What color of babies will I get?

[Jacob Zierke]

I was just wondering what are the most likely colors from these two? Thank you so much!

Buck

Doe

 

[samssimonsays]

I never worked with Otters personally... But I believe they will throw them? It depends on what is in their pedigree in most cases as well.

@Bunnylady @promiseacres

 

[Jacob Zierke]

Here are there parents if that helps.

 

[SableSteel]

Those are the parents to both of them?

In that case, you'll definitely have a chance for black otter, and broken black otter
You'll have a chance for ONE of these two: harlequin (and tricolor) - more likely - OR red (and broken red) (to me it looks like the harlequin doe carries red, so if she gave the red gene to both offspring you wont have a chance for harlequin)
You also might have a chance for blue otters or broken blue otters if the black otter carries dilute
(and if the rabbits carry more colors, you might get others like blacks, torts, blues, etc)

 

[Bunnylady]

Those are the parents to both of them?

In that case, you'll definitely have a chance for black otter, and broken black otter
You'll have a chance for ONE of these two: harlequin (and tricolor) - more likely - OR red (and broken red) (to me it looks like the harlequin doe carries red, so if she gave the red gene to both offspring you wont have a chance for harlequin)

It looks to me like the tricolor is more likely a buck, and I'm curious how you determine whether a rabbit has one gene for harlequin or two? I've piddled around with harlies/tri's in the Mini Rex for a couple of decades, and the only way I knew whether a rabbit could have one or two has been by who the parents were.

Other than that, I'd say you've pretty much nailed it.

 

[Jacob Zierke]

I'm sorry, I forgot to say the buck is the harlequin and the doe is the black otter. It doesn't really show in the picture, but i'm pretty sure my doe is a broken opal. Yes, they are siblings.

 

[Bunnylady]

If your doe is a broken opal, then she got the agouti gene from her sire, and you have castor and opal as possibilities. Considering how deep his color is, you may even get decent castors, rather than what are more correctly thought of as just chestnuts. Be warned, though - harlequin can express over agouti patterning sometimes, giving you an agouti-patterned animal with darker patches or stripes. I currently have a castor doe that does that; while her body color looks OK, she has a black streak on one side of her belly (that's a DQ, btw).

 

[Jacob Zierke]

If your doe is a broken opal, then she got the agouti gene from her sire, and you have castor and opal as possibilities. Considering how deep his color is, you may even get decent castors, rather than what are more correctly thought of as just chestnuts. Be warned, though - harlequin can express over agouti patterning sometimes, giving you an agouti-patterned animal with darker patches or stripes. I currently have a castor doe that does that; while her body color looks OK, she has a black streak on one side of her belly (that's a DQ, btw).

Okay, thank you so much! They can have more than three colors of babies though right?

 

[promiseacres]

Okay, thank you so much! They can have more than three colors of babies though right?

Yes they could but it's best to expect the most likely.

 

[Bunnylady]

Oh, yes. Some people call it a "pet shop litter;" one where every baby is a different color. You have a virtual rainbow of possibilities, just based on what we can see of the pair you have and their parents. You might even have a few genes we can't see, like chocolate and REW, that might pop up and surprise you.

But your likely colors are either solid or broken versions of:

Castor
Opal
Otter (black or blue)
Harlequin
Red
Tort (black or blue)
Black
Blue

Though frankly, anyone who would breed a Tricolor to an Otter probably has such mixed-up genetics in their rabbits, there's almost no telling what you might get. You could get absurd things like a torted otter harlie, for example.