Dalilah's kits fill up the basket now.
At thirteen days old, their eyes are starting to open. This chestnut agouti was interested in what was going on.
Here is the wee chocolate kit with the white paw. I'm getting attached to this one. There is a white mark on the nose that looks suspiciously like a vienna mark- evidence that the kit may carry the gene for blue eyes. Hmm. Neither parent exhibits either blue eyes OR a vienna mark. Not sure how that can happen, though they do have BEW in their backgrounds...in fact the grandfather on the bucks side was BEW. There could be some broken colors in the lineage as well.
As if to clinch matters, Two of the whites decided to open their eyes. They are NOT pink. They appear to be blue! I'll have to examine all four more closely this week to see if any have red eyes. I'm not much of a geneticist, but I didn't think that was supposed to happen since neither parent has blue eyes! Maybe there is some ermine in the lineage that I am unaware of.
Finally, I brushed and plucked Mocha last night...six ounces at one go! Sheesh. She does look rather like one of those hairless dogs though with a bit of a fringe. I didn't want to embarrass her by taking a photo.
Neat development. I do like the one with the white paw too.
ReplyDeleteIf both parents gave a recessive blue gene (while exhibiting the dominant brown) the baby could be blue eyed.
ReplyDeleteThey are so sweet looking. Buns are one of my favorite animals.
oxo
Mary
Duh. Mystery solved. I looked a little closer at Dalilah's pedigree and her mother was BEW and her father vienna marked. So, she does carry the gene without expressing it (said by the rabbit experts not to be common, though it is unclear why based on human genetics). Five out of nine babies are expressing the gene in one way or another.
ReplyDeleteOops. Forgot to say that all four whites have blue eyes!
ReplyDelete