A Black in prime coat is a sight to see. Their jet black glossy coats can be a real eye catcher. Blacks can be bred to many other colors safely. Black is a pretty popular color and is often used to improve the coloring on other varieties. Blacks can be used with Chin/Chestnut/Squirrel to improve ring color and definition on those varieties. Black can safely be bred to Black or Blue Otters and Martens, as well as Tort.

Stray white hairs can become a real problem when breeding Blacks. This may come from the mixing of colors. Culling Blacks with excessive stray white hairs should keep this problem to a minimum. Blacks bred down from dilutes may also show white toe nails occasionally. Breeding Dilutes together often cause this sort of problem.

Occasionally you may get a black that isn't really Black colored, instead it is a very dark brown or sable color. In Dwarfs this is known as a Seal colored rabbit. Seals are produced when the (chl) gene is passed to offspring. Seals carry two shading genes or one shading gene and one himi gene. To determine if your rabbit is black or seal color on an adult rabbit (not babies as their color isn't fully developed) check the color on the foot pads. True blacks will have a gray-blue pad. The seal will show a chocolate-brown pads.

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