Choosing a rabbit
Buck or Doe: Which Should You Choose?
The question everyone asks, and the honest answer is that it matters far less than the internet suggests once the rabbit is neutered.
Neutered, the difference between a buck and a doe is small. Un-neutered, it is large. Bucks spray and become territorial; does can turn defensive about their space and face a serious uterine cancer risk by middle age. Almost everything people attribute to sex is really about whether the rabbit has been done.
Bucks
Generally the more openly affectionate of the two. A neutered buck tends to be relaxed, easy to read and quick to settle with a new person. Un-neutered he will spray urine, including up walls and across furniture, and that behaviour can persist for weeks after neutering before it fades.
Does
Often more independent and a little more particular about their own space, which some people read as aloof and others prefer. A doe will frequently be the one who decides where the furniture should go and rearranges it accordingly.
The important part is medical rather than behavioural. Unspayed does have a very high rate of uterine cancer by middle age, and spaying removes that risk almost entirely. This is the main reason a spayed indoor doe commonly reaches the top of her breed's lifespan range.
Are male or female rabbits better?
Neither, and anyone telling you otherwise is generalising from one rabbit they owned. Individual temperament varies far more within a sex than between the two. The rabbit that comes to the front of the pen when you walk over tells you more than its sex does.
What about a pair?
Rabbits are social and a bonded pair is genuinely happier than a single. The reliable combination is a neutered buck with a spayed doe. Two bucks or two does can work if they are litter mates and both are done, but the risk of a serious fight is higher.
Do not put two un-neutered rabbits of opposite sexes together unless you want a great many more rabbits, and quickly. Where we have litter mates available we say so on the listing.
When to neuter
Four to six months for both. Ask any practice how many rabbit anaesthetics they do a month before booking, because rabbit anaesthesia is not the same as cat and dog anaesthesia and the answer is revealing.
So which should you ask for?
Ask for the rabbit whose temperament suits you and let the sex fall where it does. If you have a preference we will try to match it, but what any litter produces is luck. Every listing on this site states the sex.
Holland Lops, Mini Lops, Netherland Dwarfs and French Lops available now.
Tell us what you are after
Describe your household and Arlen will point you at the rabbit that suits, buck or doe.