09/29/2026
I am going to talk about something not enough breeders talk about: genetic DQs
if you have my lines in your barn and they throw a genetic DQ, ALWAYS contact me. I want to know and help you figure out where it came from.
Now the meat of this post: Split p***s aka hypospadias
I have had it pop up a total of 5 times over the last 6 years, which doesn't sound like a lot. But it haunted me and for those 6 years I have been trying to track down where it was coming from, assuming it was genetic. Three years ago was my last attempt and I had to give up because someone on my pedigrees was lying. The honest breeders are clear because they will say that they have had a case or two but not enough to consider it genetic, while some claim they never ever had it.
So what is a split and how is it caused? It is when the center of the shaft doesn't close properly during fetal development and it even happens in humans. Just like many fetal development problems, it can be both environmental and genetic.
Due to the scarcity of cases in my herd and the lack of direction of where it might be coming from, I wrote it off as a fluke but always kept it in mind and took notes whenever it showed or I had the gender fairy turn a doe into a buck. I made sure to cull any strange looking does and all splits.
In genetic cases, it is believed to carry on the does side since a buck seems to only be able to display or be clean of it, which means if you try to hunt it down, you are literally chasing a genetic shadow.
That being said, I think I found the link and I wrote it out connecting all but one split (which I believe to be environmental since during the pregnancy, the doe went through stress and a feed change) The common ancestor to all of the suspected genetics cases was a doe called CHR Julianne, the grand dam to one of my foundation does, CHR Holly. This breaks my heart for obvious reasons. Not only have I sold so many offspring from this line, unaware of this entire situation, but I loved that doe and she is behind so much of my stock. The chance of a doe inheriting the gene from their dam is 50% so there is always hope. But all the names in pink are does related to Julianne that have thrown splits or daughters/grand daughters that have. So the pink names are pretty much for sure carrying this gene. Now, since it seems bucks canāt carry, keeping a son out of any of these does is assumed to be safe.
Now, I am not saying if you have any of these names on your pedigree, you need to cull. But if it pops up in your barn any ANY of these names are on the papers, contact me and cull.
The only reason this took me six years is because not enough people were open or tracking this gene. It doesn't exist in most breeds, but the ones that it does plague, it hides in due to the lack of openness and awareness from the breeders raising them.
Also the rabbitry that I got the gene from no longer exists so please don't try and track this person down, they have been gone for a long time. I don't like naming names, but I do find it very important that my buyers have access to all the names I found linked to this gene. It's been terrorizing me for almost a decade and I wish that on noone, nor did I knowingly sell this gene through any of these does or offspring. Until this evening, I felt I didn't have enough proof to accuse this bloodline of causing this genetic nightmare. I also assume the OG breeder did not know since many encouraged me to drop all of this and assume it isn't genetic.
Now I technically have no proof that any of this is genetic, but I also have no proof that it isn't, so for the sake of everyone, here are all the names written out. Please contact me if you have had any of these names on pedigrees that have produced splits.
No AI was used to write this
