Help With Aging?

[Elle]

Hello! My name is Elle and I'm new to the site. I wasn't sure where to put this, as technically I keep them as indoor pets, but the breed itself is from the Meat line so I figured this would be the best place to gain the knowledge I need.

So basically I purchased a pair of New Zealand cross bucks yesterday. They were in great shape with great temperments, and have great markings (harlequin I think it's called) but I have a concern.

The lady told me that these guys were only 13 weeks old, which was great because I intended to do an introduction with my other young rabbits- two dutch bucks that are just a few weeks younger. I have bottle fed the dutch rabbits since they were under 4 weeks old and they have steller temperments and love meeting new rabbits, but my problem is this; I definitely anticipated a size difference among them due to age and breed, but these New Zealand guys are HUGE and I'm not sure if they actually ARE 13 weeks old or not. Keep in mind this is my first time with the New Zealand breed, but I did do a ton of research on them, including size ranges and weights, and if I'm correct it said that between the 8-13 week mark they should be somewhere in the 5lbs to 8LBS area. These guys seem a lot heavier than that, so I was wondering if you more experienced breeders could confirm or deny their rough age, or maybe provide pictures of your 13 week olds for me to use as comparison.

I just don't want to attempt an introduction with my dutches if these are full blown territorial adult bucks. It's one thing to introduce same sex rabbits when their young and can be raised together in a spacious environment (especially when neutered) but I'm not comfortable attempting something like that with older rabbits who might be territorial and want to kill whoever im introducing them to.

I posted some pictures below, but they kind of suck since they were taken with my laptop camera. When laying down (like in the first picture) he's about 14-15 inches long from the base of his neck to his tail (not including his head). Im not sure about weight yet. They are very sexually active and will take turns mounting each other, but they haven't shown any aggression toward one another. I will eventually be getting them both neutered to see if this helps with their sex drives.

I just want to clarify that im TOTALLY happy with these guys regardless of their age, I am just new to the breed and want to confirm things before attempting any kind of introduction with my younger/smaller rabbits. I will try to get better pictures in a few minutes but for now these are all I have.

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1st Pic is of one of my boys laying on the old couch in the back room- he's about 14 inches from the back of his neck to his tail. Not sure about weight yet.

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Second pic he's standing.

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Third Pic they are playing with a scarf.

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Last two pics are the baby pictures I originally saw- I thought they would be roughly that size when they arrived but instead they are twice as big. I know they are designed to grow quickly, I just want to make sure im on the right track

 

[KenoshaRabbits]

Welcome Elle

Keep in mind this is my first time with the New Zealand breed, but I did do a ton of research on them, including size ranges and weights, and if I'm correct it said that between the 8-13 week mark they should be somewhere in the 5lbs to 8LBS area. These guys seem a lot heavier than that, so I was wondering if you more experienced breeders could confirm or deny their rough age, or maybe provide pictures of your 13 week olds for me to use as comparison.

Welcome Elle. Thanks for doing a little legwork and doing some research! Kudos to you.

If I am reading this correctly, you think these 2 rabbits seem heavier than 8lbs. How you actually weighed them? You'd be surprised how easy it is to misjudge weights. I suggest actually weighing them; if you have a bathroom scale you can do the old 1) weigh yourself, 2) weigh yourself holding the rabbit, 3) subtract the two to get a close enough weight. Sure, it isn't as accurate as using a baby scale and finding out they are 6.4 lbs, but for this purpose knowing they weigh about 6.5 or 10 lbs is what you are looking for.

If they are in the 5-8 lbs. range they are probably around 13 weeks as the lady said. If we are talking about 10-12 lbs., that is closer to full grown. Depending on what they are crossed with they could get even bigger (if it was to one of the giant breeds).

Last two pics are the baby pictures I originally saw- I thought they would be roughly that size when they arrived but instead they are twice as big

I would throw this idea out there. Did you get these off craigslist or something similar? It could be that the original posting with the pictures was put up when they were 13 weeks old and then the lady kept reposting the ad for another month or two without updating the info regarding age.

I just don't want to attempt an introduction with my dutches if these are full blown territorial adult bucks. It's one thing to introduce same sex rabbits when their young and can be raised together in a spacious environment (especially when neutered) but I'm not comfortable attempting something like that with older rabbits who might be territorial and want to kill whoever im introducing them to.

The fact the 2 new rabbits are not tearing each other apart already makes me think they aren't adults yet. (Assuming that one hasn't already castrated the other already). If you want all 4 to live together you better get them neutered now. As soon as they go through bunny puberty they will get territorial and they will fight, and best case scenario is you separate all 4 before they can harm each other and keep them separated for the next decade until the day they pass. You might have been able to pull that off if you had does (and even then that is a big "if"). These are animals, and thousands of years of instincts don't just go away because you have good intentions. The best laid schemes of mice and men go often askew.

So my advice would be to weigh and get an actual number. Make plans to get everyone fixed (just brace yourself for the cost of fixing 4 rabbits). You can start introducing them now and see how that goes. Mature bucks get really territorial around other mature bucks; not as much around immature bucks (but then again every rabbit is different so your mileage may vary).

Best of luck!

 

[ladysown]

looking at the pics...they look young enough yet. 13 weeks is 3 months... and three months meat kits can be fairly big. get them neutered if hoping to have them live together.

how well they get along is as possible as putting four boys who don't know each other in a room and saying GET ALONG... sometimes it works and sometimes it becomes a war.

 

[SarniaTricia]

Hard to give a good estimate of the age based on the photos... I have meat mutts with mostly NewZealand backgrounds.... They look like 10-12 weeks to me... my current crop of growouts are 9 weeks and I feel that the Harlequinized red is a little (not much) bigger.

And yes, they will fight.... fur flying, I'm gona kill you fight.

I had two brothers and lack of cage space that I had in a cage together... first it was humping to see who was dominant, then the fur started flying... these were brothers, raised from birth together....
They got cages right beside each other until it was their turn to go to freezer camp. The sisters also had the same issues, but are lovely moms and very friendly to people.

I would honestly suggest you invest in a bunny tower (available at shows or feed stores) to house the rabbits between run around time or select your favourite and sell the rest. Fixing is expensive and there is no guarantee that your bunny will survive.

Bunny towers:
one is 30x24 the other is 24x24
They will set you back $250-325 each tower, but still cheaper than fixing all 4 rabbits.

 

[FourRingCircus]

Lots of good advice already! I agree, that even housing brothers together too long can be bad news, much less unrelated rabbits. Have you checked into the cost for neutering? I would do that first before making long term plans - the price can be more than anticipated, especially since there aren't as many vets that are able/willing to do it (vs. cats and dogs)...

Given the ages I would check, double check, triple check genders! A lot can change in a few weeks time, and it is common for the "sex change fairy" to visit - even with experienced breeders. You could end up with a LOT more rabbits than you anticipated. Quickly.

Also, be sure to quarantine - rabbit illnesses are easily hidden, and are often times very contagious. Even if they didn't show signs of anything at the time of purchase, the stress from moving can trigger things to pop out. 30 days is pretty standard. I know when I first got rabbits (before finding Rabbit Talk) I didn't have a clue what I was looking at or for. I came home with one rabbit with HORRENDOUS ear mites, another with vent disease, and later on down the road one with snuffles (the breeder mentioned in passing that he had been dealing with colds in his rabbits, I didn't know any different but quickly learned the hard truth that rabbits don't get "colds"). Bad bad bad.