Breeding two false dwarfs together will never, ever get you a true-to-type Dwarf, so you need to know the difference. Breeding two true dwarfs together sooner or later will produce some peanuts, and it can be very hard to see something die like that, even knowing that there is nothing you can do to stop it. It's very easy for these little girls to get overweight a lot of people have bred a doe a couple of times, given her a little time off to recover, had her gain too much weight, and never managed to get her successfully bred again. True dwarf does usually have only 2-4 babies in a litter, so just having a large enough collective mass in the nest box to keep the kits from dying of hypothermia can be tricky at some times of the year. These are what we call "false dwarfs," they will almost always wind up too big to show, and have longer body parts that don't really meet the standard, anyway.īreeding Dwarfs can be challenging. And of course, some babies will get the normal growth gene from both parents. Some babies will get a copy of the dwarfing gene from both parents they will die (these are what are called "peanuts." They are easy to spot in the nestbox they have oddly shaped heads, an underdeveloped look to the back legs and body, and are only about 2/3rds the size of normal babies of their breed). If you breed two such animals together, some babies will get the dwarfing gene from one parent, and the normal growth gene from the other parent - those are what we sometimes call "true dwarfs " they most likely will grow up to be within the size range allowed by the standard. The dwarfing gene is also a dominant gene, which means that if it is there, you will see its effects it doesn't "hide."Įvery Netherland Dwarf that even comes close to the breed standard has one copy of the dwarfing gene, and one copy of a normal growth gene. Unfortunately, the dwarfing gene is a lethal gene - that means that a rabbit that gets a copy of it from both parents dies, typically within 3 days of birth. Without it, all of the proportions of the rabbit are a bit longer, and the rabbit winds up half a pound to a pound larger than the breed standard. With it, you get an animal that has a rounder head, shorter, rounder ears, and shorter back and legs. The dwarfing gene is critical to getting that tiny, compact animal described in the breed standard. When dealing with a dwarf breed, there is one gene that is far more important than any color gene, and that's the dwarfing gene. You might get selfs OR tan patterns (otter/marten) from this pairing, but you won't get both. Your most likely result is agouti patterns (Chestnut, Opal, etc). You have Agoutis, selfs, and tan patterns on both sides of the pedigree, and both of your rabbits are agouti patterned.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |