# cross breed to purebred?



## camie8 (Oct 29, 2011)

I have a litter of mini rex netherland dwarf crosses. The litter is from Bam Bam(purebred mini rex) and Cosmo(purebred ND). I was wondering if it is possible to get a purebred litter of mini rex down the line from the babies? If I took one of the babies who is 50% ND and 50% MR and bred it to a purebred MR wouldnt it decrease the percentage of ND it has in its line?...My father said that you can do this with cattle and you will be able to get purebreds out of a cross bred. So i was wondering if it would work with rabbits too.


----------



## Korr_and_Sophie (Oct 29, 2011)

A rabbit is not considered purebred unless all the rabbits in a 3 generation (parents, grandparents and great grand parents) are all the same breed. So if you took one of these babies and bred them to a purebred of say the mini rex, you would have to wait until the netherland dwarf rabbit gets off the 3 gen pedigree before you can consider them purebred. 

Since the rabbit registration system is different than dogs, it is possible to register rabbits who have had cross breeding in the background. With dogs, puppies are registered quite young, usually around the time they go to new homes. They can only be registered if the parents are registered with that club. So if a puppy was a mix, even from purebred registered parents, the puppy can't be registered. Since that dog is not registered, none of it's offspring can be registered either. With rabbits, registration is based on the individual. They must have a full 3 generation pedigree, it does have some requirements as far as needing tattoo numbers, weights and other info for each rabbit in the pedigree. The rabbit must then be evaluated to determine if it meets the breed standard. If everything is in order, the rabbit is registered. A rabbit does not have to have any ancestors registred, but if there are different seals that can appear on the pedigree. 

Most of the time cross breeding is done for a purpose. It can be to help with too much inbreeding in a breed, to get new blood into the breed. Some can be done to improve the body type of some rabbits. Creating new breeds requires careful mixing. New colours may also require some mixing. Usually the breeds used do work with each other, you wouldn't cross 2 totally different breeds just because one has a colour you want when there are more suitable breeds to use.


----------



## BlueCamasRabbitry (Oct 29, 2011)

Since both breeds are already recognized through ARBA, why go through the trouble of doing that when you can go out and buy purebred Mini Rex & Netherlands? It will take SEVERAL generations for the rabbit to have the type & fur that fits it's breed standard. 

Emily


----------



## camie8 (Oct 29, 2011)

ok thanks and Emily I cant because im not allowed to get any more.Also I wouldnt breed with one unless I own it or it has been in my house for sometime


----------



## BlueCamasRabbitry (Oct 30, 2011)

*camie8 wrote: *


> ok thanks and Emily I cant because im not allowed to get any more.Also I wouldnt breed with one unless I own it or it has been in my house for sometime



Then it still wouldn't work.  You'd have to get more rabbits in order to outbreed and create what you were striving for.  Can't just keep the same breeding pair and keep breeding them to their offspring and create a new breed. It takes many different rabbits of the same breed. 

Emily


----------



## Brittany85 (Oct 30, 2011)

Please don't inbreed your rabbits. Only experienced breeders should attempt this...If this is what you are planning on doing.

If not, just buy a purebred breeding pair. There are way too many mix breed rabbits out there needing homes. What are you going to do with all the babies you don't keep if you aren't allowed any more rabbits?


----------

