07/27/2026
Let’s talk color genetics! This is a question that I get asked about every so often!
Today I’m going to talk about Agouti colored rabbits as they’re my favorite to talk about!
What is an agouti rabbit? An agouti based rabbit is a rabbit that’s color is based off of the dominant A locus in the rabbits coat pattern genetics. The A gene is the most dominant and only requires one copy of the gene to produce one in a litter. Therefore if you crossed a Chestnut carrying the self (a) gene with a tort which is (aa) theoretically about 50% of your litter should be something Agouti Based depending on what either parent carries.
On the gene the rabbit can only carry ONE other gene, meaning if the rabbit is a phenotypical chestnut then it can only carry either the tan pattern gene or the self gene or also the Agouti gene. So it could only genetically be (Aa, AA or Aat).
So now that we know what the actual Agouti gene is, we can begin to discuss colors. The most basic agouti pattern rabbit is a Chestnut, its genetics would look something like this A_ B_ C_ D_ E_. The B gene controls whether the rabbit is black or chocolate based, the C gene controls whether the rabbit is a shaded variety, REW, Himi, and believe it or not the Chinchilla based rabbit. The D gene is whether the rabbit is Density or Dilute. And E gene controls whether the rabbit is a full extension rabbit E or non extension ee and can control the Japanese gene AKA tricolors.
An opal is the diluted version of a chestnut so its genetics would be A_B_C_dd E_ the dd describes the dilute which makes your “blue” based rabbits
A Lynx while rare is the chocolate based version of an opal. It’s genetics would be
A_bb C_ dd E_
Chocolate chestnuts are a thing as well and would just be A_bb D_ C_ E_
Now one of my favorites creams and oranges.
Oranges are basically just chestnuts except the have the ee gene making them a non extension rabbit which means that the black pigment in the rabbits fur in non existent only leaving orangey/yellow coloring behind. Which is actually the same as torts! So an oranges genetically are A_B_C_D_ee. They can also be chocolate based as well but typically uncommon. They would just be A_bb C_D_ ee
Creams are super pretty but are actually just the diluted version of an orange so they would be A_B_dd C_ ee and can also be lilac based making them A_bb dd C_ ee
Now onto chinchillas, though chinchillas look like a silver chestnut they’re slightly different, I’ve seen them referred to as “the dilute of chestnut” but they actually are more complex than that. The C gene controls the amount of yellow/red pigment in the fur leaving behind the black and dark pigment making them have that silvery color. A Chinchilla does have to have the A gene to look like a chinchilla, if the animal has the a gene it would be what we call a self chin, or if it had the at gene it would be a silver marten. A chinchillas genetics would look like A_ B_cchd D_ E_
A squirrel is the dilute of a chinchilla which would make it A_B_cchd dd E_
I will make a post explaining other varieties at a later date let me know if I should make more of these! Hope this post was informative!
