Chocolate Chin/Squirrel/Lilac Chin

[Edge of the Wilderness]

I'm wondering if anyone can give any pointers on how to tell the difference between Chocolate Chinchilla, Blue Chinchilla (Squirrel), and Lilac Chinchilla. Pictures that I have been able to search online look very similar and don't give me confidence I am looking at the correct thing. I have a rabbit with a Blue Self-Chin litter-mate and Chinchilla, Himalayan, REW & Chocolate Self-Chin half-sibling/cousins (same sire/dam aunt). Both Dams are Himalayan and the Sire is Chinchilla. Because of the colors produced, I think it could be any of those colors, but am not sure how to determine which color that it is. Thanks in advance!

 

[promiseacres]

Lilac will have a tan tinge base, lighter than chocolate. But it may be hard to determine until they get their adult coat.

 

[AmberLops]

It's hard when they're young...do you have any pictures of them?
As @promiseacres said...lilac has a tan tinge and next to a chocolate it's easier to tell the difference
What kind of rabbits are they?

 

[Edge of the Wilderness]

Okay, I'll try looking closer at the rabbit in question and maybe getting a current picture (10wks). Here are a few pictures of the rabbit in question with its Blue Self-Chin litter mate at 1wk. Ignore the respective pink and green ears. That was just coloring for my identification.



They're meat mutts. Dam is California/NZ. Sire is Satin/NZ.

 

[AmberLops]

Okay, I'll try looking closer at the rabbit in question and maybe getting a current picture (10wks). Here are a few pictures of the rabbit in question with its Blue Self-Chin litter mate at 1wk. Ignore the respective pink and green ears. That was just coloring for my identification.

View attachment 64650 View attachment 64651 View attachment 64652

They're meat mutts. Dam is California/NZ. Sire is Satin/NZ.

Oooh that's a tough one...I would have to say lilac chin though. Looks more dove-y than chocolate to me

 

[Edge of the Wilderness]

Here are a couple quick pics, but I can try to get some better shots tomorrow when it's light out.

 

[AmberLops]

I'm saying lilac...
@promiseacres what do you think?

 

[Bunnylady]

Chocolate is brown, brown like a milk chocolate candy bar.

Lilac, being the dilute of Chocolate, is a pinkish dove-gray, while even the gray of a dilute Chin is more of a bluish gray.

When dealing with Agouti-patterned animals, one thing you can do is blow your breath into the coat.

(obviously, this is somebody using a blower on an angora)
This turns the bands on the hairs into a series of target-like rings, making it easier to see the color of each band.

Another thing you can look at is eye color. Chocolates have brown eyes, though it's not quite the same dark brown as is found in rabbits of black-based colors. Chins may have brown, blue-gray, or mottled eyes, so a simple dilute Chin (Squirrel) should have blue-gray eyes. When you combine the effects of both Chocolate and Chin on eye color (particularly when you throw dilute in the mix as well), you often get an eye that looks more lavender than blue-gray.

 

[Edge of the Wilderness]

Okay, I had been guessing it was Lilac for a while, but wasn't sure how the Chinchilla color pattern would affect brown coloring for Chocolate Chinchilla since my understanding was that it reduces/removes yellow pigment. I had a difficult time finding anything labeled as Lilac Chinchilla and pictures that I could find labeled as Chocolate Chinchilla and Squirrel looked very similar to each other and to my rabbit in question that I thought was Lilac. It ended up raining most of the day yesterday so I didn't get a chance to do any photos in better light conditions. The rain set me back on some things I needed to do so we'll see if I get a chance for any photos today.

 

[Bunnylady]

Pheomelanin (the yellow/red pigment) really isn't in any way involved in producing Chocolate coloring.. The gene that causes chocolate (b) causes changes to the eumelanin (black/brown pigment) granule itself, making it reflect light differently. The Chinchilla gene does reduce the amount of the eumelanin slightly, so a Chocolate self Chin is a bit lighter than a true Chocolate self, but it's nowhere near light enough to be confused with Lilac.