Color genetics are represented by a sequence of letters that each stand for a particular color or pattern. I'm not going to get into that here. I'm going to explain the mystery of color simply and to the point. I hope this will be easy for everyone to understand without having to learn about the genetic end of things.
There are 3 categories to address in order to determine the color of your animal.
1. Base color
2. Self, agouti or shaded
3. Cream/Red/Fawn
Hint!!! Before beginning, it is best to do this in good INDIRECT daylight, outside. Not in the sun or the shadows.
Bring a white sheet of paper.
All colors are based on one of 2 colors, black or chocolate. Blue is the dilute of black and lilac is the dilute of chocolate.
This presents 4 main color categories; black, blue, chocolate and lilac. With the exception of a few, every color is a derivative of these four.
To determine the base color of your angora, answer the following questions about your rabbit:
Category 1 - Base Color
1. Eye color?
All black and chocolate based colors have brown eyes and all blue and lilac based colors have blue-grey eyes.
2. Ear lacing color? Guard hair color?
The animal will typically have ear lacing and guard hairs the color of the base (there are a few exceptions). Guard hairs are the longer stiffer hairs that stick a little out of the regular coat of wool. Look close, its there.
3. Face?
Look at the face, as in above the nose, between the eyes and the forehead. Assuming you have already determined eye color, what color does the face look like to you? Black, blue, chocolate or lilac? Something else?
Hold your white paper up as a backdrop to avoid distortion due to background colors. In french and satin angora, the front paws can also be examined as the wool there is short and color is true. Very important!! Pay attention to face color!
Category 2 - Self, Agouti, Shaded
Self patterned rabbits
Selfs can only be one of four colors. Black, blue, chocolate or lilac. A self colored rabbit has the same color everywhere. The ears are the same color all over, inside and out as the face. The belly is the same color as the top of the back, although the belly can be a touch lighter in color.
When you blow into the wool, you will see a uniform color to the skin. No rings, no difference in undercolor. For angora, the body color is faded compared to the face. Often times in self angora, you will still see what appears to be rings. They will only be the self color and a ring of lighter colored self. Example, a black rabbit might have rings of black and grey only. A blue might have rings of blue and lighter blue only. **If you see rings of brown or reddish, your rabbit is not a self!**
Agouti patterned rabbits
Agoutis come in many colors, but are always based on the 4 self colors. Agoutis will always have a white or creamy colored belly, nose holes, inside of ears, underside of tail and sometimes between the toes and a triangle behind the ears.
Agouti babies can be identified at birth due to the white or cream colored belly. The line of color difference from the armpits to the crotch is distinct and very obvious.
Shaded patterned rabbits
Shadeds have what appears to be a self-colored face and ears, but a body color that does not match. The body color can be white, cream, fawn, tan, orange or red or any variations of these colors.
Category 3 - Cream, Red, Fawn
Cream, red, fawns are what are called wide band. They are neither self nor agouti. The red gene makes crazy things happen. Rabbits in this category should have agouti markings, but the body color is cream, red or fawn. They may or may not appear to have rings.
Note: Creams have blue-grey eyes. Reds and fawns call for brown eyes. Ideally these should have no ear lacing color, but some do anyway. That's called smut.
So what is it already????
SELF
If you have a self, it should be obvious at this point.
AGOUTI
If you have an agouti, well that's a little harder.
Lets go back to the face:
Wild bunny brown? -
Chestnut (black based), blow into the wool to see rings of tan or gold and greyish, undercoat - blue-gray
Chocolate Agouti (choc based), blow into the wool to see rings of tan and light chocolate, undercoat - dove gray
Note: Some chocolate agoutis can have rufus (red) genetic modifiers that make them appear to be reds. Pay attention to the finer details, ring, ear lacing, etc... to determine if your 'red' is actually a chocolate agouti. (Use the white paper)
Copper (black based), copper is simply chestnut with vibrant red rings instead of tan/gold. Coppers also appear to have a rusty colored tint to their overall body color.
Blue-grey/brown/orange mixed together? -
Opal (blue based), blow into wool to see rings of tan or gold and blue, undercoat - blue
Lynx (lilac based), blow into wool to see rings of tan or gold and lilac, undercoat - blue
Salt and pepper/silverish? -
Chinchilla (black based), blow into wool to see rings of pearl and blue-grey, sometimes can appear to have white rings
Chocolate Chin (chocolate based), blow into wool to see rings of chocolate and pearl, with dove-grey undercoat
Note: Chinchilla and Chocolate chinchilla can have brown OR blue-grey eyes, also marbled
Note: Brownish tinge on juniors is normal, on seniors major no-no, no Chin should ever have red tint anywhere
Squirrel (blue based chin), blow into wool to see rings of blue and pearl (uncommon color)
Lilac Chin (lilac based), blow into wool to see rings of lilac and pearl (uncommon color)
Note: Remember to check the guard hair colors. The guard hairs will be tipped in black, chocolate, blue or lilac AND match the ear lacing. Color depends on which agouti you have.
Shaded
Remember, shadeds will have self-colored faces
Most shadeds are torts. The other shadeds are less common and not often seen. All torts have a cream, tan, red or fawn body colors. They have self colored faces, ears, feet and tail. The bellies and undertail should be a lighter shade of the body color. Never white!
Note: Sometimes a tort has so much red factor, their face color fades to very little. This is ok.
Tortoiseshell (black)
Blue Tortoiseshell
Chocolate Tortoiseshell
Lilac Tortoiseshell
Pearl
A pearl can have any of the four self colors on the face, feet and tail, and also may have sable points. The body color is pearl or off white. Toenails must be colored! Eyes are colored!
Note: If your pearl has no color on the feet, ears or tail and has white inside the ears you have an ermine!! Not showable!! Ermine is in the chinchilla group, genetically.
Sable, Seal and Smoke Pearl
Sable is similar to a tort, except the color is all sepia brown shading to a sable body color. Seal is darker, almost black, and Smoke Pearl is the blue based example of this color and would appear smoky blue rather than sepia. Absolutely NO reddish-ness anywhere! Sables often change color several times as they are growing up. I have no experience with this bizarre color (uncommon colors)
My Bunny is White
White with red eyes? - Ruby-Eyed White
White with VIBRANT blue eyes? - Blue-Eyed White
White with Colored points (Nose, ears, feet, tails), RED eyes - Pointed White
White with colored points, COLORED eyes, you have either a Pearl or an Ermine - see shaded group, above.
White with colored eyes and colored spots - Broken!!! - Currently only show-able in French and Satin Angora
TICKED GROUP
These 4 colors are the Steels, black, blue, chocolate and lilac. They look like selfs, but have steel ticking in silver or gold. This is a gene breeders prefer not to mix. It is VERY hard to determine if you have a steel without having a color history of the pedigree to help determine this. Unless you have steel in the pedigree, you probably don't have a steel, although it can hide. Take that with a grain of salt.
Other Colors??
Yep, there are people working on Otter and Silver Martins in several of the angora breeds.
Otters look like selfs with agouti markings, meaning cream or orangish colored bellies, nose holes, triangle behind ears, in between toes and under tail.
Silver Martins look about the same, except their agouti markings are striking snow white. Martins should have lightly dispersed silver ticking throughout their wool, but you wouldn't see that on an angora, except the face.
There are 3 categories to address in order to determine the color of your animal.
1. Base color
2. Self, agouti or shaded
3. Cream/Red/Fawn
Hint!!! Before beginning, it is best to do this in good INDIRECT daylight, outside. Not in the sun or the shadows.
Bring a white sheet of paper.
All colors are based on one of 2 colors, black or chocolate. Blue is the dilute of black and lilac is the dilute of chocolate.
This presents 4 main color categories; black, blue, chocolate and lilac. With the exception of a few, every color is a derivative of these four.
To determine the base color of your angora, answer the following questions about your rabbit:
Category 1 - Base Color
1. Eye color?
All black and chocolate based colors have brown eyes and all blue and lilac based colors have blue-grey eyes.
2. Ear lacing color? Guard hair color?
The animal will typically have ear lacing and guard hairs the color of the base (there are a few exceptions). Guard hairs are the longer stiffer hairs that stick a little out of the regular coat of wool. Look close, its there.
3. Face?
Look at the face, as in above the nose, between the eyes and the forehead. Assuming you have already determined eye color, what color does the face look like to you? Black, blue, chocolate or lilac? Something else?
Hold your white paper up as a backdrop to avoid distortion due to background colors. In french and satin angora, the front paws can also be examined as the wool there is short and color is true. Very important!! Pay attention to face color!
Category 2 - Self, Agouti, Shaded
Self patterned rabbits
Selfs can only be one of four colors. Black, blue, chocolate or lilac. A self colored rabbit has the same color everywhere. The ears are the same color all over, inside and out as the face. The belly is the same color as the top of the back, although the belly can be a touch lighter in color.
When you blow into the wool, you will see a uniform color to the skin. No rings, no difference in undercolor. For angora, the body color is faded compared to the face. Often times in self angora, you will still see what appears to be rings. They will only be the self color and a ring of lighter colored self. Example, a black rabbit might have rings of black and grey only. A blue might have rings of blue and lighter blue only. **If you see rings of brown or reddish, your rabbit is not a self!**
Agouti patterned rabbits
Agoutis come in many colors, but are always based on the 4 self colors. Agoutis will always have a white or creamy colored belly, nose holes, inside of ears, underside of tail and sometimes between the toes and a triangle behind the ears.
Agouti babies can be identified at birth due to the white or cream colored belly. The line of color difference from the armpits to the crotch is distinct and very obvious.
Shaded patterned rabbits
Shadeds have what appears to be a self-colored face and ears, but a body color that does not match. The body color can be white, cream, fawn, tan, orange or red or any variations of these colors.
Category 3 - Cream, Red, Fawn
Cream, red, fawns are what are called wide band. They are neither self nor agouti. The red gene makes crazy things happen. Rabbits in this category should have agouti markings, but the body color is cream, red or fawn. They may or may not appear to have rings.
Note: Creams have blue-grey eyes. Reds and fawns call for brown eyes. Ideally these should have no ear lacing color, but some do anyway. That's called smut.
So what is it already????
SELF
If you have a self, it should be obvious at this point.
AGOUTI
If you have an agouti, well that's a little harder.
Lets go back to the face:
Wild bunny brown? -
Chestnut (black based), blow into the wool to see rings of tan or gold and greyish, undercoat - blue-gray
Chocolate Agouti (choc based), blow into the wool to see rings of tan and light chocolate, undercoat - dove gray
Note: Some chocolate agoutis can have rufus (red) genetic modifiers that make them appear to be reds. Pay attention to the finer details, ring, ear lacing, etc... to determine if your 'red' is actually a chocolate agouti. (Use the white paper)
Copper (black based), copper is simply chestnut with vibrant red rings instead of tan/gold. Coppers also appear to have a rusty colored tint to their overall body color.
Blue-grey/brown/orange mixed together? -
Opal (blue based), blow into wool to see rings of tan or gold and blue, undercoat - blue
Lynx (lilac based), blow into wool to see rings of tan or gold and lilac, undercoat - blue
Salt and pepper/silverish? -
Chinchilla (black based), blow into wool to see rings of pearl and blue-grey, sometimes can appear to have white rings
Chocolate Chin (chocolate based), blow into wool to see rings of chocolate and pearl, with dove-grey undercoat
Note: Chinchilla and Chocolate chinchilla can have brown OR blue-grey eyes, also marbled
Note: Brownish tinge on juniors is normal, on seniors major no-no, no Chin should ever have red tint anywhere
Squirrel (blue based chin), blow into wool to see rings of blue and pearl (uncommon color)
Lilac Chin (lilac based), blow into wool to see rings of lilac and pearl (uncommon color)
Note: Remember to check the guard hair colors. The guard hairs will be tipped in black, chocolate, blue or lilac AND match the ear lacing. Color depends on which agouti you have.
Shaded
Remember, shadeds will have self-colored faces
Most shadeds are torts. The other shadeds are less common and not often seen. All torts have a cream, tan, red or fawn body colors. They have self colored faces, ears, feet and tail. The bellies and undertail should be a lighter shade of the body color. Never white!
Note: Sometimes a tort has so much red factor, their face color fades to very little. This is ok.
Tortoiseshell (black)
Blue Tortoiseshell
Chocolate Tortoiseshell
Lilac Tortoiseshell
Pearl
A pearl can have any of the four self colors on the face, feet and tail, and also may have sable points. The body color is pearl or off white. Toenails must be colored! Eyes are colored!
Note: If your pearl has no color on the feet, ears or tail and has white inside the ears you have an ermine!! Not showable!! Ermine is in the chinchilla group, genetically.
Sable, Seal and Smoke Pearl
Sable is similar to a tort, except the color is all sepia brown shading to a sable body color. Seal is darker, almost black, and Smoke Pearl is the blue based example of this color and would appear smoky blue rather than sepia. Absolutely NO reddish-ness anywhere! Sables often change color several times as they are growing up. I have no experience with this bizarre color (uncommon colors)
My Bunny is White
White with red eyes? - Ruby-Eyed White
White with VIBRANT blue eyes? - Blue-Eyed White
White with Colored points (Nose, ears, feet, tails), RED eyes - Pointed White
White with colored points, COLORED eyes, you have either a Pearl or an Ermine - see shaded group, above.
White with colored eyes and colored spots - Broken!!! - Currently only show-able in French and Satin Angora
TICKED GROUP
These 4 colors are the Steels, black, blue, chocolate and lilac. They look like selfs, but have steel ticking in silver or gold. This is a gene breeders prefer not to mix. It is VERY hard to determine if you have a steel without having a color history of the pedigree to help determine this. Unless you have steel in the pedigree, you probably don't have a steel, although it can hide. Take that with a grain of salt.
Other Colors??
Yep, there are people working on Otter and Silver Martins in several of the angora breeds.
Otters look like selfs with agouti markings, meaning cream or orangish colored bellies, nose holes, triangle behind ears, in between toes and under tail.
Silver Martins look about the same, except their agouti markings are striking snow white. Martins should have lightly dispersed silver ticking throughout their wool, but you wouldn't see that on an angora, except the face.