25 Most Popular Types of Pet Rabbits

Rabbits can make great pets thanks to their physical features, behavior, and ease of keeping them. With more than 300 rabbit breeds available, you can never miss out on the most appropriate pet rabbit for your family. Here are the top 25 pet rabbit breeds you may be interested in.

1. New Zealand Rabbit

New Zealand rabbits originate from California in the US and not New Zealand. It is named so since it is a crossbreed of rabbits imported into the United States from New Zealand.

• Appearance: Their eyes are dark brown or bright pink while the ears are long and stand straight up.
• Size: New Zealand rabbits are a large breed with an average adult weighing between 9 and 12 pounds. Males (bucks) are usually smaller than females (does).
• Color: You can identify New Zealand rabbits from their four different colors which include white, black, red, or mixture (broken).
• Behavior: New Zealand rabbits are quite easy-going, making them ideal house pets.

2. Netherland Dwarf Rabbit

If you love mini pet rabbits, you should consider keeping Netherland Dwarf rabbits. They are small, exceptionally good-looking, and a little aggressive. These traits explain why they are every household’s favorite pet.

• Appearance: Netherland Dwarf rabbits exhibit a lovable appearance thanks to their small size and a variety of colors.
• Size: Netherland Dwarf rabbit breed is incredibly small in size, weighing about 2.5 pounds
• Color: This pet rabbit is available in a wide range of colors such as white, black, and grey.
• Behavior: Netherland Dwarf is a characteristically aggressive mini rabbit breed although it makes a great household pet.

3. Belgian Hare Rabbit

One thing that sets Belgian Hare rabbits apart from other breeds is their unique body structure. They resemble wild rabbits seen mostly in the American prairies.

• Appearance: Belgian Hare rabbits have slim, fully arched body structures with long ears that bend slightly backward. Their eyes are black but the legs are long and thin to help them hop around your home easily.
• Size: Belgian Hare rabbits are in the category of large-sized pet rabbits. On average a single rabbit weighs between 6 and 9 pounds.
• Color: Belgian Hare pet rabbits have deep brown or black colored coats that blend seamlessly with their surroundings.
• Behavior: Just like most rabbit breeds, Belgian Hare rabbits are intelligent, active, and nervous.

4. Blanc de Hotot Rabbit

The Blanc de Hotot breed of rabbits is named after a village in France. Each member of this rabbit breed can make excellent pets for children, seniors, single people, and families in general.

• Appearance: Blanc de Hotot are thickset rabbits with distinguishable white rollback fur. They also have black bands around their eyes which are usually 1/16 to 1/8 inches. Their eyes are brown in color with black eyelashes.
• Size: Blanc de Hotot is a large pet rabbit that weighs up to 11 pounds.
• Color: Frost white coloration and a black circle around each eye.
• Behavior: Friendly, docile, and sweet-natured pet rabbits.

5. Cinnamon Rabbit

Cinnamon rabbits are excellent household pets for single owners, families, and kids. These pet rabbits prefer regular exercise to keep them happy and active.

• Appearance: Cinnamon rabbits are widely known for their commercial body type. They are usually of medium length with their body width matching their depth. Their coat is the most striking feature you may notice at first glance because it is accented with smoke gray coloration.
• Size: Standard or mid-size rabbits that can weigh between 8 and 11 pounds
• Color: Red-brown fur with gray and black edges on the ears.
• Behavior: Cinnamon rabbits are usually calm and love human attention.

6. English Lop Rabbit

As the name suggests, English Lop rabbits have extremely long, droopy ears that stretch up to 2.5 feet from tip to tip across their heads. This breed is one of the gentle giants of pet rabbits belonging to the Lot family. They require special care to keep their enormous ears out of harm’s way.

• Appearance: English Lop rabbits are large in size and soft to the touch. You can distinguish them from other breeds of rabbits by looking at their huge, floppy ears. They have wide noses,  big heads, and alert eyes as well. Also, they are available in many colors; some can be broken up with white while others can be multicolored.
• Size: English Lops are large-sized pet rabbits that can weigh between 9 and 11 pounds and grow to a length of up to 33 inches.
• Color: Black white, opal, tort, blue, and many more
• Behavior: English Lop rabbits are easy-going and fun-loving, thus they are ideal for household pets. However, they are downright lazy and love cuddling and playing with toys a lot.

7. Jersey Wooly Rabbit

If you love fluffy pets you should settle for Jersey Wooly rabbits. They are easy to maintain compared to breeds such as Angora rabbits.

• Appearance: Jersey  Wooly rabbits are miniaturized kinds of rabbits with a friendly disposition. They are also fuzzy in appearance.
• Size: Miniature breed of pet rabbits with an average weight of 2.5 to 3.5 pounds.
• Color: Several colors that may include chinchilla, opal, chestnut, and squirrel. Others are black, blue, or lilac while some are white with a few blue points.
• Behavior: Jersey Wooly rabbits are friendly, gentle,  and docile, making them a perfect choice of pet rabbits for families with small kids since they are easy to handle.

8. Checkered Giant Rabbit

From their name, you can easily tell that Checkered Giant Rabbits are really huge. Despite their size, these pet rabbits have high energy and make excellent companions for pet owners who can provide them with large cages and plenty of space to run around.

• Appearance: They have a similar ached body type to Belgian Hare rabbits but they are giants compared to other breeds.
• Size: Checkered Giant rabbits can reach an average weight of 16 pounds.
• Color: Distinctly black and white in color.
• Behavior: Checkered Giant rabbits are gentle, energetic, affectionate, and active.

9. English Spot Rabbit

The uniqueness of English Spot rabbits makes them a must-have pets. These rabbits have beautiful coats that make them a perfect choice of household pets for show-off. They are also friendly and adaptable with low maintenance requirements.

• Appearance: English spot rabbits have a full arched body structure with long, lean legs and longer vertical ears. Their fur is short and dense.
• Size: Medium size rabbits that weigh between 5 and 8 pounds
• Color: They come in a variety of colors such as black, blue, gold, lilac, chocolate, and tortoise base with spots.
• Behavior: English Spot rabbits are not only lovely to look at but also friendly, curious, and energetic pets.

10. Dutch Rabbit

When it comes to rabbits with popular coats, Dutch breeds take the lead. They are even described using the phrase, “Dutch markings” due to their characteristic white “saddle” and black “mask”. Another unique thing about Dutch rabbits is their hardiness, compactness, adaptability, and caring nature. No wonder the females have always been used as foster mothers thanks to their agreeable temperament.

• Appearance: Dutch rabbits have a unique appearance with only two standard colors. The rabbits are dark-colored on their ears, including the face, and around both eyes. Their entire body is colored in two distinctive colors which are mainly black and white.
• Size: Dutch rabbits are indeed small in size, weighing between 3.5 pounds and 5.5 pounds.
• Color: They are available in a wide range of colors with the Dutch patterns being the most prominent. Some of these colors include black, blue, chocolate, steel, tortoise, and brown-grey. They also have harlequin and yellow colors although both colors are extremely rare.
• Behavior: Dutch rabbits are calm, energetic, and social pet rabbits. They can easily coexist with other friendly pet rabbit breeds. This explains why they make it to the list of the best pet rabbits for all families.

11. Lionhead Rabbit

Lionhead rabbit breed is a diminutive household pet that is easily recognized from its crested mane. A popular rabbit breed that is both small and vibrant.

• Appearance: The rabbit displays a wide range of fascinating facial hairs. This funny-looking breed has a compact body with tortoiseshell coat coloration and ruby-eyed white fur.
• Size: A small rabbit breed that weighs not more than 4 pounds
• Color: Ruby-eyed white with some black patches all over the body.
• Behavior: Lionhead rabbit is spunky, friendly, and adaptable

12. Silver Marten Rabbit

Silver Martens are firmly medium-sized pet rabbits with dark fur and white-tipped guard hairs. These pet rabbits can be identified from their distinctive coloration around the nose, eyes, and chin.

• Appearance: The color varies from black to blue all the way to sable and chocolate. These rabbits have white or silver undersides, chins, bellies, and tails. Also, white and silver coloration can be found around the eyes and inside the ears.
• Size: Weighs between 6.5 and 9.5 pounds
• Color: White, silver, blue, chocolate, black, and sable.
• Behavior: Timid but playful.

13. American Rabbit

Originally known as the “German Blue Vienna”, the American rabbit breed is attractive and heavy with breathtaking fur. This breed was initially bred in Pasadena, California for meat and fur but due to its attractiveness, it is also used for shows.

• Appearance: Semi-arch body type with pink eyes and long, erect ears.
• Size: Weighs up to 12 pounds
• Color: White or blue coats.
• Behavior: Sweet, and docile with excellent motherly skills.

14. English Angora Rabbit

English Angora resembles a furball with ears. This is the smallest rabbit breed among the four Angora breeds.

• Appearance: Available in a variety of colors with a completely characteristically fluffy coat.
• Size: Weights between 8 and 10 pounds
• Color: A variety of colors but white is the most dominant.
• Behavior: This breed is usually calm, mild, and pleasant.

15. Californian Rabbit

California rabbits have dense, muscular builds. They are also attractive and well-natured. This rabbit breed is more than twice the actual size of the diminutive Himalayan.

• Appearance: Their black coloration is only confined to the nose, ears, tail, and paws.
• Size: Weighs between 10 and 12 pounds.
• Color Black and white.
• Behavior: Good-natured and easy-going.

16. Harlequin Rabbit

Formally called the Japanese Rabbits, Harlequin rabbits are known for their fascinating coloration patterns. This breed of rabbits is named after a famous clown in Italy. They make great pets too.

• Appearance: Harlequin rabbits have evenly divided two-tone faces when viewed from the front. These pet rabbits feature five or seven bands of alternating colors on their bodies.
• Size: Medium-sized rabbits weighing about 10 pounds
• Color: Harlequin rabbits sport alternating bands of several colors across their bodies.
• Behavior: Curious and gentle pets.

17. Standard Chinchilla Rabbit

One of the most popular rabbits and pet shows is Standard Chinchilla. This is one of the Chinchilla groups of rabbits that most people find popular when kept as pets.

• Appearance: You can easily identify Standard Chinchilla rabbits from their compact bodies and their fur. Besides, they have pearly eye bands with white cycles surrounding their dark eyes.
• Size: A standard chinchilla can weigh up to 7.5 pounds
• Color: A rich blend of earthy colors such as chestnut, brown, tan is mixed in bands with colors like blue, black, and white.
• Behavior: Mild, friendly, and comfortable.

18. Satin Rabbit

Satin Rabbits are the accidental offspring of the Havana breeding program. Today, this breed is popular among pet owners.

• Appearance: Averagely built with smooth fur.
• Size: Satins are standard breeds that can weigh up to  11 pounds.
• Color: A variety of colors; brown, black, and grey among others.
• Behavior: Mild, friendly, and well-adjusted.

19. Polish Rabbit

Polish rabbit breed is considered one of the cutest groups of rabbits for keepers. You can find them in a variety of colors both in their coats and eyes.

• Appearance: Polish rabbits have a compact body with blue or ruby-colored eyes. Their hind legs are small and their ears pointed. Polish rabbits’ small sizes are due to their small hindquarters, small head, and round bellies.
• Size: Small size rabbit breed which can weigh between 3 and 5 pounds.
• Color: Black, blue, and chocolate.
• Behavior: Curious, energetic, and friendly.

20. American Sable Rabbit

American Sable rabbit breed is a descendant of a colored American Chinchilla. This breed has since become popular because of being mixed with Rex and Silver Marten rabbits.

• Appearance: Similar to a Siamese cat with some resemblance to Chinchilla rabbits. Their faces, ears, backs, feet, and tails have bits of dark sepia or brown colors.
• Size: Medium rabbit breed that weighs between 5 and 8 pounds.
• Color: Slightly faded sable and bright siamese sable.
• Behavior: Gentle, docile, playful, and sweet.

21. American Fuzzy Lop Rabbit

American Fuzzy Lop rabbits are adorable descendants of French Angora and Holland Lop. They were first bred in 1980 and have since become one of the most popular household pet rabbits today.

• Appearance: American Fuzzy Lop rabbits have wooly fur that is about 2 inches long. They are extremely soft to the touch.
• Size: Small-sized rabbit breed that weighs less than 4 pounds
• Color: American Fuzzy Lop rabbits have color forms such as chocolate, lavender, brown, chestnut, and white.
• Behavior: Active and friendly.

22. Tan Rabbit

Besides a full arch body with a high back and long slender legs, Tan Rabbits display impressive features that make them ideal household pets. Here are their most outstanding features:

• Appearance: Tan rabbits have unique coloration and short highly lustrous fur and a tan collar. They also have eye-catching two-tone coats that give them their characteristic appearance.
• Size: They weigh about 6 pounds.
• Color: Red-orange, black, chocolate, lilac, or blue.
• Behavior: Sweet, energetic, and playful.

23. Rex Rabbit

Considered the original king of rabbits, Rex breed originated in France. The breed is a little heavy but can make a great household pet for your family.

• Appearance: Rex rabbits have large, upright ears with plump round bodies.
• Size: Large rabbit breed that weighs between 7 and 11 pounds
• Color: Rex rabbits can be black, blue, amber, caster, lilac, chocolate, opal, lynx, otter, seal, white, or red.
• Behavior: Friendly, calm, and intelligent.

24. Flemish Giant Rabbit

Flemish Giant rabbit breed is indeed a giant breed that is prized as a pet, show rabbit, or a great source of pelts and meat.

• Appearance: Exceptional semi-arched body with seven coat colors. Ears are slighting bending backward while the eyes are black.
• Size: Weighs up to 20 pounds.
• Color: Fawn, blue, black, steel gray, light gray, white, and sandy
• Behavior: Gentle and loving.

25. Holland Lop Rabbit

Holland Lops are miniature rabbits that weigh a few pounds. They are among the world’s smallest rabbit breeds. These rabbits can make great pets as well.

• Appearance: Bull-dog like appearance, lopped ears  a small body with a variety of colors
• Size: Weighs up to 4 pounds.
• Color: A variety of colors such as light orange, dark brown, blue, and light brown.
• Behavior: Very friendly household pet.

Wrap Up

Rabbits are excellent pets for homeowners. This is attributed to the fact that some are small while others are big and most are gentle and feisty. To add to that, they come in different colors, sizes, and breeds to make your choice easy.

That is why we have prepared this ultimate guide of the top 25 rabbit breeds for you. We hope it will help you in choosing the best pet rabbit for your family members.