“No other colored rabbits, not tort, not black, not chestnut, not fawn, not sable, not any other color is heat-sensitive.”
Read Betty’s blog post at Northern California Angora Guild – Temperature Sensitive Gene – Himi.
P. Ricardo Gonzalez did his own investigation of the topic, and after concluding that tortoiseshell is not temperature sensitive, he wrote (tongue-in-cheek, one assumes):
“If we were to go under the assertion that this exhibitor believes their rabbit toe nails change colors (according to weather changes/transition) and what this particular Judge allegedly mentioned; we can then postulate that this particular rabbit carries a huge flaw—meaning that the offspring will have genetic issues where they will be “showable” one month, and if the weather changes the next month, they won’t be showable. Then if this is so, what is the purpose of breeding this rabbit? Why would someone purchase offspring from this rabbit/exhibitor? The “changing toe nails” flaw will be passed on and on and could possibly ruin an established line or affect the new show person beginning in the angora show.”
Read Ricardo’s post at Misinformation disseminated about tortoishell colored Angoras being “heat sensitive”.
I also spotted this remark by Linda Cassella on a public Facebook post:
“I know that (within the standard) color is only about 5% ………lets think about what that means. I have a rabbit that is black: the color black, is a color allowed in the standard. The 5% then becomes ” how black is it?” is the saturation of color DARK? does the color go down the shaft? How old is the coat? (an older coat in angora can fade as it grows long in length.) Do the toe nails and eyes have depth of color? THE POINT is, the allowed colors and related eye and nails should be intense and proper. If a recognized color is just weak the scores of the whole animal will not be affected very much in average competition. BUT if the rabbit does not have proper color it will be a DQ.”
Here is advice by another breeder on a public forum:
“A white nail is a DQ and not desirable. You breed away from it. Culling the necessary animals. That gene will rear its ugly head generations down the line. If people are seeing it often, then they are not breeding away from it and doing what is necessary to stop the progress of that gene in their line. Rabbit breeding is full of hard decisions, but for me, a DQ is a DQ. There are so many good quality animals being produced, why put an animal with an obvious genetic issue out there.”
Interestingly, the breeder who said that is one who later elsewhere defended the fantastic supposition that tortoiseshell is temperature sensitive.
When you go to Facebook for advice about Angora breeding, be aware that most of the information you will be given will be wrong. So often, it is noobs giving advice to other noobs, or someone who is handing out advice on the basis of wishful thinking or political purposes. The best policy is to question everything.