when is a bunny full grown?

[SnowyShiloh]

Miss Kerensa is 11 months old now. She's a Holland Lop. She's the cutest bunny ever and is still pretty little. She looks very babyish to us still. I've seen her dad, a couple half siblings, and some of her relatives and they're all pretty small but she's a little smaller. Thankfully, she is completely healthy and has never had to go to the vet. Do you think she's full grown now? Will her body shape or head shape change at all? I almost hope not because she's so darned adorable. I would post a picture but she isn't that photogenic for some reason and always looks a million times cuter in person.

 

[Jynxie]

I'm looking forward to the responses, since Harley is almost three months and still looks so tiny.

I was told his father was a small holland.

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

Smaller breeds tend to be full grown around 5-7 months. Large and giant breeds can take 12-18 months to be fully grown.

At 11 months, she should not be getting any bigger. Some rabbits are just smaller or larger than others of the same breed and even family. As long as she is healthy, then there should not be a problem.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

:yeahthat: When we rescued Serena our vet said she was 9 months to a year. She was skinny and weighed seven pounds--thought she was done with growth and would fill out a little with good nutrition. Found out later that she was a Checkered Giant and now weighs over 17 pounds--little bit more than just filling out. Also figured that she was more like 4 to 5 months old.

 

[elrohwen]

I would say she's full grown now. She may fill out a bit as she ages, but she won't really get bigger.

My holland was his adult weight at 5-6 months when he went in for his neuter. He has gotten slightly more stocky since then, but hasn't really grown or gained any weight.

eta: Dwarf breeds, like hollands, have a dwarfing gene. If a rabbit doesn't inherit this gene, they will be larger (usually around 4-5lbs). If they inherit one copy o the gene, they'll be smaller, maybe around 2-3lbs. If they inherit two copies of the gene, they will be a peanut and will not survive. Of course there's a lot of variation there depending on other genetics of the parents, but this is why a very small rabbit can have a baby that weighs 4-5lbs or vise versa.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Laura, I wonder if Kerensa got the dwarfing gene. She's so little! I just weighed her and she's just over 2 pounds. She is not skinny or anything, just little. Aside from being small, her head is big like a baby bunny's. We watched some videos of her from when she was 10 weeks old and she still looks EXACTLY the same. I mean, she's a bit bigger, but her face and proportions still look like she's 10 weeks old. She's so darned adorable and has Paul wrapped around her paw. She likes to sit on his lap while he watches TV or plays a computer game and he pets her. He looks like Dr Evil with his white cat! Too funny.

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

SnowyShiloh wrote:

Laura, I wonder if Kerensa got the dwarfing gene. She's so little!

Yep, she probably did. The goal of breeding Hollands is to get that dwarf gene because without it, they generally do not make show weight. Show weight being 2-4 lbs.

She is definitely full grown by 11 months, however Hollands do mature slowly and do not develop completely until about 2 years old when their adult features really "pop". Usually their heads will become wider and bolder, ears balance out if they were a touch longer before, etc. The rabbit will not just suddenly morph into a brand new look, but their features do become more developed.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

That's good to know, Julie! I'm going to try to get a picture of her sitting in the position that I see show rabbits sit in and post it in the breeding subforum. I want to know if she is show quality or anything. Not going to breed her or show her, I'm just curious. Is it possible to tell much from photos? How do you get the rabbit to sit properly?!

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

It's not possible to tell everything from photos, but yes, you can get a good general idea of conformation from photos.

I start posing practice with my Hollands when they are babies. I sit them facing to my left. I use my right hand behind their bum so they can't scoot back. And then cup my left hand over their head and gently shake them up into a sitting position. 'Shake' sounds kind of violent but basically rather than just yanking them up, it slowly moves their head up from the sitting position. It takes practice!