Ever sat down and asked yourself random questions like, “How old is my rabbit in human years?”
That question might seem random, but it’s significant.
From selecting the age of adoption to deciding when to expect your rabbit to be litter trained, plenty of things about owning a rabbit are contingent on knowing how mature he is. Since we understand aging and maturation in human years, it is best to find out the equivalence of rabbit age to human years.
In this article, we’ve covered all the human age equivalents of every stage of a rabbit’s lifespan, explained why a single multiplier cannot be used to find out a rabbit’s age, and a couple of other related issues.
Bookmark this post for access to a complete chart whenever you need it.
How Old Is My Rabbit in Human Years?
At 1 month, your rabbit is 5 years old, after which he grows 2 years in human age every month up until the 6th month. Your rabbit is 21 years of age at the 1-year mark and grows 6 years in human age for each year after that.
This is derived from the lifespan perspective of aging (covered later) and the maturity perspective. The table below shows the life expectancy of rabbits and their maturity as compared to humans in different stages.
| Rabbit Age | Human Age by Lifespan | Human Age by Maturity |
| 2 weeks | 3 months | 1 year old |
| 3 weeks | 5 months | 2 years old |
| 4 weeks | 7.5 months | 3 years old |
| 2 months | 15 months | 5 years old |
| 3 months | 1.8 years | 7 years old |
| 4 months | 2.5 years | 9 years old |
| 5 months | 3.1 years | 11 years old |
| 6 months | 3.75 years | 13 years old |
| 1 year old | 7.5 years | 21 years old |
| 2 years old | 15 years | 27 years old |
| 3 years old | 22 years | 33 years old |
| 4 years old | 30 years | 39 years old |
As you can see, the maturity and aging ratios are different. And even in the maturity column, the human equivalence rate chances. This is because rabbits make different leaps in development. However, since their life expectancy remains the same, their aging rate is more predictable.
How Do Rabbits Age in Human Years?
The life expectancy of domesticated rabbits is 7.5 years in human years. In terms of maturing, rabbits age up to 9 years in each human year early on. Later, the rate of maturity or aging might fall to around 7 years.
Measuring the age of rabbits by life expectancy isn’t logical. It is calculated by comparing the maximum average life expectancy of humans and rabbits and using their ratio to measure age. As long as the human life expectancy is 75 years, each year of a rabbit’s 10-year life is like 7.5 years.
But what about the times when human life expectancy used to be 30 years? And what about the possibility of the average human life expectancy reaching 100?
A better way to correlate human age with a rabbit’s age is to draw equivalence in maturity.
The maturity equivalence of aging has been covered in a table earlier. Development, however, isn’t just mental. It covers other factors in life, including reliance on the mother and socializing.
The following table reveals the development stages of rabbits in human years.
| Rabbit Age | Equivalent in Human Development Stage | Rationale |
| 6 weeks | 1 year | Needs breast milk |
| 3 months | 2 years | Completely independent of breast milk. |
| 3.5 to 6 months | 13 years | Reaches puberty. |
| 10 months | 25 years | The rabbit’s hippocampus fully develops at 13. The human prefrontal cortex fully develops at 25 |
As you can see, the development stages of rabbits and humans are quite uneven, which is why they cannot be converted with a multiplier like 7, 7.5, or 9. Human prenatal brain development is pretty similar to that of rabbits.
That means rabbits and human babies have a similar rate of brain growth. However, their reliance on breastfeeding creates the first variation. The only factor that is constant for the foreseeable future is lifespan.
How Long Do Rabbits Live?
Rabbits live up to 12 years old at the maximum. The age of 8 is easily achievable, and after that, the lifespan depends on the rabbit’s health, medication, and lifestyle. Most rabbits usually live to be 10 years old in human years, which equals 75 years in rabbit age.
To prolong a rabbit’s age, you need to make sure your pet remains healthy, take him to the vet regularly, and avoid feeding him food items that can harm his very sensitive digestive tract.
The better your rabbit’s diet, social engagement, and physical fitness, the longer he will live.
When Do Rabbits Mature?
Rabbits mature mentally at 10 months, with some maturing at the 1-year mark. Sexual maturity comes earlier for rabbits, with smaller rabbits becoming mature at 3.5 to 4 months. Larger rabbits become sexually mature at the 6-month mark.
Since there are so many species of rabbit, a healthy rule of thumb to consider is that a rabbit mentally matures 6 months after reaching puberty. This age is highly relevant for spaying and neutering. Rabbits reproduce at an unsustainable rate for pet owners. You should make sure to get your bunnies spayed and neutered before they reach sexual maturity.
Conclusion
Rabbits are 7.5x faster than humans going by life expectancy alone. But when it comes to mental development and sexual maturity, their age varies in comparison to humans at different points in their lives.
Most notably, they’re independent of their mothers’ milk by the 3rd month, reach puberty between 3 and 6 months, and reach their peak mental maturity at 10 months.
