# Sectoral heterochromia



## zazz6000 (Jan 13, 2012)

NOTE: This is a question about *Sectoral heterochromia*. I messed up the topic title and I don't know how to change it!

Hi all, I am brand new to this site but my curiosity finally got the best of me after a year and had to find an answer to my question!
So my tail :biggrin: goes something like this... I was breeding rabbits to try and achieve an orange coat with blue eyes, like that of my male. However 30 rabbits later and I only ever had 2 dark orange offspring, and 2 offspring with dark blue eyes, but none of them had both the eyes and fur, nor were they the right tone! That was until MC Ice Tea came along (purebred lionhead)... he has born into a litter of 5 with all the babies being distinct different colors from each other. Iced Tea started out black, but then actually turned out to have a co-dominant coat of both the mother (black) and father (orange), giving him a brownish natural appearance similar to that of a wild rabbit. Whats even weirder about this rabbit, is that he has Sectoral heterochromia in both his eyes and its symmetric. 60% of his eye is brown like his mother, and 40% is bright blue, like his father. I have never heard of, nor seen Sectoral heterochromia in a rabbit before and have only seen complete heterochromia in one other rabbit ever, and assume it is really rare. Has anyone else ever had a rabbit with Sectoral heterochromia, or know why he would be born with this genetic rarity?

I believe he is in perfect health, although I have questioned his sight and hearing abilities from time to time. Either he is just stubborn, which is very likely his innate behavior, or he does indeed have a slight hearing and eyesight deficiency. Its hard to tell because he responds to things at his own leisure it seems compared to many other rabbits I have raised, although every animal has its own different demeanour!

I'm not concerned about his genetic abnormality, but actually just wondering if it was a random unique occurrence or if it was hereditary. I have raised 30 other rabbits that were all born normal from the same parents, as well, I have the two offspring of the affected rabbit which are also normal!


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## Korr_and_Sophie (Jan 13, 2012)

I have a friend who has a rabbit whos eyes are kinda of 1/2 blue and 1/2 brown (it's been a while since I have seen them and taken a good look). This rabbit is a lionhead head mixed with a mini(?) lop. She is vienna marked (one parent was BEW I think), so I believe that is a cause of the eye colouring. 

Here is a picture of her and you can kind of see her eye. Both eyes are like that more or less.


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## rpuckett (Jan 13, 2012)

My last rabbit Roxi had those eyes. 1/2 brown, 1/2 blue. She was a lionhead mix. She experienced a bout of head tilt, every vet I took her to said she ought to just be put down. But she never seemed to be in pain (eating, drinking, eliminating, etc) and eventually through hand-feeding and tlc, her head did correct to a nearly normal incline. I couldn't say as to whether or not the head tilt was because of her genetics or not.


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## woahlookitsme (Jan 14, 2012)

Have you ever researched Vienna marked rabbits or the blue eyed white genes? It is pretty commonly seen in pets because the Vienna marked rabbit is not showable with the ARBA and is either retained in a Blue Eyed White breeding program or sold as a Pet


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## Kipcha (Jan 14, 2012)

Korr_and_Sophie wrote:


> I have a friend who has a rabbit whos eyes are kinda of 1/2 blue and 1/2 brown (it's been a while since I have seen them and taken a good look). This rabbit is a lionhead head mixed with a mini(?) lop. She is vienna marked (one parent was BEW I think), so I believe that is a cause of the eye colouring.
> 
> Here is a picture of her and you can kind of see her eye. Both eyes are like that more or less.



I believe Biscuit has eyes like TarQuinn, doesn't she?






Sorry I can't find a better pic, but I'm sure half her eye is blue and half brown. She's a pure Lionhead but I don't know what he parents looked like, I could ask her breeder if you like.

Biscuit has never shown any kind of eyesight/hearing deficiency, and I'm willing to bet all her senses are in perfect working order as she is a fantastic little hopper.


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## zazz6000 (Jan 15, 2012)

So far it seems that only lionhead rabbits can achieve this eye coloration! I don't think it affects my rabbits head any way at all. Thanks for the replies, I never did look up Vienna but its interesting to see in rabbits


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## Korr_and_Sophie (Jan 15, 2012)

*Kipcha wrote: *


> Korr_and_Sophie wrote:
> 
> 
> > I have a friend who has a rabbit whos eyes are kinda of 1/2 blue and 1/2 brown (it's been a while since I have seen them and taken a good look). This rabbit is a lionhead head mixed with a mini(?) lop. She is vienna marked (one parent was BEW I think), so I believe that is a cause of the eye colouring.
> ...


I think Biscuit is also Vienna Marked. If Romeo is her brother, then she would have to be marked or a carrier. It's kind of hard to tell, but she does have a white spot on her nose which can be the vienna marking. I've never really noticed her eyes though.


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## RoyalLions18 (Feb 23, 2012)

I had a dutch born this way. One eye was bright blue the other half brown half blue


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## Rabats (May 17, 2017)

This coloration is absolutely breathtaking!


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## Nancy McClelland (May 19, 2017)

Our boy Spike, a rescue had eyes that were 1/3 blue and 2/3 brown and the opposite with his other eye, 1/3 brown and 2/3 blue. He was a partial Vienna marked, so that may be the reason.


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