My first baby rabbit!

Question
My rabbit is about 9 -12 weeks old, mixed lop with siamese? I wanted to know how to tell if its male or female?  And... do they need a certain amount of exercise each day? It lives outside in med size cage. I have so many small questions...I didn't realize there was this option, so thank you for your time.

Answer
Dear Krista,

Congratulations!

It's hard to sex such a wee baby, but this site will help:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/sexing.html

You also can find everything you need to know about proper housing, care, and diet here:

www.rabbit.org

and

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/rabbithealth.html

Plenty of informative articles on everything!  I think they'll help get you started on the right foot.  Once you've had a chance to read them, please feel free to write back with any specific questions.

Rabbits need plenty of exercise and room to move around.  Six hours per day of free time is an absolute minimum, but our rabbits are *never* caged.  Once they're litterbox trained and the house is "bunny proofed" (wires protected!), they can be free all the time.

Outdoors is not a safe place for your bunny.  Both you and he will get a tremendously much more enriched mutual friendship if you bring him inside to be a house rabbit, as he should be.

Hope that helps get you started!

Dana