My New Bunny, Happy!

This is my new bunny, Happy. Last Friday, my son came to me, and said he wanted to give me an early Christmas gift. At first, I said I should just wait, like everyone else, but my boyfriend said I better just let him give me this one right away. They had me sit on the couch, close my eyes, and hold out my arms. The next thing I knew, I was holding this soft little bunny! It was so sweet, I actually cried a little.

I had a lot of questions about my new friend, and my son told me what the farmer had told him, which was that Happy is a two year old male, Dutch bunny. He was living on a farm, as an outdoor bunny, in a small cage, with lots of other rabbits. (I'm not sure if any were kept in his same cage, as there was a whole shed full of small caged animals.) The farm has a haunted corn maze, and petting zoo every fall, and this year, Happy was one of the petting zoo animals, so he is used to being around a lot of other animals, as well as lots of people, but he still spent most of his time in his cage. He was fed pellets and hay, and almost never given fresh foods.

After doing a bit of research, I began to doubt that Happy is a Dutch bunny at all. Then last night, I began to wonder if he was really even a he! I read an article with lots of photos, written by a veterinarian, on how to sex a rabbit. We are still getting used to handling him safely, so it took a little bit, but my boyfriend was able to hold him so I could check his area with a flash light, and not only did I find no testicles, but when I gently moved the fur to the side, I saw what I believed to be a slit, rather than a round hole. (Please forgive my graphic description!) I have never owned a rabbit before, and we were never told if Happy was fixed, so I know I could still be wrong, but I now believe Happy to be a GIRL bunny. After Christmas, when I get paid again, I am taking Happy to a veterinarian experienced with rabbits, to get a check up, and discuss spay/neuter options, so I will know for sure then. I am still having trouble guessing her breed. If anyone has any ideas about that, please let me know. She is about the same size as one of my small cats. It's hard to tell from the picture, but she has brown eyes. I wish I had a good enough scale to weigh her, but I don't. I am wondering now, if the age might be inaccurate as well. I know with cats, you can get a good idea by checking the teeth, but I have no idea if there is a way to get an age on a bunny. I know that the petting zoo part was true, because my son was working at the farm this fall, and he said he chose Happy because of Happy's experience with people, as well as being around other animals. I think that was smart since we have cats. Happy doesn't seem afraid of them in the least. I was worried about what the cats would think of Happy, but they seem to have accepted her with no problems. They get a little spooked when she dashes quick circles around them, or does her little binky hop, but for the most part they just act like it's normal.

Sorry for the long introduction. I am very excited to keep learning, and finding out more about Happy, and rabbits as pets in general. Please feel free to help me out with a guess at her breed, age, sex, or just to give me any tips or advise. I would love to get some opinions from experienced rabbit owners. Thanks for letting me share my story.

Congrats on your new bunny. Most of what you want to know your vet should be able to tell you. Just make sure and take her/him to a rabbit savvy vet.

Thank you. And yes, the vet I already take my cats to is experienced with rabbits, which is good, because I really like our vet. They have fit me in when they didn't have any openings, when I was freaking out over something with one of my kitties, and even stayed open late for us. You can just tell they really love the animals.

Very cute and definitely not a Dutch. I learned a long time ago how to judge the sex of a rabbit so there were no mistakes--cna't tell you how many times a rescue turned out to be a different sex than what we were told.

Hello there and welcome, Happy is a very cute rabbit and he sounds like such a sweet boy. I agree, that he's definitely not a dutch breed, his colour (from an untrained eye) looks like it could be a variety of steel. Although it's a little hard to tell how dark he is from the photo. Breed is tough to judge, but sounds as if he's on the medium-large size. Depending on what sort of farm he's from, he could have some meat breed in him, maybe some new zealand, I think they come in steel colours. The other colour option is that he's an agouti, but he looks a little dark for that to me.

Quick rule for sexing kits: does have tacos, bucks have donut holes.

After reading up more, my guess on coloration was chestnut agouti, and my guess on sex was female, based on the taco vs. donut hole theory. Still no clue on how to make a guess at age. As for breed, it was suggested to me that based on the shape of the skull, and the dewlap, and the size, she might be a Flemish Giant mix. Other guesses I've heard were New Zealand, Tennessee Red, and Chinchilla. I found out that the rabbits on the farm are actually rescued by the farmers, and are all rabbits that were abandoned over the years, so I wouldn't think he/she would have to be any type of meat breed, or anything like that. I am pretty certain now, that male or female, Happy is not fixed. Happy has started a new behavior. At first, I thought it was aggression, because of the nipping, but it turns out Happy was just loving me a little too much! That's right, I have now been violated by my pet rabbit. I read that females can hump as well as males, but Happy also does the circling around me, mating dance thing, and there seems to be some debate as to whether females do that part of it. I am trying to not encourage it, but not scare Happy. If the nipping is hard, I make a few high pitched, "Eeep, Eeep, Eeep," sounds, and Happy will go back to just licking. If he/she gets too insistant, and starts grabbing at my arm and trying to mount, I just gently push his/her head down and talk in a soft voice until Happy calms down a bit. I really can't wait for that vet visit. It will be very interesting to find out the sex for sure. Thanks for all the help and suggestions.