I see questions often about eye color. Especially “chin eyes” and “Ruby glow”.
Chin eyes are blue grey eyes which can happen as the result of the chinchilla dark mutation (cchd). Many people think that it can only happen on a chinchilla colored rabbit, but any rabbit with the cchd mutation can have it. That includes magpies, silver martens, self chinchillas, frosties, silver tipped steels, and of course regular chinchillas. In some breeds it’s allowable, in others it is not. Rabbits with the cchd mutation can also have marbled eyes (part brown and part blue-grey). Again, some breeds allow it, others do not. Both are allowed in magpie harlequins (the breed).
This color is NOT to be confused with true blue eyes from being either a blue eyed white or a Vienna marked rabbit. The difference can be subtle and is best looked at in person. Also note that brown eyes doesn’t automatically mean the ABSENCE of the cchd mutation, cchd rabbits can have any of the three (brown, blue-grey, marbled) eye colors.
A ruby glow to the eyes occurs with either shaded (cchl) or chocolate (b) mutations. Keep in mind that the dilutes of all these colors can still have the ruby glow. Smoke Pearl and lilac can have a Ruby glow, not just sable and chocolate. Dilute can also produce blue grey-eyes, though they often (but not always) have a darker or more brown shade than chin eyes.
All of these effects can layer. A combination of both chocolate and shaded (such as chocolate sable) can produce even lighter eyes with more dramatic Ruby glow.
Similarly, these photos are an example of a rabbit with a striking combination of chin eyes from being magpie (cchd) and ruby glow from being chocolate (b). It gives them an almost lavender and purple appearance! Stunning!
A similar (but usually more dramatic purple) occurrence can happen when a rabbit is both true blue eyed and has a ruby glow. In the 90s, many breeders assumed that breeding ruby eyed whites into blue eyed whites cause that ruby glow. Thankfully, most people now understand where it comes from. As in many breeds REW tend to be better quality, they can make for an excellent color to bring that quality into BEW lines, so long as they aren’t hiding chocolate under that white coat! Of course, now I don’t breed anything with the BEW genetics, but I never stopped loving genetics topics!
* All color names are following ARBA color conventions. If you’re in another country than the USA, the colors may be called something different. If you’re not sure, please ask! We can figure out what a color is called where you are!
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