 What color is my rabbit? I'm glad you asked! Stick with me, and I'll teach you all about rabbit colors and coat color groups for Holland lop bunnies. **Updated January, 2021
Want a simple BUNNY COLOR CHART instead? We've got that too!  Simplified Holland Lop Color Chart
According to the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA) and their Standard of Perfection (SOP), Holland Lops are divided into the following 8 color groups: Agouti, Wide Band, Self, Shaded. Tan Pattern, Ticked, Pointed White, Broken Within each group is a collection of similar genotypes (genetic code), but the phenotypes (observable features, such as color) can appear to vary widely. In an effort to make it a bit easier to understand, know that every bunny color is either BLACK (B), BLUE (B_ dd), CHOCOLATE (bb), or LILAC based (bb dd). Blue is the diluted form of black, and lilac is the diluted form of chocolate. Diluted colors as well as chocolate are more difficult to achieve than black varieties since these are recessive traits (a recessive gene has to come from each parent in order to be visible, so the mom and the dad would have to give the baby a dilute "d" gene to make it "dd" and/or a chocolate "b" gene to make it "bb" and appear chocolate). Take a look at the following table listing SOME of the colors within each of the 8 Holland Lop groups and whether they are black/blue/chocolate/lilac based. Holland Lop Color Groups & Example Colors: *table does not display properly on mobile devices!
*Fawn is simply an orange with a reduced amount of rufus modifiers to make it appear a more pale orange. This color was deleted from ARBA's Standard of Perfection in the 2016 amendment. Are you totally confused yet? Because of the four color bases, there are SO many different actual rabbit colors, though which colors are officially recognized by ARBA varies by breed. Let's look at some photo examples of some of these colors. Remember the 8 different Holland Lop color groups: Agouti, Wide Band, Self, Shaded Tan Pattern, Ticked, Pointed White, Broken Here at Hook's Hollands - Ohio Holland Lops, we work mostly with the Wide Band group colors of orange, cream, and frosty as well as chinchilla (agouti group). Wide Band colors are technically Agouti (A) with the non-extension gene (ee) that doesn't allow the black or dark colors to show. We also work with a bit of self and shaded colors as well as broken patterns of each group. Below are some photos of our Holland Lops (or from fellow breeders with permission) within the color groups we work. Agouti The Agouti group includes chestnut, opal, chocolate chestnut, lynx, chinchilla, squirrel, chocolate chinchilla, and lilac chinchilla. These bunnies may resemble "wild rabbits" due to the bands of color and dark ticking on their fur. The fur has rings of color when blown into. They have white around their eyes, nose, mouth, bellies, inside ears, and under tail. *Broken variations are included but are actually their own group. Wide BandThis group is my absolute favorite but is a bit confusing because these bunnies have the Agouti markings (white around eyes/nose/mouth/inside ears/bellies) but don't have the dark ticking at the tips of their fur. This is due to the non-extension (ee) gene not allowing the black to extend such as in chestnuts and chinchillas. Instead, they have a wide band of color, usually orange or cream. Basically, these colors are Agoutis without the black color extension (non-extension Agoutis). To further complicate things, oranges in particular can have "smut" or dark ticking, which are faults if showing these rabbits. Finally, oranges, fawns, and reds are genetically nearly identical (fawn was actually deleted from the ARBA SOP in an early 2016 amendment); it is the amount of rufus modifiers that make the orange color appear saturated or muted. A true red bunny will have a darker tummy and actually has the wide band gene instead of merely non-extension of black. Cream is the diluted form of red/orange/fawn, and a frosty is basically an orange with the chinchilla gene. Includes red, orange, cream, and frosty. *Broken variations are included but are actually their own group. Self Self-colored rabbits have one solid color on their bodies. Includes black, blue, chocolate, lilac, ruby-eyed white (REW), blue-eyed white (BEW). Whites are actually tricky to work with for several reasons. REWs are albinos, but they are masking their true color identity with the "cc" recessive gene. Breed a REW to a bunny that doesn't carry the "c" gene to find out its true color group. BEWs get their white coat and gorgeous blue eyes due to the recessive Vienna "vv" gene. If you want to breed BEWs, make sure to do your research, as they can ruin a line if careful records are not kept. Shaded Includes black tort, blue tort, chocolate tort, lilac tort, siamese sable, seal, smoke pearl, sable point. Shaded bunnies have darker coloring on their head, ears, feet, and tail. *Broken variations are included but are actually their own group. Broken The Broken group can include any of the colors in conjunction with white. Tri-colors are also listed in this category. As you can see, the amount of visible color can vary widely, and in order to be shown, the bunny must have at least 10% but not more than 70% of its body showing color, including around the eyes, both ears, and on the nose. Bunnies having less than 10% color are known as "Charlies" and those with more than 70% are "booted." Tan PatternTan pattern showable colors include black otter, blue otter, chocolate otter, and lilac otter. Other very interesting variations of the tan gene exist but are not showable in Holland Lops. photo credit: Hickory Ridge Hollands Ticked, Pointed White Please email if you have any photos you are willing to provide! Thank you to Hickory Ridge Hollands and Hot Cross Buns Hollands for providing some of the above Holland lop color photos! Please understand that this Holland Lop color guide is a result of my months of research and personal experience breeding Hollands. It is a learning process, so this guide is a fluid project - please check back for updates and feel free to consult other sources for more in-depth genetic information about rabbit colors. Again, I highly recommend the book About Bunny Colors, which can be purchased online from Animal Smarties, and if you're going to breed or show rabbits, the ARBA Standard of Perfection booklet is a necessity to help guide you.  |
♥ Welcome! ♥ Hook's Hollands is a small hobby rabbitry on our Ohio farm and is operated by me (Diane) with the help of my family. All of my bunnies are pampered pets whom I adore. This blog serves to spotlight various bunny care topics and share a bit about my 365-days-a-year-with-no-vacations experiences raising bunnies. Categories
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