so thrilled with my smoke x smoke pairings I should have known their was a catch somewhere:rollseyes
There's going to be a toe nail inspection tomorrow morning I do have a nice enough sable doe but she didn't produce a single smoke when paired with a smoke buck. I've mated her with my other smoke buck so maybe things might be different this time. It's just really hard finding the right balance.

Smoke babies 1 day old

 

[Shaded Night Rabbitry]

Take some of the sable x smoke babies, and start using them for the smokes. The sable probably didn't carry dilute, but the babies all have to. I recommend taking the best does, and breeding them back to dad. Not only does it solidify the sires good and bad traits (assuming he's a very nice buck), but it should help (like I said) with shading and nail color. One of the things on the smokes I've seen lately have been that they're not so.. Shaded. They look similar to faded blues, just because the lack of saddle.

But yeah. Just start line breeding back. If I were you, I'd keep sables as my brood does, and in a generation you'll be able to replace the sables with sables that carry dilute. Then I'd keep that the program for at least a while, until you get the hang of nails.

I do think the other way to bring the color back into nails is outcrossing to blacks. It's what I'm doing with my sable points right now, to make more... Grayish coloring than the brown. It's whats been recommended to me by a couple of fellow breeders and a judge or two. Perhaps a black out of a black x blue breeding, so you get the dilute in there. And preferably carries for shaded, but that's not totally necessary.

Hope all is going well in the rabbit world with you! I'm excited to see that litter grow up, if it's a new one. =D

 

[Sabine]

Thanks for the advice. I have no blacks so will have to rely on the sables. My main buck has mismatched nails which suprises me as he was used for breeding with his former owner (rather successful UK breeder) My back up buck has perfectly dark toenails. He isn't even rung and I got him for half price. I still can't figure out what's wrong with him as he is beginning to look better than my main buck.
The three new babies are 2 days old and from a smoke x smoke breeding. Let's hope for perfect toe nails At least daddy and mommy have them...