Let me start with the known genetics of the parents, and a timeline of how this litter progressed. Unfortunately, I was lazy and didn't document this litter with photos. I really should have as it would have been a valuable addition to the Color Articles. I'll just be describing it as best I can.
Chevelle is Black Himi, proven to carry non-extension (ee). She got her ee gene from her Himi sire who was out of a Sable Pt. I proved her for ee by breeding her to Tort...she threw Tort.
Dirty Little Secret aka BJ is a Sable Pt and Chevelle's son. His sire was Sable Pt. I tried this mother x son pairing for 1) Sable Pts, and 2) more improvement in type. BJ is an improvement on his sire, and I credit Chevelle for that. I hoped she could improve on the son even more.
I expected Himi, Sable Pt, and maybe Siamese Sable. Keep in mind I haven't had shadeds for a while. I'm a bit out of practice in identifying shaded kits.
Day 1 (birth). It looked like 1 Himi and 2 Sable Pts. Cool, that's what I wanted to see. The Himi was pink, the other 2 darker. When I found this litter, it was very cold, so I expected what happened next.
Day 3. The Himi became very colorful and the other 2 got darker. Sable Pts are also prone to the "cold himi" effect, especially if they carry Himi. One of the SPs was darker than the other.
Day 5. I'm examining the eyelids trying to decide if the 2 lighter kits are SP or Himi. You can usually tell by the eyelids. Himis will be colorless, anything else will have dark eyelids. I thought I was correct in assuming they were SP, although I still wasn't sure about the lightest one. By now, the darkest kit was a confirmed Siamese Sable.
Day 7. Ok, I think I've got it. 2 Sable Pts and a Siamese Sable. One of the SPs was still quite a bit darker than the other, but I just chalked that up to the wide variations that can happen in shaded litters.
Day 12 (or so). Eyes begin to open and the kits are getting furrier. The Sia Sable is very dark, and the darker SP is looking more like a light Sia Sable. This is puzzling me as it did not look like a sable earlier.
Day 15. The Sia Sable dies. I don't know what happened, but it never seemed as robust as the other 2. I consider myself very lucky that the kit I didn't care about is the one I lost. Although, I attempted early sexing and the sable may have been the only doe so that loss is kind of a drag.
Day 21 (3 weeks old, yesterday). They are now at the fuzzy cute stage. I hadn't really pulled the kits out of the box much before now. I touched them, handled them a little, wondered at the odd darkness of the one kit, but didn't bring them out into better light. The dark one puzzled me because a Sable Pt from Himi x fairly clean SP should have been lighter like the other one. I began to wonder if it was really another Sia Sable, just lighter than the other. That also didn't make much sense when the other sable was so much darker.
I pulled the kits out yesterday and gave them their first posing lesson. I realized the darker kit was awfully blue looking. I took it to better light to examine the eyes. Yep, sure looks gray. I did the same with the other kit and its eyes are definitely brown. Well for crying out loud, that's a Siamese Smoke Pearl!
I did not see that coming. How did this happen? I think I know now. Chevelle's parents had thrown dilute before in Blue Himis. I can't remember for sure, but it might have been the litter Chevelle came from. There was no sign of dilute in their pedigrees, (although that doesn't prove anything), and I was surprised to see it from them. I filed the info away in my brain in case Chevelle ever threw dilute. Until this litter, she hadn't. I had no reason to believe BJ carried dilute, no sign in his lines either. I realized Chevelle must have given it to BJ and then they both gave it to this kit. Mystery solved, but what a long shot that was!
Oh, but wait. Here's where that crap shoot I mentioned comes in. I just weaned Chevette's litter out last week. Also sired by BJ. Chevette IS dilute...Blue Himi. The litter is 4 Black Himis. I actually have to look at them more closely to be sure as their color is still developing, but a quick glance after discovering the SSP yesterday showed me they all had black nose spots. If BJ carries dilute, why didn't it appear in a litter of 4 out of a dilute mate? And why were there no shadeds? Crap shoot!!!
As of yesterday, the Sable Pt kit is a buck. That's ok but I could sure use a doe. I haven't confirmed the Smoke yet, but I'm leaning toward buck as well. I can use a dilute buck, but it's the larger of the 2 and looking like it might be a false dwarf. Not ok for a buck of any color. There was also a peanut in this litter which should up the odds for true dwarf siblings. BJ is a beefy bunny and he was a big baby so I hope that's what I've got here.
Speaking of that. I'm starving for does! I did a rough tally in my head and I can only count 3 confirmed does since spring! And one of those was a fader. I only have 2 young does right now, and one just turned sr. Counting from the most recent 5-6 live litters that I do remember, that's out of 15 (give or take) viable kits. It was also a dismal year for live litters which didn't help the buck/doe ratio. But come on!!!
73 days until Spring
tnt
