I bought two (what I thought was) minilop doe rabbits from a lovely hobby breeder, she checked their sex and so did I (with many diagrams) and it looked very much like two girlies. They are now four months old. One of the rabbits started acting agressive and biting me when it was previously so friendly and a right fusspot. They have been handled and loved from an early age and were both 8 weeks when I bought them home. I thought this odd and noticed spraying on the cage which had not been there before, then I noticed a load of shredded paper in the bedding area which had also not been there yesterday. Alarm bells started ringing . I got on some gloves and picked up the aggressive rabbit and had a good look. Yes, you guessed it she was a he and he has a fine pair of testicles, etc. I had noticed a bit of mounting of the little one but thought it was a dominating thing females do but today there was definate tail flapping going on OMG. I have a two tier hutch, should I separate now and hope for the best?. I had already enquired with a vet to get them neutered and was waiting til they were 5-6 months as I thought them to be two girls. He will be neutered asap now. Could she be pregnant at 4 months old? Unfortunately they are brother and sister so its a disaster anyway. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, the little girlie is such a sweetheart and he was til his hormones kicked in. Help!

Oh my
At such a young age, you proberbly couldnt have guessed the sex as it would have been extremely difficult to. The 'breeder' should have known this. The aggresive behaviour could be just down to hormones starting to fly around but unfortunately if he did catch her theres not alot you can do. I would ring your vet and explain and ask for advice. Sometimes a female can get rattie and horrible and build nests even if they arent pregnant but are around males (my girl summer did and luckly wasnt pregnant)

Seperating them was defo the thing to do, and i think a chat with ur vet and see how you get on, you might be lucky but theres always a chance something could have happened If they are bro and sis then thats not a good thing Good luck xx

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Thanks for your reply. They are separated in a two tier hutch and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Its a good job I have two runs as well because they were binkying around our secure garden together happily. Will be taking him to the vet to be neutered this week, so hopefully if nothing happens I can keep them separated until she is neutered as well and recovered. Then reunite them carefully as Bro and Sis. At the moment I'm treating her as if she is pregnant, just in case and will see how it goes. If so I will do my best for her and if there are any problems take her straight to the vet, both rabbits are in excellent health at the moment. So I can discuss this with the vet this week.

I've heard it's a quite common problem sexing rabbits young and to be fair I checked myself and could have sworn they were both girls and in hindsight should have got two older rabbits but I can't change that now so I'll do my best for them. I feed them on Burgess Excel, top quality hay, greens everyday but will give her more food, etc, just in case and keep my fingers and toes crossed nothing happens. Have added a pic of the naughty little boy. Hope I've done it right. Thanks.

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Unfortunately it does sometimes happen as the male parts dont drop/appear for a few weeks I would treat her as pregnant and ask the vet about it when you take ur male in. The seperated hutch should be fine for a temp arrangement (i did the same for my 2 who are bro n sis) then hopefully if she isnt pregnant they will have been around each other enough after the healing of neutering and you will be able to re-introduce them properly after with no problems I would carefully weigh your female (if you are able to, if shes too nippy and naughty then i would leave it and ask the vet to do it) and see if she gains weight over the next couple weeks then you will know if somethings going on as unfortunately the vet will not be able to feel kits until a couple days before the birth Dont feed your female any more then usual but if you feel like shes eating more then give her more hay to eat, that way shes a healthy rabbit and wont get tubby from the veggies or pellets and hay will keep her full and healthy

He looks a lovely little boy cheeky thing xx

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Thanks so much thats great advice. I will weigh her, she not nippy at all she's a sweetie, its the boy who's turned nippy will have to change his name as Sugar doesn't seem to suit anymore. Will give more hay instead of food, thanks for that. They both sat nose to nose in their separate runs today and managed a few binkies each so keeping everything crossed.

Hopefully everything will work out okay because they will be kept so close together before and after neutering you should be okay with putting them back together after they are all healed and hormones have calmed down. If you are concerned though, just post again on here and some of us will help you, but it should be okay keep us informed xx

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I have known so many rabbits come in to my local rescue centre because of miss sexing. Its extremely common and very hard to be 100% accurate.

I agree have him neutered asap.

If possible I would move ur doe into a big single hutch away from the smell of the male. She might take his scent as a sign of danger and not be a great mum. You might be able to borrow one from your local rabbit rescue centre.

Fingers crossed shes ok tho and theres no nest building just before xmas.

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Thanks for that have just bought a large double hutch for him to have on his own whilst we wait and see. I was going to upgrade my hutch anyway next year so have moved it forward. I was thinking about this as the situation with him being too close wouldn't be good. Can't really move her at the mo as shes built a nest from hay and shredded newspaper (hoping its a phantom). Will clean the bottom section thoroughly when he moves out tomorrow and she'll stay in the top where she is. She seems happy at the moment and is eating and drinking well, so thats good. Hubby is chuffed as thats my xmas pressie sorted, better than getting a load of junk I don't want he's rushed round on xmas eve for, LOL .

Now I can be less worried about it and besides if nothing happens or afterwards will keep them apart until she is neutered as well and she can recover peacefully in her own pad. Then will carefully rebond them. Thats the plan anyway!