Colour Guide: Photos & Descriptions

Self
The first colour im going to talk about Is the self colour. The Self Pattern Is a rabbit that is just one solid color.
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Black
Black rabbits are very striking looking with a richness to their coats that boasts a gorgeous slate blue undercoat.

Blue
Blue is another striking colour on rabbits with the fur being blue from its tip to its root at skin level.

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Chocolate
Chocolate is another rich colour in rabbits with the colour going down the fur before it turns pearly grey at the undercoat.

Lilac
Lilac is a gorgeous pinkish/dove grey that starts at the skin right to the tips of the rabbit’s fur.

Tort
Sooty fawn – Black Tort
Rabbits with this gorgeous colour are very striking with a rich orange saddle that gradually goes to a blue/black shade on their flanks, haunches and bellies. Their “points” are blue/black giving the rabbits a very striking appearance. Their undercoats in contrast are a lovely blue/white colour.

Beige/Isabella – Blue tort
This is a lovely colour which is a dark chamois or light sandy shade with faint ticks of blue throughout. At the base, the fur is tinted lighter, the middle is slightly darker and the tips darker still. A rabbits flanks, muzzle and the edges of their ears are a lovely shade of blue, however, the topsides of their hind legs are beige and their pads are blue. When it comes to their tails, these are beige on top and blue underneath. Bellies are beige with a lovely deeper blue shading.

Sussex Gold- Chocolate Tort
Chocolate tort is another gorgeous colour where a rich orange saddle down the rabbit’s back gradually turns to shades of brown on their flanks, haunches and bellies with “points” staying brown. The undercoat is a brownish/white in colour which gives the coat a striking contrast.

Sussex Cream- Lilac Tort
Lilac tort sees a rich orange coloured saddle that gradually turns to a shade of lilac on a rabbit’s flanks, haunches and bellies with the “points” remaining lilac in colour. The undercoat however, is a gorgeous lilac/white in colour.

Otter
The next colour i’m going to talk about is the otter colour. Otter coloured rabbits can be a lovely black, blue, chocolate or lilac that covers their sides and backs but their under bellies are creamy white as are their chins and tails. Their feet are a combination of both colours and they have tan ticking on their chests, flanks and rumps. Their eyes are circled with a tan colour which is also found on the napes and necks. Ears are the same colour as the body but laced with tan which is on the inside of them too.

Huge Thank you to Saffron Springs Stud for the following pictures! x

Blue Otter

Black Otter

Chocolate Otter

Lilac Otter

Fox
Fox rabbits can be blue, black, chocolate or lilac colour. Their chests, flanks and feet are ticked with gorgoeus white guard hairs giving the rabbit a really striking appearance which is helped by their eye circles, inside of ears, and the underside of the jowls, tails and bellies being white. They are Chinchillarized Otter.

Black Fox

Blue Fox

Chocolate Fox

Lilac Fox

Agouti 
Chestnut Agouti- Black Agouti
The colour agouti is a rich shade of chestnut that boasts black ticking on an orange middle coat but the undercoat is slate blue. Rabbits with this lovely colour usually have black ears and circles around their eyes. The underside of their tails and bellies are white with a slate coloured undercoat.

Opal - Blue Agouti
This is a gorgeous colour where the top coat is a pale blue with a fawn middle coat finished off with a slate blue under coat which gives the rabbit's coat an almost iridescent look to it. Body colour will appear gray/blue at birth with a pink belly, chest and inside of legs. The opal gets a tan triangle at the base of the neck. Eye circles are white with tan, as is the nose lacing. A ring pattern can be appreciated when you blow into the coat. Eye colour is blue-gray.

Cinnamon - Chocolate Agouti
This is a lovely warm shade of brown with brownish ticking over an orange middle coat and a gorgeous light blue or even lilac undercoat. Rabbits with this amazing colour have brown laced ears, circles around their eyes with the underside of their tails and bellies being white with either a slate or lilac under coat.

Lynx - Lilac Agouti
The colour lynx is a lovely orange/silver with a middle coat that is a clearly defined orange but with a white undercoat. The tips of the fur are silver with the belly being the same, and rabbits boast circles around their eyes. The insides of their ears and underside of their jowls are white with their chests matching their flanks. The body appears lilac at birth and as it ages turns tan/fawn they should have a ring pattern when you blow into the coat.

Chinchilla
Chinchilla- Black Chinchilla
This colour is a sparkling combination of black and white with black ticking over a pearly coloured middle band and a slate undercoat. Rabbits with this lovely colouring have black laced ears, circles around their eyes and the underside of their tails and bellies are white with a striking slate undercoat.

Squirrel - Blue Chinchilla
Squirrel is a lovely mixture of blue and white with blue ticking over a pearly white middle coat and gorgeous light slate coloured undercoat. Rabbits with this colour boast lovely blue laced ears and circles around their eyes. The underside of their tails and bellies are white with a light slate coloured undercoat.

Chocolate Chinchilla
This is another lovely blend of colours being brown and white but with brown ticking over a pearly white middle coat that has a slate or lovely lilac undercoat. A rabbit with this colour has brown laced ears and circles around their eyes with the underside of their tails and bellies being a white with a gorgeous slate or lilac undercoat.

Lilac Chinchilla
Lilac chinchilla coloured rabbits boast being a lilac and white with a lilac ticking over a pearly white middle coat that has a light slate or even lilac undercoat. A rabbit with this colouring has lilac laced ears and circles around their eyes with their tails and bellies being white with a gorgeous slate or lilac undercoat.

Frosted Pearl (Frosty)
The body colour is to be an off-white shade with either black, blue, chocolate or lilac shading on the nose, ears, feet and tail. Eyes should be brown or blue-gray.

Blue Frosty

Chocolate Frosty

Lilac Frosty

Tort Agouti

Orange
This is a bright orange colour with rabbits having a saddle shading that drops down their flanks. The undercoat however, is white. They have circles around their eyes and the inside of their ears, underside of their jowls, tails and bellies are white.

Fawn
Rabbits with this colouring have a lovely warm fawn saddle down their flanks with a white undercoat. Their eyes are circled but the insides of their ears, the underside of jowls, tails and bellies are pure white.

Harlequin (eJ)
​This is a striking orange/fawn colour that covers a rabbit's entire body with bands of blue, black, chocolate or lilac along their bodies.

First of all, it should be noted that the harlequin (Japanese Brindle) coat colour in rabbits is caused by the third allele at extension. This beautiful pattern is known as eJ and it is also recessive to the Steel gene (ES). If it is incompletely recessive, it can "leak", to agouti based coats (i.e. Wild Type aka 'E'). So, if there are no other modifiers/patterns involved, it causes black stripes or colour blotches on the bunnies coat. Of course, Harlequin can be in all 4 colour bases such as Black, Chocolate, Lilac and Blue depending on other generics behind the bunny. 

Generally, the harlequin pattern with only express if it is intact, homozygous (which would be eJeJ) or if is heterozygous with e (eJe). In addition; Harlequin pattern has been known to express on an chestnut based (Eej A-) rabbit causing what is known as 'harlequinized agouti chestnuts'. This gives the result of striping in the coat. Edges of the ears and the belly are the most common places in the bunnies coat to be affected by this gene.

When the coat is stripped in patches patterns the rabbit is called harlequinized. Rabbits that are eJeJ will be harlequin regardless of their other alleles. meaning that a rabbit will be harlequin even if it is aa or even atat on the ASIP locus. 

A true harlequin is agouti based- they express true harlequin pattern and are the best to be used in a breeding program! Torted harlequin as much less desirable as the tort gene causes undesired shading and also interupts the clean, heavy markings and replaces the markings with poor, small markings. If the bunny is eJe then the it will only be true harlequin if it is A- . If t is 'at-' or 'aa' it will express some degree of "tort" coloration. Harlequins should be bred to other Harlequins, Magpie, Tri or Agouti based bunnies to enhance the quality of markings. However, overall Harlequins are a very pretty, but dominant colour to work with.

Black Harlequin 

Blue Harlequin

Chocolate Harlequin

Lilac Harlequin

Points/Shaded

Seal Point
Seal point coloured rabbits are simply gorgeous looking. They have rich dark sepia brown coloured ears with their nose, feet and tails being the same colour. Their body's however, are much lighter in colour which gives them a really striking look.

Blue Point
They have Blue coloured ears with their nose, feet and tails being the same colour. Their body's however, are much lighter in colour which gives them a really striking look. This is the dilute of seal point

Chocolate Point
They have Chocolate coloured ears with their nose, feet and tails being the same colour. Their body's however, are much lighter in colour which gives them a really striking look. 

Siamese Sable
Siamese sable rabbits have a rich sepia colour on their backs, ears, faces, on the outside of their legs and upper sides of their tails. They also have a saddle on their backs and boast a unbroken dark line from head to tail. Their flanks are a gorgeous sepia shade which is a much paler colour than found on their backs. All the shades of sepia blend seamlessly with the lightest spot being on their bellies.

Smoke
The body is to be a smoke-like gray colour with a blue-gray like colour on the chest, flanks and belly. Eyes are to be blue-gray.
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