It really depends on the rabbit’s age. I would use that as a guide. Many rabbits can become stinky or aggressive when they hit puberty so that’s always a good time to speuter. For about 75% of my rabbits, I have found them to be more wonderful, friendly, and tame after the speuter so it can be really helpful with bonding.

It is good that you are letting your bunny go at her own pace. Sit near the cage with the door open and speak softly to her. Some people advise that you should sit near the rabbit, but read or ignore the rabbit and maybe their curiosity will get the better of them and they will come up to you to check you out. Don’t be dismayed if it takes your rabbit a while to come out and explore or to come up to you. Rabbits are wary by nature, some more so than others. If she is old enough (over 12 weeks old) to have greens and veggies , you could have some of those to entice her to you. Small pieces of apple or other approved fruit can be tried too, if she is used to eating them.

A male rabbit is usually ready to be neutered around 4 months of age, or whenever his testicles drop. Females can be spayed at around 5 months, but some vets prefer to wait until they are 6 months old. Do you know for sure that your rabbit is a female? They can often be wrongly sexed. You may want to wait a few days to let her settle in before scheduling the surgery. Do you have a rabbit savvy vet lined up yet?

Since you are new to bunnies, the BUNNY INFO link at the top left of the page should be very helpful to you. Feel free to ask any questions that you have. Binky Bunny members are always ready to help.

I know that you don’t want to pick up your bunny to check the gender, since most bunnies don’t like being held and you don’t want to scare him or her right away, but if it is a male of at least 4 months, you should be able to see his testicles. They look sort of like pink kidney beans. Sometimes you can dangle a treat over their heads and they will stand up to reach it, then you can take a quick look and see if any testicles are present. If the bunny is still wary of its new situation, it might not stand up, though.

No rabbit likes going to the vet, so your bunny may be a little mad at you or put out at you, but they will get over it, and there are times when they have to go to the vet. Have the carrier as close as possible and have a towel in it. Hopefully you can grasp her without a lot of struggling and get her right in the carrier. Be very careful when picking her up and try to keep her low to the ground if you can. Being up in the air is even scarier and rabbits can really struggle and can sometimes hurt themselves by struggling a lot. That is rare, but a proper, firm grasp is needed and getting them in the carrier as quickly as possible is best. They can also accidentally scratch the person holding them, or trying to hold them, if they struggle, so be aware of that.

I hope I’m not scaring you, you may be able to scoop up the bunny with no trouble and get it right into the carrier. Put some hay in there too. The bunny may not eat but it’s there just in case. That is the most important component of their diet.