Blue Eyed White or Ermine?

This article discusses how to identify Ermine and the ways it can be mistaken for Blue Eyed White (BEW). If you don’t want to read all of this, you can jump to our short list on how to identify an Ermine from a BEW.

From time to time, I see a rabbit posted online and it’s listed as a Blue Eyed White (BEW) when it’s Ermine. I have also seen people claim they get “Blue Eyed Whites” out of lines with no history of Vienna at all. Then I had someone message me asking about a kit that others were telling them was BEW out of two rabbits with no known Vienna in the line. A day later, I saw another post listing an Ermine kit as a BEW, and it prompted this post.

What is Ermine?

Ermine is, essentially, a rabbit that is agouti, chinchilla, and non-extension all at once. In other breeds it’s called a Frost Point, Frosted Pearl, or Frosty, but in Angoras its called Ermine. It usually looks similar to a Pearl in the nest except it has ear lacing and the body color will usually be white once the wool comes in (instead of creamy like a Pearl). However, they can also be mostly white.

Ermine actually varies in shade a lot. They can be a very pale tan to pale grey to pale yellow to white in the nest. They can be dilute and/or chocolate which can greatly affect the shade. Ermine shade can also be effected by the c genes at play. Ermines can have smutty grey areas on the tail, tips of the ears, and nose or they may have little to no color at all. Here’s some photos of different Ermines we have had here.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Ermine is always agouti, chinchilla, and non-extension on the same rabbit, but it doesn’t have to have two copies of Chinchilla. So an Ermine can be any of the following combinations:

A/* B/B cchd/cchd D/D e/e
A/* B/B cchd/cchl D/D e/e
A/* B/B cchd/ch D/D e/e
A/* B/B cchd/c D/D e/e
A/* b/b cchd/cchd D/D e/e
A/* b/b cchd/cchl D/D e/e
A/* b/b cchd/ch D/D e/e
A/* b/b cchd/c D/D e/e
A/* B/B cchd/cchd d/d e/e
A/* B/B cchd/cchl d/d e/e
A/* B/B cchd/ch d/d e/e
A/* B/B cchd/c d/d e/e
A/* b/b cchd/cchd d/d e/e
A/* b/b cchd/cchl d/d e/e
A/* b/b cchd/ch d/d e/e
A/* b/b cchd/c d/d e/e

Ermines can also be Broken, Vienna Marked, etc and because they sometimes mature to be mostly white or a very pale off white, it can be difficult to see their markings past a certain age. Being broken can make it harder to distinguish an Ermine at a young age, because the Broken areas may fall anywhere the rabbit would have color. Add in wool, and the color gets even harder to spot.

What is Vienna and Blue Eyed White?

So Blue Eyed White is what happens when you get two copies of the Vienna gene on one rabbit. Vienna is a recessive gene, but when in heterozygous (one copy of the gene) form it can be co-dominant. It can create a rabbit that has white markings (different from that of a broken), blue eyes, or no indication of Vienna at all. This makes it easy for the gene to hide. If the rabbit has Vienna markings or blue eyes or both, it is labeled a Vienna Marked. If it has no indication of Vienna at all, but is known to produce Vienna kits or is out of a Blue Eyed White, it is usually labeled a Vienna carrier. If two Vienna carriers or Vienna Marked are bred together, they have the potential to create Blue Eyed White.

Blue Eyed White is phenotypically a solid white rabbit, similar to that of a Red Eyed White. The Blue Eyed White will also have brilliant blue eyes. Most importantly, a BEW will be solid white. It will never have any grey or pale yellow smut on the tail, ear tips, or around the eyes. It can have pee stains like any rabbit, but a true BEW will be pure white with very bright blue eyes.

Blue Eyed White is genetically just v/v. The v/v masks all other genes except for c/c (Red Eyed White), so genotypically it can be any color under the white.

I don’t have Blue Eyed White or Vienna rabbits, so I don’t have photos of a true BEW eye. However, you can follow this link to see a photo of a true Blue Eyed White and get an idea of eye color: click here (opens in a new tab). If you own a photo of a BEW eye you would like to contribute to this article, please contact me.

How Can They Be Confused With Each Other?

So as I have described them, they seem to be identifiably different, and they are. However, it is easy to get confused, especially when the rabbits are very young for a few simple reasons. Both colors can have blue eyes, Ermine is temperature sensitive, and some breeders are inexperienced with identifying them or do not know that chinchilla rabbits can also have blue eyes.

Blue Eyes Are Tricky

The blue eyes indicator of BEW and Vienna can have some people jumping to a rabbit being Vienna if it has blue eyes of any kind. However, blue eyes is also an identifying feature of Chinchilla rabbits. Aside from that, a very young rabbit can have blue eyes that will change color as the rabbit ages.

Now, add in that Chinchilla rabbits do have a blue grey eye. The Chinchilla blue-grey or marbled eye color is significantly different from the Vienna blue eye color when compared, but, to someone that is unfamiliar with either eye color or someone who has mistakenly been sold a Chinchilla based blue eyed rabbit labeled a Vienna, it could be easy to get the two mixed up (especially if its a younger rabbit)! To make matters more confusing, there are also Self Chin rabbits. Imagine the confusion of having a blue eyed black self chin and a blue eyed ermine in the same litter, and how easy that could be for a new breeder to think they must have Vienna in the line. Below is a comparison of a Broken Chocolate Chinchilla’s eye color at 5 weeks and 3 1/2 months, and a comparison of a black self chin’s eye color at 4 weeks and 3 1/2 months.

• 

• 

Temperature Plays A Role

Now let’s add in another factor: temperature. Chinchilla is slightly acromelanistic. This mean temperature can effect the depth of the pigment. This means Ermines may have more or less color pigment depending on the time of year. So you may have an Ermine kit that is almost completely white in the summer, and it may develop more obvious grey points on its ears, nose, and tail as the season changes to Fall and the temperatures drop. Add in wool which also lightens color, and you have a rabbit that can pass for being white.

Broken, White Ear, And Vienna Markings

If it was not hard enough, you also have to consider that a rabbit can have white markings on top of all of this. If you were unfamiliar with eye colors, and looking at a Broken or White Ear Ermine, you may be looking at what you think is a solid white rabbit. This is especially tricky when looking at a young kit just getting its coat in. If the shade of Ermine is dark enough, a Broken pattern could help you early on, as you may be able to distinguish the very faint differences in shade between the white and ermine colors in the coat. This may become more difficult if you don’t catch it before the wool comes in. If the white markings fall on the areas of the Ermine that have the darkest color, this will only make the animal harder to distinguish from a solid white rabbit. See the photo below for an example of a young Broken Ermine kit. Can you spot the subtle changes in color in the first photo? I have enhanced the photo on the right to help better display the areas of color. I have also included a few other Broken Ermine photos, see if you can spot the faint markings.

• 

• 

• 

You can also have an Ermine that is Vienna Marked. So you could get an Ermine that just happens to have the Blue Eyes of the Vienna gene, or you could have a BEW that is masking Ermine!

Putting It All Together

Below I have a series of photographs showing a very pale Ermine that was completely white in the nest aging into an adult. She was born in a warmer month/season. She had the potential to carry dilute and chocolate. She was from a breeding that could have easily produced Ermine (and did produce Ermine both times the pairing was made). She started out white and slowly developed grey smut on her tail and tips of her ears as the weather became colder. At one point, someone mistakenly assumed she was Blue Eyed White. She did not have blue eyes as an adult and did have faint grey points on her extremities.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

This doe also had a Black Self Chin littermate. So combine a Black with blue eyes, a practically White rabbit with blue eyes, and some inexperience and a suggestion that the rabbit was Blue Eyed White, and I had a panic moment. I have nothing against Vienna rabbits, but I have intentionally avoided purchasing rabbits with a history of Vienna in their lines. So this started me on a mission to determine what these rabbits were. If I had just waited, my doubts would have been set at ease once the eye colors changed and the “white” rabbit got her grey tips on her ears. However, this experience helped me to be able to recognize when a rabbit was truly BEW or just a sneaky Ermine trying to make their breeder frantic with worry.

Genotyping A Pedigree For An Answer

Remember BEW requires both parents to be Vienna carriers. If neither parent has any history of Vienna in a 2-3 generation pedigree and are not Vienna marked themselves, BEW is not the most likely outcome. I know there are anecdotal accounts of Vienna hiding for generations and then popping up randomly, but I have wondered how many of these incidents were actually Self Chin or Ermine kits being mislabeled. I have reversely heard tales of “BEW” rabbits being bred to a Vienna Marked rabbit and producing 1-2 Vienna Marked kits, self, and no BEWs. Which has made me question how many times an Ermine has been mistakenly bred to a Vienna under the mislabel of BEW. If either parent is also Broken, you may have to proceed with extra caution and carefully check your pedigree.

When looking at a pedigree, look for the likelihood of Vienna first because it is the easiest to determine. If there is a BEW or Vienna in both parents pedigrees – this makes BEW the most probable outcome. If both parents are Vienna, BEW is the most probable outcome. Remember, Vienna is recessive, so if you have a genotyped pedigree and see V/V – that means your rabbits are not known to be Vienna. Now even if your rabbits have a BEW parent, you may want to still examine your pedigree to make sure a rabbit was not mislabeled. Check its parents in the pedigree to make sure the entry of BEW makes sense.

Some of the colors I will mention here are not Angora color names, I am including them in case someone has used them in a pedigree or someone who does not breed Angoras is reading this.

Next begin looking for the key ingredients for Ermine. First, at least, one parent needs to be Agouti based. Any of the following colors meets the requirement for being “agouti based”: Agouti/Chestnut/Castor, Opal, Chocolate Agouti/Cinnamon, Lynx, Red, Fawn, Orange, Cream, Chinchilla, Squirrel, Chocolate Chinchilla, Lilac Chinchilla, Seal Agouti, Sable Agouti, Ermine/Frosty/Frosted Pearl, etc. If the color name includes the word Agouti, its probably Agouti based. If either parent is a Red Eye White, remember that REWs can mask any color, so a REW can be hiding Agouti.

The next gene you are looking for is the Chinchilla Dark gene (cchd). The cchd gene does not have to come from the Agouti based parent, and its recessive so can be carried. So look for rabbits in the pedigree that have the following phrases in their color name: Chinchilla, Squirrel, Self Chin, Sallander, Pearl (some Pearl varieties in Angoras are cchl, but some are cchd), Marten, Ermine, Frost/Frosty/Frosted (these are not Angora terms, but some people still write them in pedigrees), etc. REWs can not mask cchd, but a rabbit carrying cchd paired with a REW could create an Ermine. The chinchilla dark gene can be carried by any rabbit that is Full Color, so it can be passed down without being notated on a pedigree.

The last gene you are looking for is non-extension or e. Non-extension can be carried by any rabbit that is E, Es, or ej. So just because you don’t see an e/e rabbit in a pedigree does not mean the gene hasn’t been passed down by other rabbits. However, you are looking for the following colors for clues to the non-extension gene: Red, Fawn, Orange, Cream, Torts, Fox, Ermine, Frost/Frosty/Frosted, Pearl, Point/Sable Point/Siamese (not Siamese Sable), Sallander, etc. And still don’t forget that pesky REW can hide non-extension.

If all of your ingredients for Ermine are showing up, and Vienna and BEW are not, its time to start inspecting that kit for other clues that its Ermine.

However, if Vienna is in the pedigree, this does not rule out Ermine completely. Ermine and Vienna can exist on the same rabbit simultaneously. If one parent is Vienna, the other is not, and all of the ingredients are present to make Ermine, consider that the kit could still be Ermine and not BEW. It can also be Vienna Marked Ermine or BEW masking Ermine.

Troubleshooting

If you ever breed two BEWs together and do not get 100% Blue Eyed Whites (with the exception of REW, REW can be carried and will mask BEW), one of your parents may be Ermine. Breeding two Ermines together can produce all Ermines, it could also potentially produce Pearls, Sable Points, etc. depending on what your two Ermines carry.

How To Identify If Your Rabbit is Ermine or BEW

So if after reading this, you’re starting to question whether a kit you have in a litter, a rabbit you purchased, or a rabbit you are considering purchasing is truly BEW, here are a few tips on how to determine if the rabbit you’re looking at is actually an Ermine:

1. Look for any color on the rabbit. A BEW will never have color in the coat, so if you see a grey spot – its Ermine. Look for grey or cream on the tips of the ears, the base of the tail, the tip of the nose, and occasionally near the eyes.
2. Look for faint broken patterns on rabbits out of a Broken parent. Typically the faint spots will be along the spine and on the ears. Kits can have pee stains in the nest or in photos, so try not to confuse a pee stain for ermine spots. Look for repeating patterns in numerous photos. Does the kit have the same “pee stain” in 4 photos at different ages? Its probably Ermine. If both parents are Broken, consider the possibility that the kit could be a Charlie Ermine.
3. Consider the kit’s age when looking at blue eyes. If the kit in the photos is under 8 weeks and sporting blue eyes, it is very possible the rabbit will not have blue eyes as an adult. If you are looking at a fully mature adult with brilliant blue eyes, its probably a Vienna or BEW. If the eyes are a dull grey-blue or brown, its Ermine. Dilute Ermines may have a slightly bluer eye than a non-dilute, but they will not be as blue as a true BEW.
4. The most obvious outcome is probably the answer. If you have a litter that you are questioning the color of a kit, look at the parents and the pedigree. If one or both parents are Agouti based and is or has a history of chinchilla and non-extension in their pedigree, and NO history of Vienna in either line… Your kit is probably Ermine. Carefully consider the color of your parents and the pedigree before labeling.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Ermine should be easily distinguished from Blue Eyed White, but in some instances it can certainly be mislabeled in the nest or even as an adult. When purchasing Blue Eyed White rabbits, examine photos and ask for the parents’ varieties/photos to confirm the rabbit is BEW. If you have a kit in a nest that you are questioning, carefully examine the pedigree and try to confirm your suspicions. If you still aren’t sure, consider holding the kit back to see if the eye color changes. Its better to keep a kit a little longer to properly identify it than to sell a mislabeled rabbit. I hope this helps you solve any mysteries in your own nests! Enjoy this video of a cute Ermine French Angora kit licking a ball (the same Ermine from the photo series above).