- COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
- YEAR RECOGNIZED: 2006
- USES: Pet, show
- WEIGHT: 4.75 pounds (2.2 kg) max., senior bucks and does
- BODY TYPE: Compact
- FUR TYPE: Rollback; Satin type; silky, fine, very dense and interspersed thickly with lustrous guard hairs, creating sheen and resiliency
- COLORS: Black, blue, broken, chinchilla, chocolate, chocolate agouti, copper, opal, otter, red, Siamese (blue, chocolate, lilac), silver marten (black, blue chocolate, and lilac varieties), tortoiseshell, white
SATIN RABBITS ARE REVERED for the brilliant, lustrous satin sheen of their coats. The Mini Satin is the more recently developed of the two non-Angora Satin breeds. It has erect ears on a short neck, with a compact body and well-developed hindquarters and shoulders.
Ariel Hayes of Troy, Michigan, began developing Mini Satins in the 1970s. Crossing standard Satins with much smaller Polish Rabbits, she eventually produced a 4.5-pound (2 kg) rabbit that was close to
the breed standard of today. Hayes called her rabbits Satinettes. Over the next 25 years the breed was infused with Mini Rex and Netherland Dwarf genes.
the breed standard of today. Hayes called her rabbits Satinettes. Over the next 25 years the breed was infused with Mini Rex and Netherland Dwarf genes.
Hayes gave up her breeding program in 1982, creating something of a limbo in the breed’s development. Attempts to further the breeding project met with various obstacles until J. Leo Collins of Salem, Ohio, established the breed to the point where it was accepted by the ARBA.