Otter Colors

Over the last several weeks, there has been some discussion on several venues regarding the Otter color varieties in the Tan Pattern group of Netherland Dwarfs. Back in November, we had all of the colors in the nestbox at one time and, of course, I took pictures. With all of the attention this subject has been getting, it occurred to me that I've never posted about it here. So, without further ado, here is your crash course in Otters.

First off, for all the non-bunny people, an Otter is not an otter, like river otter or sea otter. An otter is a color variety of rabbit marked by tan fur around ears, eyes, jaw, chest, feet, and a triangle patch on the neck. The belly is cream. The rest of the body is a darker, solid color.

There are four Otter colors: Black, Chocolate, Blue (the dilute of Black), and Lilac (the dilute of Chocolate).

This is a litter of otters born last Thanksgiving. The parents are Blue Otter (sire-Coffey's RA1) and Black Otter (dam-Coffey's OS2). Left to right are two chocolates, a blue, and a lilac. This is at day 3.

Day 4, same line up.

Also on Thanksgiving, we had a single black otter born to two black otter parents (Coffey's US x Coffey's 8KF). This is at one week old.

At day 19. The lilac in the middle turned out to be a very full-of-himself false dwarf who will make a wonderful pet for someone. The black otter did not survive. I sold one of the chocolates, but the other two are still here. The blue is a doe that holds a great deal of promise as a brooder.

Here they are now:

"Hickory", chocolate otter buck

"Mia", blue otter doe

Lilac otter buck

 "Anemone", a black otter from another litter.

And that is the Otter color variety.