ORIGINALLY POSTED MARCH 9,2011
We recently have decided to start raising Mini Rex. Guess what, we have picked one of the hardest colors to work with... those GORGEOUS REDS. I got Lucy for Carmen as a Christmas gift and it just went from there. After Lucy, we got Ricky and Ethel from Mrs. Debbie in Beebe, AR. We couldn't just focus on REDS so we decided to try our hand at OTTERS as well. We then got Mickey from Mrs.Anita and Juliet from Parker White. Recently we obatained another Red buck from Mrs.Dani here in Louisiana. All can be see on the herd pages.
Genetically they are an Agouti colored rabbit, but they must appear to be self colored. NEVER sacrifice color for quality & Breed for Type, then fur, then color
First thing I learned about reds...they have a CHOCOLATE or BLACK base. You can tell this from an early age, and if that gets too difficult check the underside of their tail. Lucy is BLACK based, it's evident. Another dead give away is that she is completely out of Castors. I'm still trying to figure out how you get a Red out of 2 Castors, guess I 'll have to do more research.
With BLACK based they're too dark ,and tend to have more problems with smut, dark ear lacing, and undercolor. So, you bring in a CHOCOLATE based red to clean up the color in BLACK based. In my opinion, BLACK based have a more vibrant, and vivid color.
Since red isn't a developed or popular breed, it is hard to find one with good type or good fur. This is where other colors come in. I've been told to keep Reds to Reds to prevent any smutting . I agree with keeping Reds to Reds, but sometimes you have to bring other colors in to correct type. There are three colors: Castor, Tort, & Fawn(non-showable). We were debating on whether or not to bring in a Castor, we ended up saying no to this. Castors are beautiful, and most have beautiful type, but they are just to dark and would creat a blue undercolor which is a DQ. Castors can also mess up the red color completely , and it could take generations to correct. Then , we debated Tort. After asking around they said Tort would be the best decision, It adds rufus color, and usually won't smut the existing color. Eventually, we'll get a Tort or Broken Tort to add to the herd to clean up fur. With fawns(if you find one), you can use them to clean up or brighten the color on your reds.
That's what we've learned so far
We recently have decided to start raising Mini Rex. Guess what, we have picked one of the hardest colors to work with... those GORGEOUS REDS. I got Lucy for Carmen as a Christmas gift and it just went from there. After Lucy, we got Ricky and Ethel from Mrs. Debbie in Beebe, AR. We couldn't just focus on REDS so we decided to try our hand at OTTERS as well. We then got Mickey from Mrs.Anita and Juliet from Parker White. Recently we obatained another Red buck from Mrs.Dani here in Louisiana. All can be see on the herd pages.
Genetically they are an Agouti colored rabbit, but they must appear to be self colored. NEVER sacrifice color for quality & Breed for Type, then fur, then color
First thing I learned about reds...they have a CHOCOLATE or BLACK base. You can tell this from an early age, and if that gets too difficult check the underside of their tail. Lucy is BLACK based, it's evident. Another dead give away is that she is completely out of Castors. I'm still trying to figure out how you get a Red out of 2 Castors, guess I 'll have to do more research.
With BLACK based they're too dark ,and tend to have more problems with smut, dark ear lacing, and undercolor. So, you bring in a CHOCOLATE based red to clean up the color in BLACK based. In my opinion, BLACK based have a more vibrant, and vivid color.
Since red isn't a developed or popular breed, it is hard to find one with good type or good fur. This is where other colors come in. I've been told to keep Reds to Reds to prevent any smutting . I agree with keeping Reds to Reds, but sometimes you have to bring other colors in to correct type. There are three colors: Castor, Tort, & Fawn(non-showable). We were debating on whether or not to bring in a Castor, we ended up saying no to this. Castors are beautiful, and most have beautiful type, but they are just to dark and would creat a blue undercolor which is a DQ. Castors can also mess up the red color completely , and it could take generations to correct. Then , we debated Tort. After asking around they said Tort would be the best decision, It adds rufus color, and usually won't smut the existing color. Eventually, we'll get a Tort or Broken Tort to add to the herd to clean up fur. With fawns(if you find one), you can use them to clean up or brighten the color on your reds.
That's what we've learned so far