How can you tell a doe is mature?

And should they be mature before being spayed?

We have poppy in the house and at the moment we have smokey ( her brother) home from my wife class room Friday night till Monday morning. They are really good together and the 5 days doesn't break the bond but I am acutely aware that they are growing up.

I am trying to persuade the school to let me have smokey neutered but they haven't agreed yet. I checked last weekend and he doesn't have visible testicles yet but it can't be long ( he's 12 weeks on Monday).

Assuming some turn up soon I guess we'll have to stop having him home as the vet says Poppy can be spayed at 5 months (end of Jan ish) - but assuming she isn't mature yet if he has got the equipment are we risking it too much with them both at 12 weeks? There has been no humping yet but I know it's just a matter of time.

Some does can mature early, so I'd keep them separate as of 12 weeks, especially as some boys can 'hide' their balls by sort of sucking them up inside them.

He can be neutered as soon as his balls drop.

Regardless though, they can't keep living like they do, as breaking them up for 5 days a week will be very stressful for them - much more so than just keeping them apart, and once they hit maturity, even once spayed/neutered they likely won't accept each other and/or will have struggles for dominance due to him moving in and out of what is her territory. Rabbits should be kept in pairs or groups though, alone they experience high levels of stress, so perhaps they could be kept together permanently when neutered? Moving house every few days is probably fairly stressful for your buck too.

Rabbits aren't the most suitable school pets in the world - maybe something like a reptile/amphibian/fish would be better? An animal that doesn't need attention, doesn't need feeding every day and can be left over the weekend at school.

I know the opinion on school rabbits here so I'm not going to defend them again except to say that the school really look after their pets, they have a massive covered run area outside and are given a lot of attention.

I take your point about the on/off relationship though. Seems to be ok at the moment, the happily sit next to each other but we know it won't last. I have an appointment to get smokey's vacs done on Monday so we'll take him this weekend perhaps for the last time.

Whitelighter said:

I know the opinion on school rabbits here so I'm not going to defend them again except to say that the school really look after their pets, they have a massive covered run area outside and are given a lot of attention.

I take your point about the on/off relationship though. Seems to be ok at the moment, the happily sit next to each other but we know it won't last. I have an appointment to get smokey's vacs done on Monday so we'll take him this weekend perhaps for the last time.

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I wasn't having a go, just pointing out that they are probably the most impractical of school pets. Their cages are too big to take back and forth but changing cages stresses them more and they need too much looking after to be left all weekend at school alone. As he matures, you are likely to find him hard to litter train too, with him moving territory so often, as he'll likely feel the need to mark it. Almost any other common pet is less of a pain in the bottom to move around :lol:

If he is to remain a school pet, it might be better to arrange someone to visit twice a day at the weekend? Maybe the caretaker? Some schools have caretakers in at weekends anyway because of people using the premises for various groups/church etc. Once neutered he could live with another rabbit for company so he's not alone all weekend.

Sorry if I took that the wrong way.

Yes the school has a 24hr live in caretaker, and lots of the pets do stay.

We have been taking him home while he is young and I guess selfishly because he was born here and I looked after him while he grew I wasn't quite ready to let him go