What is a peanut?

Dw=dwarfing gene dw=no dwarfing gene Dw dw= dwarf rabbit with one dwarfing gene, commonly called true dwarf dw dw=rabbit with no dwarfing gene, commonly called oversize Dw Dw=rabbit with double dwarfing gene, or peanut If you breed a Dw dw rabbit to another Dw dw rabbit, each baby will have a 25% chance of having Dw Dw, a 50% chance of having Dw dw, and a 25% chance of having dw dw. However, if you breed a dw dw to a Dw dw, the babies have a 50% chance of being Dw dw and a 50% chance of being dw dw, no peanuts. This is why many breeders use the oversize does for brood does. There are several breeds of rabbits that have the (Dw dw) ->True Dwarfing gene. The breeds that carry the Dwarf gene are -Dwarf Hotot, American Fuzzy Lop, Jersey Wooly, Holland Lop, Netherland Dwarf,Britannia Petite, Mini rex, and Polish, The Dwarfing gene controls the size of the rabbit. A dwarf rabbit is genetically Dw dw. The Dw makes a rabbit normal sized, and dw makes it a dwarf rabbit. In order for a rabbit to be a True dwarf it HAS to have both genes. when you breed two dwarfs together you'll have 1/4 chance of getting peanuts that are genetically Dw. When the dwarfing gene-> ( Dw Dw ) is inherited from both parents it is a lethal gene, Rabbits carrying a double dwarfing gene are called peanuts. These small tiny kits have the Dw Dw-- (double dwarf genes), and normally do not live past 3 weeks. you can recognize a peanut by their tiny size, and ears which are set back on their head, and their inablility to gain weight and grow. In the dwarf breeds there are False-dwarfs. There will be about 1/4 chance of getting False-dwarfs that are genetically dw dw. These will be larger, go over the breed weight limit and have bigger heads and longer sized ears. Many of the False-dwarf does are used in breeding programs because they most times will have nice body type and produce Large Litters with no peanuts in their litters. When breeding a False-dwarf( dw dw ) to a True dwarf( Dw dw ), most times you get 1/2 True dwarfs and 1/2 False-dwarfs. There is no way of predicting how many babies in each litter will receive the double dwarfing gene. There have been times does have had 2 or 3, and next litter they may have none at all. Unfortunately, all peanuts don't all die at birth. Some linger on for a few days until they starve or you put them down.