How to Determine the Sex of a Rabbit: Step-by-Step Guide

This article was co-authored by Pippa Elliott, MRCVS and by wikiHow staff writer, Ali Garbacz. Dr. Elliott, BVMS, MRCVS is a veterinarian with over 30 years of experience in veterinary surgery and companion animal practice. She graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1987 with a degree in veterinary medicine and surgery. She has worked at the same animal clinic in her hometown for over 20 years.

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You just brought a new rabbit home, but have no idea if it’s a male or female. How are you supposed to come up with a super cute name now? And how can you know if it’s okay to put your new furry friend with other bunnies? Fortunately, determining the sex of your rabbit is a fairly simple process. You just need to know what exactly you’re supposed to be looking for. This article will walk you through the process of examining your bunny to tell its gender, and hopefully you’ll have an answer by the time you’re done reading.

Things You Should Know

• Hold a rabbit on its back and look for external genitals. Males have long and narrow testicles, but they may retract if the rabbit is scared.
• Apply gentle pressure to the vent (a small mound housing the reproductive tract) and look for a tube-like penis (male) or slit-like opening (female).
• Start by sexing adult rabbits if possible, since their genitals will be more developed and easier to spot.

Steps

Selecting & Positioning Your Rabbit

1. 1Determine the rabbit’s age. Rabbits can start breeding from as young as just 12 weeks. This means that it’s important to separate the rabbits into same sex groups before or around 3 months of age. Start sexing your rabbits when they’ve reached at least 4 weeks of age.[1] X Research source Harcourt-Brown, Frances. Textbook of Rabbit Medicine. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001.
   • It can be difficult to find the sex of a rabbit that’s only a few days old. You can attempt it at a younger age, but to definitively find the sex of your rabbits, wait until they are at least 4 weeks old.
2. 2Sex older rabbits first. If you don’t have much or any experience sexing rabbits, it’s best to start with an adult. If you have the parents of a litter of rabbits, you can take a look at the anatomy of the mother and father rabbit. This will help you see what a fully developed rabbit looks like.[2] X Research source Harcourt-Brown, Frances. Textbook of Rabbit Medicine. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001.
   • If you’re still not feeling too confident, go ahead and ask your local vet for help and take your rabbits in to be examined.
3. 3Have a helper hold the rabbit so it’s lying on its back. Have your helper sit in a chair and tell them to use one hand to grasp the rabbit’s scruff and use their other hand to scoop under its rump. Then, have them lift and turn the rabbit onto its back. Lay the rabbit with its head towards your helper’s stomach and tail on the edge of their knees. This will give you easy access to the genital area.[3] X Research source Harcourt-Brown, Frances. Textbook of Rabbit Medicine. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001.
   • Cover your helper’s lap with a towel in case your rabbit urinates.
   • For the sake of hygiene and safety, wear gloves when you go about touching a rabbit’s genital regions.[4] X Research source
4. 4Flip the rabbit on its back by yourself. If you’re checking a rabbit by yourself, place your index finger between the rabbit’s ears and grasp the base of its head with your thumb on one side and your other three fingers on the other. With your other hand, cradle its rump and scoop the rabbit up so it’s lying on its back.[5] X Research source
   • Once you’ve flipped your rabbit, place it between the arm holding the head and your body. Then, let go of it’s rump so that it’s sitting securely in one arm.
   • Another option is to lay the rabbit down on a low table. Gently but firmly hold your rabbit at all times. Make sure the table is low enough that, if the rabbit squirms enough to get away, jumping off the table won’t injure it.

Identifying the Sex

1. 1Find the genital region. To find the sex of your rabbit, examine the rabbit’s external genitalia. While it’s on its back, part the fur between its legs. Gently hold it in place while you part the fur with one hand. Both male and female rabbits have a pink, figure eight-shaped bump between their back legs called the “vent.” This is where their genitals will be.[6] X Research source
   • If your rabbit starts to squirm too much, soothe it by talking to it and petting it gently. Rabbits can possibly injure themselves trying to escape, so do your best to keep your furry friend calm and relaxed.
2. 2Look for testicles on male rabbits. A male rabbit’s testicles are visible on the outside of its bodies. These are located in between its hind legs on either side of the vent. Rabbit testicles are long and narrow, rather than round like you might see on a dog. Look for two torpedo-shaped bulges, one on either side below the skin. They are usually slightly furry and purple in color.[7] X Research source Harcourt-Brown, Frances. Textbook of Rabbit Medicine. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001.
   • The scrotum can be covered by fur, so you may need to dampen the fur in this area with water to make the testicles clearer to see.
   • Testicles can usually be most clearly seen starting from 10 weeks of age. Before this age, they can be tiny and harder to spot.
   • In a well-developed adult male rabbit, the answer will be obvious because you can spot his testicles right away.
   • If a male rabbit is frightened, it can pull its testicles into the abdomen and make them disappear. Talk to the rabbit softly and gently stroke its side to encourage it to relax before trying to check again.[8] X Research source
3. 3Check the genital openings to see if it’s an “I” shape or “O” shape. To locate this opening, gently part the fur between the back legs until you find the vent. The vent contains the opening to the anus as well as the reproductive tract. To see it more clearly, use your fingers to apply gentle pressure on either side, which opens up the area and makes things clearer to see.[9] X Research source [10] X Research source
   • The genital opening is the one farthest from the tail. Apply gentle pressure with a finger and thumb on either side of the opening.
   • If the rabbit is female, you’ll see a slit-like shape, commonly described as looking like the letter “I”. If the rabbit is male you’ll see a round structure, which can be described as an “O” shape.
   • The opening closest to the tail is the anus. This is identical in both males and females. If you look closely, you can check if it’s the anus by watching for the muscular contractions of the anal ring.
4. 4Double check to look for the penis or vulva. If you want to be extra sure, or if you can’t distinguish between the “I” and the “O”, take another look to check for the penis or vulva. Apply gentle pressure at the base of the opening, pushing gently towards the rabbit’s back. If a penis is present, it will sometimes protrude and become more obvious as a tube-like structure. If a vulva is present, the lips tend to peel back in a petal shape.[11] X Research source
5. 5Sex your rabbit by looking at their genitals rather than their physical appearance. There are some people that say you can tell the sex of a rabbit by looking at its physical characteristics. Although mature adult male rabbits can have a heavier skull than female rabbits, this is not a reliable way to sex a rabbit. Instead, always check the rabbit’s genitalia to be completely sure of the sex of your rabbit.[12] X Research source Harcourt-Brown, Frances. Textbook of Rabbit Medicine. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001.
   • Unfortunately, a rabbit’s external physical characteristics, such as the size and shape, aren’t distinctive enough between the sexes to make this useful when determining the sex of your rabbit.
6. 6Take the rabbit to the vet for verification. Checking your rabbit’s sex at home is usually effective. If it’s important that you know the sex of your rabbit for breeding or other purposes, take your rabbit to your vet and get a professional’s verification.
   • If you have multiple rabbits, you can take them at the same time.

Expert Q&A

• QuestionDo male rabbits bite the female while mating?Pippa Elliott, MRCVSDr. Elliott, BVMS, MRCVS is a veterinarian with over 30 years of experience in veterinary surgery and companion animal practice. She graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1987 with a degree in veterinary medicine and surgery. She has worked at the same animal clinic in her hometown for over 20 years.
  VeterinarianVeterinarianExpert AnswerIt’s quite common for a male rabbit to grab a mouthful of the female’s fur in order to latch on during mating. Some males are more aggressive than others, but as a rule they don’t break the skin and it looks worse than it really is.
• QuestionI have a female rabbit but noticed a pink sack hanging between her back legs. How can I be certain of my rabbit’s gender without turning her over?Pippa Elliott, MRCVSDr. Elliott, BVMS, MRCVS is a veterinarian with over 30 years of experience in veterinary surgery and companion animal practice. She graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1987 with a degree in veterinary medicine and surgery. She has worked at the same animal clinic in her hometown for over 20 years.
  VeterinarianVeterinarianExpert AnswerYou need to clearly see the area between the rabbit’s back legs, so turning the rabbit over is a basic part of doing this. Try covering the rabbit’s head with a towel, and picking her up with the towel wrapped around her. Do this while sitting on the floor and then if she wriggles she won’t fall and hurt herself.

Video

Warnings

• For both safety and hygienic purposes, wear gloves when handling your rabbit and examining their genital area.⧼thumbs_response⧽

References

1. ↑ Harcourt-Brown, Frances. Textbook of Rabbit Medicine. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001.
2. ↑ Harcourt-Brown, Frances. Textbook of Rabbit Medicine. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001.
3. ↑ Harcourt-Brown, Frances. Textbook of Rabbit Medicine. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001.
4. ↑ http://www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/sexing-rabbits.html
5. ↑ http://www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/sexing-rabbits.html
6. ↑ http://www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/sexing-rabbits.html
7. ↑ Harcourt-Brown, Frances. Textbook of Rabbit Medicine. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001.
8. ↑ http://www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/sexing-rabbits.html
9. ↑ http://rabbitbreeders.us/sexing-rabbits

1. ↑ http://www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/sexing-rabbits.html
2. ↑ http://www.pet-informed-veterinary-advice-online.com/sexing-rabbits.html
3. ↑ Harcourt-Brown, Frances. Textbook of Rabbit Medicine. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001.

About This Article

To determine the sex of a rabbit, start by asking someone to help you hold the rabbit on its back so you can easily access its genital area. If you don’t have someone to help you, you can try holding the rabbit on its back on a low surface by yourself, but it may be harder. Once the rabbit is in place, part the fur between its legs and examine its genitalia. If you see a slit-like structure in the shape of the letter “I,” the rabbit is a female. If you see a round structure that looks like the letter “O,” the rabbit is male. To learn how to double check your findings to know for sure what sex the rabbit is, scroll down!

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