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Question
i bought a female rabbit from the auction on Wednesday but she turned out to be quite small. she is tiny, how old would she be? I mean she has started to eat and drink and play like a normal full grown rabbit. But i want to breed her but to so that i need to know her age? she is white and has a small body and is very easy to grab.

Answer
Hi Sarah

She is probably a baby.  There is no way to tell how old she is without knowing what kind of rabbit she is.  Honestly I would never recommend buying a rabbit from an auction to use for breeding and I will try to explain why.

When you buy a rabbit and you don't know its genetic history or you don't even know its breed then you are just asking for trouble.  First I tell people that if they are going to breed rabbits that they should only breed top quality purebred rabbits.  There are way to many unwanted mixed breed rabbits in this world and every time someone breeds another one thats 3 or 4 more rabbits somewhere else that end up being put to sleep.  You don't know her genetic background and even if you are able to figure out her breed you have to think about why she may have ended up at the auction at the first place.  She may be a carrier of malocclusions of the teeth which is genetic and even if her teeth look fine her mother or father or even siblings may have it and if any of them have it then she can carry it.  She may carry other genetic defects such as a condition where her male offspring will end up with split penis's.  This could happen if her dad had this condition.  The other thing to think about is that she may have a weak immune system.  Some rabbit farmers have no idea how to care for their rabbits.  I went to a ladies house the other day who I have known for 2 years.  She raises rabbits and she has come to my house several times but I had never been to hers.  She was showing me her rabbits and she was showing me one that she had bought at the local livestock auction here.  She picked it up and said wow I haven't been out here in a few days there is something wrong with this rabbit.  She had been letting her 15 year old son care for the rabbits since she is about 8 months pregnant.  The rabbit had an obvious and severe case of snuffles and it was housed right next to 4 other rabbits.  I told her that they all needed to be immediately quarantined.  She asked me what snuffles was.  Now this woman had been raising rabbits for who knows how long and she had no clue what snuffles was.  How very sad that she sends her rabbits to the livestock auction and little kids probably have bought sick rabbits or rabbits with weak immune systems.

If you really want to breed rabbits I strongly suggest that you join the American Rabbit Breeder's Association and with the membership you will get a book that will tell you how to raise healthy and strong rabbits.  It also tells you how to care for them when they are ill and instructs you when to rush them to the vet and when you can wait until the next day. The book is worth the $20 membership.

http://www.arba.net

I would never preach my beliefs to someone and if you want to breed your bunny then you need to wait at least 5 months since you don't know her age.  Hopefully she is at least 8 weeks old but some foolish people will sell their rabbits at 4 weeks old.  If you have any other rabbits you need to quarantine the new rabbit for at least 4 weeks to watch for signs of illness.  Any time you bring home a new rabbit even if it is from a trusted friend it should always be kept away from your other rabbits.

I am happy that you bought this rabbit because you probably saved her life.  Sadly these rabbits bought at auction usually end up in places I don't want to think about.  I have been lucky and have got a few very good mini rex rabbits at the auction over the years.  The thing is that I generally know what to look for and I usually don't use them in my breeding program but I will show them for a season or two and then have them spayed or neutered and they are usually the rabbits that end up as my house pets.  I strongly discourage people from breeding rabbits that don't have a pedigree.  I have a hard time selling my rabbits that have pedigree's.  I can't imagine how hard it would be to get good home's for babies that don't have pedigree's.

If you need any more help please let me know.  I am sorry I can't tell you her age.  Even if I saw her I couldn't even guess.  Since you say she is tiny I just have a feeling she is a baby.  There just aren't to many tiny breeds out there and the one's that are tiny you usually don't find at the auctions.

Good luck Sarah and I hope your new bunny brings you lots of happiness.

Sincerely,

Pam