Black
is a presentation color on three of the Standard Certificates

The SELF FAMILY. A rabbit that is ONE solid color all over its body.
It will show no shading, ticking or patch pattern to its coat. This family holds the most basic basic rabbit color. In a genetic sense it is simply
the non-agouti (no gene for banded fur pattern) version of the other rabbit colors such as Chestnut, Opal, Chinchilla etc. It is a simple family to
work with if you avoid Blue Eyed White (BEW) and Ruby Eye White (REW) which are not true genetic self colors. They are grouped here because the ARBA classes rabbit colors by phenotype (appearance)
and not genotype. Both REW and BEW can introduce a number of different genes into the mix.

The basic Self genetic colors on this page do not have a shaded gene added, those colors will be found in the Shaded Section of this site.

Black

Blue

Chocolate

PHOTO
NEEDED

Lilac

RUBY EYED WHITE. A masking gene which blocks all color out of the coat. This color is often referred to as a REW or Albino. Like albinoism in other mammals the animal has red/pink colored eyes because you see the blood vessels in the eye. All Ruby Eye White rabbits are a genetic color, so when bred
to a rabbit of any color other then REW you can get a wide range of colors. REW bred to REW ONLY produces REW. REW is a presentation color on four of the
five certificates for the Lionhead Breed

Ruby Eyed White

BLUE EYED WHITE. This is the Vienna Gene in a pure form. It impacts the color on the rabbit's body leaving no color other then in the eyes. The
eyes should be bright brilliant blue, not unlike those of a Siamese Cat. You will often
see rabbits with a blue/gray type eye passed off as BEWs. These rabbits almost always develop some pale lacing on the ear tips and top of the tail and maybe the feet. They often have colored toenails while a true BEW will have white nails. They are genetic dilute Frosted Pearls or Pearl Points with a number of other modifiers blocking out color but not a correct BEW.

If BEW is bred to anything other then a BEW or a BEW Sport you will get a lot of miss-marks and nothing else. Many of these miss-marks will have bad Dutch type markings (these miss-marks are NOT considered brokens for showing). This gene can be very difficult to totally breed out and you may suffer many generations
of miss-marking on feet and face due to it being in a bloodline.

Even on BEWs who are almost all white on the body be careful. You may find small spots or specks of color on the ears which will disqualify on the show table.

Tortoise
Self in the Red family

Tortoise, a self in the Red Family. Since the Wide Band or Red Family Gene attempts to block all the black out of a coat when you add it to the Black Self you end up with a Tortoise. This variety occurs in all self colors phases - Black, Blue, Chocolate and Lilac

To
LEARN MORE
about Tortoise

On to the
SHADED
PAGE

Back to the
COLOR SECTION
OPENING PAGE