Need help gendering

tepes · Oct 26, 2024

Meet some help! 2 questions:
Genders and WTH is going on?
It is now too hard to pull out the tray of the cage with all of them in it now (and mom), so I put kits in a playpen while I cleaned. They were playing and then this happened. They’re 6 weeks tomorrow, which I thought was too young for humping? I read separate at 8 weeks. Are they early bloomers or is this a play thing? I’ve never seen this in the cage.
Thank you!!

Alaska Satin · Oct 26, 2024

tepes said:
Meet some help! 2 questions:
Genders and WTH is going on?
It is now too hard to pull out the tray of the cage with all of them in it now (and mom), so I put kits in a playpen while I cleaned. They were playing and then this happened. They’re 6 weeks tomorrow, which I thought was too young for humping? I read separate at 8 weeks. Are they early bloomers or is this a play thing? I’ve never seen this in the cage.
Thank you!!

It might help if you pressed a little more firmly, to cause the genitals to protrude further for better sexing of the bunnies. Also, six weeks may be a bit early to be really sure about the sexes, but at least 4, 5 and 7 look like females to me.

Mounting is a dominance behavior as well as a sexual one. Any change in the situation of a litter can result in this behavior: putting a new bunny/bunnies in the cage, changing cages, or putting the whole litter out in the grass for a break will usually produce this, as the bunnies are prompted to re-evaluate/re-establish the dominance hierarchy. That's one of the reasons I don't usually combine litters after weaning or separate my growouts into male/female groups, and why I prefer to remove the doe from the growing pens, rather than moving the bunnies. If possible, everyone stays where they started until they're sold or harvested.

ladysown · Oct 26, 2024

Girl Boy Boy girl girl boy girl boy if I remembered it all straight in my head. One of them might be a buck as you didn't stretch quite far enough.

tepes · Oct 26, 2024

tepes said:
Meet some help! 2 questions:
Genders and WTH is going on?
It is now too hard to pull out the tray of the cage with all of them in it now (and mom), so I put kits in a playpen while I cleaned. They were playing and then this happened. They’re 6 weeks tomorrow, which I thought was too young for humping? I read separate at 8 weeks. Are they early bloomers or is this a play thing? I’ve never seen this in the cage.
Thank you!!

tepes · Oct 26, 2024

Alaska Satin said:
It might help if you pressed a little more firmly, to cause the genitals to protrude further for better sexing of the bunnies. Also, six weeks may be a bit early to be really sure about the sexes, but at least 4, 5 and 7 look like females to me.

Mounting is a dominance behavior as well as a sexual one. Any change in the situation of a litter can result in this behavior: putting a new bunny/bunnies in the cage, changing cages, or putting the whole litter out in the grass for a break will usually produce this, as the bunnies are prompted to re-evaluate/re-establish the dominance hierarchy. That's one of the reasons I don't usually combine litters after weaning or separate my growouts into male/female groups, and why I prefer to remove the doe from the growing pens, rather than moving the bunnies. If possible, everyone stays where they started until they're sold or harvested.

Thank you! I added a few more pictures of ones I thought were fuzzy.
I had thought it was 8 weeks to separate/sex, but was confused by their behavior tonight. Normally they go in a box for cage cleaning but they’re too big, so thought the pen would work—so that was new. I was a little worried so tried to tell genders in case I needed to separate earlier than expected. It’s our first liter.

tepes · Oct 26, 2024

Alaska Satin said:
It might help if you pressed a little more firmly, to cause the genitals to protrude further for better sexing of the bunnies. Also, six weeks may be a bit early to be really sure about the sexes, but at least 4, 5 and 7 look like females to me.

Mounting is a dominance behavior as well as a sexual one. Any change in the situation of a litter can result in this behavior: putting a new bunny/bunnies in the cage, changing cages, or putting the whole litter out in the grass for a break will usually produce this, as the bunnies are prompted to re-evaluate/re-establish the dominance hierarchy. That's one of the reasons I don't usually combine litters after weaning or separate my growouts into male/female groups, and why I prefer to remove the doe from the growing pens, rather than moving the bunnies. If possible, everyone stays where they started until they're sold or harvested.

Thanks! I took a couple more pictures of ones I thought were fuzzy.

ladysown said:
Girl Boy Boy girl girl boy girl boy if I remembered it all straight in my head. One of them might be a buck as you didn't stretch quite far enough.

Thank you!

RabbitsOfTheCreek · Oct 26, 2024

tepes said:
Thank you! I added a few more pictures of ones I thought were fuzzy.
I had thought it was 8 weeks to separate/sex, but was confused by their behavior tonight. Normally they go in a box for cage cleaning but they’re too big, so thought the pen would work—so that was new. I was a little worried so tried to tell genders in case I needed to separate earlier than expected. It’s our first liter.

Mounting each other doesn't necessarily mean you have to separate them

MsTemeraire · Oct 27, 2024

RabbitsOfTheCreek said:
Mounting each other doesn't necessarily mean you have to separate them

I will add to that, the boys will be incapable of siring a litter before their testicles drop, which is usually 12-14 weeks.

Cindy in SD · Oct 27, 2024

If you put one finger on the right and the thumb on the left of the genitals, then press down and slightly outward, you’ll be able to see better. If the bunny is big enough, I put its head under my arm and cradle it on my forearm with my hand under its bottom, holding it gently but firmly. For most of them, hiding their heads seems to calm them.

I then put my forefinger on one side of its genitals and my thumb on the other side. I press down and apart. For the boys, you should see their little business pop out. For the girls, you’ll see a slit from front to back; that’s the vulva. Sorry; I don’t have a cameraman, but I hope that helps a bit. It looks like, in your pics, that you’re putting your fingers mostly top and bottom.

MsTemeraire · Oct 27, 2024

Some pics of what you're looking for (and pics of the models, too.)

ladysown · Oct 27, 2024

boy boy boy girl

tepes · Oct 28, 2024

MsTemeraire said:
I will add to that, the boys will be incapable of siring a litter before their testicles drop, which is usually 12-14 weeks.

Thank you!

RABBITGIRLFORTHEWIN · Oct 28, 2024

tepes said:
Meet some help! 2 questions:
Genders and WTH is going on?
It is now too hard to pull out the tray of the cage with all of them in it now (and mom), so I put kits in a playpen while I cleaned. They were playing and then this happened. They’re 6 weeks tomorrow, which I thought was too young for humping? I read separate at 8 weeks. Are they early bloomers or is this a play thing? I’ve never seen this in the cage.
Thank you!!

I wouldn't worry about them accidentally being bred this young, it's most likely a dominance thing. It's hard to be sure about the gender through pictures. I would watch a YouTube video or two, look at a few pictures, and then check their gender. I did this when I was learning, and it helped a lot.

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