|
|
|
||||||||
|
Original Astrex Rabbit Article by Rett
(from 1999/2000)
|
||||||||||
 |
||||||||||
|
Ripples sleeping, curly head and upper shoulders, molting into more curl/wave.Photo of Ripple is from 2003. Astrex / Astrex Type Rabbits go through a "frizzy" molt stage. With more development this should subside into more stablilization of curl, although research does indicate the olden 1930/1940's Astrex Rabbit went through a frizzy state in molt before reaching it's gorgeous "water waved", fully rex curled glory coat !
|
||||||||||
|
Other Cotton Tails & Bunny Hop Site pages:
|
||||||||||
|
Original Astrex Rabbits Article from 1999/2000
The Astrex Rabbit
I've researched the ASTREX for two years via web/books. Finding information on ASTREX is like finding a unicorn or live dinosaur!! This year I submitted an article on my research to Centralpets.com because their site had so little information, they added my information to their mammals/rabbit main page and published my research article on their articles and stories pages.
To my knowledge there's no known photos anywhere on the internet of an Astrex rex rabbit, other than Ripples. (as of 2000)
An Astrex is a curly version of a Rex or Mini Rex. (The mini rex standard and standard rex standard will not allow any wavy or curly fur and states such bunnies showing this tendency should be culled.) A true Astrex rabbit carries the wawa (homozygous) gene which produces curl and wave to it's coat. It cannot lose the or
wave because it carries the gene, which is recessive. (Sorta like a curly haired person will stay curly haired.)
Usually the full extent of curl and wave is not expressed fully until the rabbit is 18 to 24 months old. The English fur type will not lose its wave/curl whereas, the German fur type will. The German fur type is born curly but loses this between 2-6 months of age.(This is similar to the Cornish Rex or Devon Rex cats and I use the german and english fur decsriptions of the cat fur types to better describe the Astex Type Rabbits... BUT it should be noted here my research is not complete...) ALL rabbits
that may show curl or wave at birth or within 4 months of birth is NOT ASTREX TYPEs. Many mini rex or standard rex kits may exhitbit temporary wave or curl. This is often a sign these kits will have good fur density, NOT that they are Astrex Types...carrying the wave/curl genes !!
After hard sought after scraps of research, hours of pouring over rabbit genetic articles,charts, and observing my my own rabbits, I've come to my own conclusions, that the ASTREX gene mutation is color related... (as I wrote in my information to centralpets.com) I believe this gene and modifiers are linked to color perhaps, especially recessive or broken recessive colors, and/or dilute colors...probably because these colors/varieties have been culled less hard from breeds because many have only been recently accepted as color varieties and some have not yet been accepted.
I do know that it can appear in non rex litters---harlequins, but also the simple rex factor--- rex mutation of fur can crop up in non rex litters. This is, after all, how the rex/mini rex was developed.
If the Astrex was indeed shown at one time in England or France extensively in nearly all self colors...then what happened to them? Were they allowed to just die out? Did the rex/mini rex standard for showing/breeding move away from wavy/curly fur so no one wanted these storybook fairytale bunnies anymore? How did the breeders develop self colors? Or did the Astrex then appear in self and dominant colors, but because of then exisiting trends, was breed out basically from self colors? Because so many recessive colors were not accepted until recently, (many are still not) did the Astrex mutation stay stronger in the recessives because the recessives were not bred out so much away from the curly/waviness but simply culled? Is this perhaps why the Astrex appears more often in recessive and harlequin or dilute colors? I'm not saying they can't appear in dominant or self colors...l'm only saying the possiblity of this seems much less from my experience. The recessive colors and dilutes or harlequins have not been concentrated on and bred out so heavily.
Why, on God's green earth, would we want to lose something so wonderful and truly amazing and adorable as wavy/curly coated bunnies?
The harlequin, the mini rex, and nearly all other breeds where developed from mutation to breed or variety. Why not the ASTREX?? I will not let wonderful curly rex die. If is it within my power I will see them alive and well and fully of bouncing curly health and vitality ! Sincerely, Rett
P. S. :-)
Ripples amazes me. He looks like a little teddybear, or poodlelike, storybook bunny. Many times I pick him up and hold him and wonder over his actually being real....LOL I 'm not going to let something so very unique, and rare, die out again. I feel in my heart I MUST redevelop this breed. I have been blessed with Ripples, so sooner or later, the ASTREX will live again...smile...
Thank you very kindly, Rett. :-) Written as an original article by Loretta Ann Bowman in 1999/2000.
|
||||||||||
| page created with Easy Designer |