Rabbit gender help!

[Choccyoclocky]

I will be arranging a vet visit but I was wondering if anybody knew what gender these rabbits are because I obviously want to avoid any accidental babies if they are mixed!

[SunshineOnKeith]

Make I think

[SunshineOnKeith]

Male

[Choccyoclocky]

Both male?

[bunnygeek]

How old are they? They do look male.

It can be tricky but if you look at the hole - for a male it's should be round and a hole - females its more of a slit and triangular if you push either side to pop it out. Boys will have obvious plums from around 3-4 months though.

[Choccyoclocky]

They are 10 weeks apparently. An old school friend had an unexpected litter, she has had rabbits for ages and she said they were both girls.

I double checked last night and wasn't so sure after looking at Google. I don't have a problem if they are male, as long as they are both the same sex so there are no babies! I think they are much too small to worry about babies, they don't have any interest in humping or anything that we've noticed so far. More happy to just chill on the sofa and play with toys.

I phoned the vet this morning but need to ring back and register them so I can schedule a nurses appointment. Which I am going to do in a minute!

I found a voucher on the bluecross website for £60 each neutering cost which is much better than the £120/£140 each that the vet charges!

[Choccyoclocky]

These are some more pictures in day light rather than the flash.. i included a picture of the bun too! That was the position I took the pictures in, no distressed bunny here!

I will get some of the other bun!

[Choccyoclocky]

This is "Pippy" so luckily a unisex name! In my eyes, they look like different parts!

[NoToLandfill]

Pretty sure those are furry testicles.

Or...
You could ask your rabbits to tell you which gender they identify as?

Only kidding because then you could get lots of lovely little baby rabbits. Who knew sex was important eh :)

[Choccyoclocky]

A side by side picture! Although regardless of sex, they will both be fixed ASAP.

Whilst we're here.. as you can tell by the pictures, one of them has a dirty bum. I know you're not supposed to bath rabbits, so how do I clean the area safely? The fur seems a bit matted down there too.

[otherwiseitllbeboris]

I think they are both male but I would say they are both the same sex which luckily either way should stop the accidental breeding cycle.

Please read up on fly strike - keeping their bums clean is essential!

[Choccyoclocky]

I have just booked a vet appointment for Wed 16th to get them sexed.

I have joined a Facebook group with 56k members so I will be digging into that later!
I will also look into flystrike, they are being kept indoors for the time being. We have lots of space for them to run around but when it warms up, they will be outside.

[bunnygeek]

Pippy looks like a girl to me in those second pictures.

Looking down it's a doughnut for boys, and more of a hot dog bun for girls lol!

They tend to have the hormones kick in from 3-4 months and girls can be pregnant from 4-5 months. They can even breed through bars, so really they need to be separated within a few weeks time.

Lots of good advice here:
rabbitwelfare.co.uk/

[bunnygeek]

Also, I can see they're currently being fed a museli style food - this isn't good for rabbits. It's like giving kids cereal with marshmallows, they pick out the sweet bits and ignore the bits that's good for them!

This is worth a read:
www.harcourt-brown.co.uk/articles/free-food-for-rabbits/the-problem-with-muesli-mixes-1

I recommend the slow transition to a pellet instead, Excel or Science Selective are good ones. I use SS. These should only form a small part of their diet, 80% of their diet should be hay.

[SandrasAnnoyingFriend]

You can't tell a rabbit's gender, but you can observe their sex.
I'd advise sticking to gender neutral pronouns to ensure you don't cause any upset.

[bunnygeek]

As for the dirty bum - rabbits are usually pretty clean animals and will clean themselves up. So it's worth monitoring him to make sure he's not peeing on himself, or sitting in pee, or struggling to reach to clean himself.

Keep an eye on their poops too - you should only see the nice golden round pellets, you shouldn't see their cecal poops - too many soft cecal poops indicate a problem.

[Soubriquet]

I think one male and one female

Hard to tell with the pictures that close to the bum and the fact one rabbits bum is filthy

[Choccyoclocky]

@Soubriquet That is the best picture I have seen to show the difference, thank you.

We only picked them up yesterday so I will be cleaning the bum, I just need to look into the best way to do it so I don't stress them out.

@bunnygeek Thank you! I will have a look at that now. I didn't realise. They have been eating their hay, we have it on a feeder, a hay roll and dotted around.

I really appreciate all the advice and I will be rectifying things we are doing wrong!

[Soubriquet]

Glad that picture helped

I found it by googling rabbit sexing so give that a go.

[SuperSocks]

If they have dirty bottoms, do away with the dried food - that was only invented to quickly and easily fatten rabbits for meat. Instead stick to hay (lots and lots of hay!) and a few fresh veggies every day. //www.thehayexpert.co.uk is great for a wild variety of delicious flavours.

[Choccyoclocky]

Vet appointment done - Honey is a BOY and Pippy is a GIRL.

The lady recommended separating them until they could be fixed at around 4 months old. They are 12 weeks at the moment.

[Soubriquet]

Whoop! My college skills pay off. And yes unfortunately they do need separating. Rabbits get pregnant from a very young age

[Choccyoclocky]

Fortunately I'm already on the case with getting another enclosure sorted. I definitely do not want any babies or fights. I am part of a group on Facebook and have been doing lots and lots of reading!

[NoToLandfill]

More bunnies (non bum) photos please!!!! So cute

[Choccyoclocky]

Pippy!

[Choccyoclocky]

Honey!