Baby Buns

A friend of mine went out and bought two baby buns yesterday for her 5 year old daughter :roll: She said she picked out the two she wanted which were in the male pen but when the staff checked they said they were both females. She asked if there was a chance they could be pregnant but she was told they couldnt get pregnant till they were 6 months. I thought they could get pregnant earlier than that? They are 12 weeks apparently.

Also she said that the staff member looked at their feet to see if they were mini lops of not??? I'm no expert but can you really tell by their feet????

I know that its not the ideal present for a 5 year old but she has bought them a 6FT hutch and run and she does seem to be taking on board everything i tell her about neutering etc. I'm pretty sure they will be well taken care of.

that all sounds a bit crazy, the advice i mean. they can have babies NOW, my boy was fertile at 8 weeks old when I got him!! think that was an extreme case, but 12 weeks I would say definitely. i think 6 months is the best time for them to start breeding but they are capable now so maybe the guy was confused by her question, or just a bit confused in general.... I've never heard of such a thing as being able to tell by their feet, but I'm no expert either

Doesn't sound like she got reliable advice from the pet store :?
But at least she has you to help & advise now that the buns are there
Its also encouraging that she has got a decent sized setup too.
Why don't you suggest she join RU? Theres such a lot of collective help on here for newbies & old hands alike.

I'd definately tell her to seperate until she's taken them to the vet, maybe even until they're neutered - yes it's a shame for the buns BUT better that than an unplanned litter. As they're so young and probably littermates it would be particually undesirable.

Push RU - it's amazing how much you learn on here.

Tink was only about 12 weeks when she got pregnant It is quite rare so young but definitely possible. She's a medium breed though she I think would mature earlier than mini-lops (if indeed that's what they are!). You'd think the pet shop would know what they had bought wouldn't you, rather than having to check their feet. You can have a pretty good guess how big a dog is going to grow by looking at the size of a pup's feet but not sure if this applies to rabbits :?

She got them from a "well known" pet shop :roll:

She is taking them to the vet to get them checked out. She was also told to buy them a mineral block so they won't get any teeth problems :shock:

Boy buns can become fertile very young but pregnancy obviously depends on the maturity of the females and they don't tend to come into their own until they're a little older. We had a pair of buns come in at the age of 6months as a pair of girls, from a caring home who were unwillingly giving them up; it turned out they were brother an sister and although she was pregnant as far as we know it was her first pregnancy.