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Ears on a Mini Rex are to be under 3.5" anything over will be disqualified. The ears should also balance the body, and not be to long, or too short.

1a: Shows the tip of the nose
1b: Shows the edge of the ears
2a: Shows the edge of the ears
2b: Shows the edge of the nose

To test whether the ears are in balance with the head, fold them over the face. They should not go past the nose or they're too long. They should also make it to at least between the eyes or they're too short

Overall you want the ears to be in balance with the rabbit. When a rabbit looks like it has large ears even if they measure 2" it means the ears are not balanced to the rabbit.

1: Line one shows shows the highest point inline with the knee, and the hind toes. This is what you want to see.

2: Line two shows the width between the end of the rib cage and hip. If you can get more then one finger between the two the rabbit has a long midsection.

3: Line three shows how the ears balance with the body. Ideally you want the ears to be lower then the highest point of the back.

4: Line four shows how the front leg should be positioned flat on the ground

5: Line five shows how the front toes should be lined up with the back corner of the eye (covered by my hand)

6: Line six shows how the back leg should be positioned, flat on the ground and straight. (In this case hidden by Donny's rolls)

7: Line seven shows what to look for in the hindquarter, a graceful curve down starting at the highest point and carrying to the ground. The hindquarter should feel smooth and full. You should not be able to feel pin bones, and your hand should not get caught on the hips.

Ideally you want the rabbit to be as wide as it is long. The width of the shoulders should be slightly narrower (or tapered) from the widest point. You should not see a protrusion of the hips, but a smooth graceful curve. Hips that protrude or catch your hand as you run it over the body, generally means the rabbit is pinched (or cow hocked).

A: The tip of the ears when posed.
B: The depth of the body
C: Shows a lack of fullness to the hindquarter. Instead of stopping at the table it curves under the rabbit. Also known as undercut.
D: The highest point of the body.

1: Line one shows the hind toes inline with the knee joint but not the highest point. This rabbit is posed correctly. She just peaks too early.

2: Line two shows the ears and their balance. They do balance her head, and they are under the highest point, but ideally I would like to see a bit for depth of body to balance them (or shorter ears)

3: Line three shows a small flat spot over the loin.

4: Line four shows a chopped hindquarter. Instead of a curved you have almost (or in some cases) a vertical line down.

5: Dot five shows the highest point of the rabbit. She peaks early and because of that we see the sloping of the hindquarters (flat spot over the loin)

*Not a show rabbit, Photo courtesy of Annette.

2: Two shows where the rise starts.

In a Mini Rex you want the rise to start at the base of the ears. The shoulders should not be visible, there should not be any sort of sudden jump, and the width of the shoulders should be a touch narrower then the widest part of the body.

2: Line two shows undercut. see how the hindquarter abruptly ends just above the hock and appears to curve in? You want the hindquarter to carry down to the ground. Be wide and full.

B: This shows the highest point or peak of the rabbit

See the space in between A and B where you can see into the background? Even though the rabbits posed up correctly she peaks late, giving the illusion she is leaning back

Photo courtesy of Annette

Photo Courtesy of Jesse L

Photo Courtesy of Annette

As you can see the two dots are very close together. On this rabbit I can only get two fingers between those hocks this means this rabbit is pinched (Or cow hocked) from a side view you can see the toes pointing out in a \ / shape.

A lot of people when they think of a Mini Rex the first thing they think of is that plush velvety fur. As is the key aspect of the Rex breeds. Though many new breeders have the wrong idea of how the Mini Rex fur should be, they choose the softest, silkiest they can find, which is not what you want at all.

Mini Rex fur is recessive meaning that in order to have Rex fur the rabbit must have two Rex genes, only one Rex gene will result in a normal furred rabbit. Now you won't have to worry about that if you breed two Rex together. Now what makes the Rex different from other fur? Basically, it was a mutation seen in wild rabbits in France during the late 1800's that caused the fur to stand away from the body instead of laying flat. It also caused the guard hairs to become shortened to the same length as the undercoat.

So what should you look for in a good Mini Rex coat? What should you stay away from? Here are a few questions you should ask yourself when choosing that perfect coat.

1.) When I look at the coat, does it appear to be standing straight up? Is it even? Does it look polished? When you look at it you don't want to see any variation of lengths, you want the rabbit to have the look of a mink pelt or as if the coat had been evenly shaved. You do not want to see longer guard hairs. The coat should appear as one solid smooth surface, picture a solid glass surface, smooth right?

2.) When I touch the coat do I feel a resistance? Or does it just feel smooth and gives under the pressure of my hand? A good Mini Rex coat when touched should be springy like it is resisting the pressure of your hand. When you press your hand down on it's back, do you leave a hand print? Or does the coat regain it's shape? A good coat will instantly regain it's shape. A poor coat will have an imprint left on it. When you pat the rabbit one way does the fur return to an upright position, or does it stay smooshed down? You want it to return as is, just like with the hand print

3.) Does the coat have density? Is it even all over? Density refers to the amount of hairs per square inch. The more the better in Mini Rex. A good way to test density is to pinch the fur between your index finger and middle finger. If it were not for the fur would you fingers touch? Or does it feel as if you cannot get a good grip and the fur is sliding out from between your fingers. If your fingers almost touch, the rabbit is lacking density. If you feel a resistance of the fur the rabbit has good density. Now try pinching the fur on different sections of the rabbit (Back, Hindquarter, middle, hind leg) You should be feeling the same resistance all over, if not the coat is uneven.

4.) How long is to long? The simple way to test this is to take a dime. Stand it in the fur, and pinch the fur against the dime. Does the dime disappear? Or can you still see the top? If the coin disappears the fur is too long. Now try this on different spots of the rabbit, the fur should approximately reach the same point of the dime no matter where you place it.

5.) Texture, texture is a tricky thing in Mini Rex, if the fur is to coarse you have to many protruding guard hairs, if it is too soft, you don't have enough guard hairs. The key is to remember, you don't want silk, you want velvet. Unlike silk velvet has bite. You should feel a kick when petting a good Mini Rex coat, not the usual "It's soft" reaction.

So in point a good Mini Rex has a coat that is resistant, springy, dense, short, stands straight up, even, smooth, and velvety.

A bad Mini Rex coat, is soft, uneven, long, silky, thin, not resistant.

Remember a curl should make you hurl.

Fur
(What to look for in a baby coat)

Baby fur is a lot different then an adult coat so you should never cull baby rabbits on fur alone. Baby rabbits coats are often more cottony then Junior or Adult coats. As well as a baby rabbit is doing a lot of growing in a short period of time so the finish of the coat tends to suffer a bit in the process.

1.) The first thing to look for in a good coat on a Mini Rex occurs within the first week of birth. The longer it takes for the fur to come in, the more dense the adult coat will be. If you have a normal furred litter and a Mini Rex litter you can see right off the bat how much longer a Mini Rex takes to have it's fur grow in.

2.) Density at 2-3 weeks old; a kit with promising density will look like it has a fully finished adult coat (in miniature).

3.) The Good curl. A kit that will have excellent density as an adult tends to have a wave in it's fur. Not like a ringlet curl more of a crimp or kink throughout it's coat. The reason for this is because the fur is so dense and the kit is so small there is not enough room for the fur to stand straight up so it bends around itself giving the curly texture. The longer the fur remains curled the better, as long as it's gone by the time it has it's full adult coat.

4.) The bad curl. The fur is visibly thin, and the curl is more like an actual curl then crimp. The fur is able to lie flat. This is going to have a very thin adult coat.

4.) Texture until the first or 2nd molt it is hard to tell whether or not the kit will have the texture you want. However if the kits fur is more coarse then it is cottony it won't change much into adulthood.