Telling the age of a rabbit.

[Frankz]

Is there anyway to have a (not precise) good estimate? We got Sunny back in Around May-June (I’m sticking more with June as of now, my mom wrote it down on her 08 Calender, I’ll take a look later if I can find it) of 2008. The guy we got her from said she was about 1 1/2 then. You figure a half a year is 6 months, so six more and she’d be born sometime in December, so at this point she’s 2, past the 2 1/2 mark, and will be 3 in December, we just don’t know a day. Do I have this right, LOL? I read a few places you can tell if a rabbit is older or younger by the veins in their ears, but I can barely see any in the front, and the backs are so covered in black fur I’d never know!

[Desma]

If they take their teeth at night and put them in a glass of water, then you know they are up in years. (just kidding! I’d like to know that too!)

[Sarita]

There truly is not a way to tell a rabbit’s exact age once they are mature.

I’ve not hear of the veins thing and I would imagine my vet would have told me about this.

Obviously younger rabbits have very smooth claws and older rabbits claws are tougher and scalier. With an older rabbit you can tell by various things such as mobility or cloudy eyes – again though, not EXACT age.

Probably the only way you might know exact age is if you know their birth date. Hopefully the person you got your bunny from gave you their age to the best of their knowledge too.

All of the rabbits I have were either strays or from the shelter and I could tell obviously if they were babies (only Peppermint was very young) but the rest were full grown so I knew they were at least one year old (best guess) but I’m finding that some may be much older than I suspected (again it’s just a guessing game).

Also rabbits fur doesn’t gray either.

[Desma]

By the way, I love the harness on your bunny. I have one like that for Hunny too. It is pink and green and very feminine.

[bunnytowne]

from looking at pictures of known senior rabbits their hair is kind of messy looking. 

from 2-7 years I dont’ knwo how to tell their age.   Teeth maybe?

[Adalaide]

I got Freya at the end of April or beginning of May. Something like that anyway. The people we got her from acted like when the babies were born was a complete mystery to them. When pressed they were all “I don’t know, maybe a week before Easter?” Sigh… for lack of a birthday we can pin down we decided her birthday is April 1. It makes her fit in with our family, we were married on February 29 last year. The only reason we know that the date is even approximately right is because she turned into a hormonal little brat right on queue. On the other hand, I don’t doubt these people could have been stupid enough to take 2 week old babies away.

[Frankz]

Posted By Desma on 10/11/2009 07:45 AM
If they take their teeth at night and put them in a glass of water, then you know they are up in years. (just kidding! I’d like to know that too!)

 

LOL! And thanks for the comment on the harness .

 

Thank you all, I think I’ll stick with her being born sometime in December, that’s the best I can guess as of now.

[BinkyBunny]

Their teeth can many times relay whether a bunny is younger or senior. Senior bunnies normally have much yellower teeth. (and of course they have to put them in glass of water at night…HAHAHA!)  Anyway, the white vs yellow teeth doesn’t give you alot to go on. I mean under five or over five is easier to determine –  but the in-between is hard to know for sure.

I know that when I went bunny bonding at SaveABunny, the owner clued me into body and face structure for “younger bunnies” – 2-3 years old as opposed to older bunnies. I never actually noticed these differences until she showed me. Their bodies a bit leaner, more muscle, less fat, and unless the breed has a wide face, the face structure can be leaner-looking as well. (though young bunnies can get fat too). However, I must say the only reason that I could notice this rather slight difference was because I saw so many bunnies all at once, I wouldn’t have been able to see the difference. So it helped that I had that opportunity.

Also, energy level can indicate age as well (as long as the bunnies are healthy). My experience has been that bunnies under three years old have lots of energy, like to get into trouble, and then as they reach five years, they seem to mellow out a bit more, less destructive, and then over five, they enjoy lounging more than bouncing around. They will still get up and play, but it better be for a good reason.

Now that is MY experience with my own bunnies and what I have learned from the shelter, but I also know there are exceptions.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Welcome!!

It’s entirely impossible to tell if they are adults, as others have said. My vet is a good rabbit vet and done many courses in them, and said there just isn’t a way to tell (unless they have old age probs like arthritis etc)

If your looking to celebrate birthdays-many of us just celebrate the day we brought our bunnies home as their birthday

[Beka27]

It is helpful to have a general idea of how old a rabbit is, this helps when determining diet, normal activity levels, possible health concerns that are more prevalent as a bun gets up in years… but it doesn’t really matter since all rabbits are going to be very individual anyways… you might have a 5 year old and a 10 year old with the exact same energy level for example…

Like KokaneeandKahlua said, many people choose to celebrate their “bunniversary” or adoption date…

[Author]

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