Grandbunnies

Rember this pretty little lady? 

This is Daisy, from a litter we had last year. She went to the home of a friend of ours, Emma, who was also interested in raising rabbits.

Daisy, with Steve,

had a litter of seven kits last month! Seven! That was Rosie's record, and for a first time litter, very impresive. Even more impresive; all of them survived and are thriving!

Now, with Daisy being a broken black, and Steve's grey, opal coat, it's hard to imagine that their kits would have a lot of color.

But we were in for a surprise!

What a little rainbow of colors!

2 castors, (top left, bottom right)

1 broken castor, (far right)

1 broken lynx, (middle)

1 light tort, (far left)

1 harlequin, (top right)

and 1 red-eyed-white. (bottom)

Where did these colors come from? Let's take a look back into Dasiy and Steve's history.

Steve's father was an opal, but his mother was a red-eyed-white, so that's how we got this little fellow.

I look like Grandma!

Becca and I have never gotten this color from Steve, even though it was in his genes.

Daisy's parents, Rosie and Simon also helped explain a lot.

The little castors are just miniture versions of their grandpa Simon, and what little darlings they are.

Then there is the adorable broken castor kit.

With Rosie's tri-color, we have had some kits with coloring like this one (Tristan, from this litter, and Much, from this litter)

and a darker, broken tort in the same color family as this one (Rory, from this litter).

But what about the harliquin?

Here's a bit of rabbit color terminology.

Harliquin rabbits are a breed, but also a coloring for Mini Rex. It is basically tri-color with no white, although you can see that this kit's underside is lighter.

When we bought Rosie, she was with her siblings, and her brother was a harliquin. So, Rosie had the coloring in her genes as well, but it didn't show up until a second generation.

They are growing so fast and each time we visit, they are bigger, cuter, and more curious about the world around them.

It has been exciting to see this second generation of rabbits.

A very happy Emma with her baby bunnies.

I better stop before this post explodes with cuteness. :)